Fly Fishing in REno, Nevada
The Biggest Little City
What first comes to mind about “ The Biggest Little City”? Casinos and gambling, dive bars, and strip clubs, the last stop before Burning Man and Hot August Nights?
Sure, all those things are here in Reno Nevada but there’s a lot more this little city has to offer besides the things that make it famous or infamous, depending on your point of view.
Reno is Northern Nevada’s largest city its close neighbor is Sparks Nevada and for all intended purposes they’re pretty much the same place. The two cities have a combined population of around 380,000 (2021) and are more or less separated by Hwy 395/580 which runs in the north/south direction.
Interstate 80 cuts through the cities running west/east and follows the Truckee River’s path.
The Truckee River
The Truckee River runs from Lake Tahoe 121 miles to its terminal end at Pyramid Lake. On that journey, It loses 2,232 feet of elevation and during that rapid descent, it passes through many different biomes. Pine forest near the town of Truckee, California, High-desert in Verdi, Nevada, suburban city-scape in Reno, Nevada, and arid desert near Mustang, Nevada.
Trout fishing is popular in all sections of the river from the alpine to the desert. Brown and Rainbow Trout are present throughout the river system and some sections are even stocked by the state of Nevada with Cutthroat Trout.
The Truckee River in Reno, Nevada is one of the more productive stretches, surprisingly some of the highest density of trout can be found here.
The Truckee cuts through the west side of Reno and its many public parks. Places like Idlewild Park and Mayberry Park are a couple of the more popular spots. You’ll often find people playing sports, exercising, and kids playing on the playground, and just steps away a river holding trophy size trout.
It’s not unusual to see people fly fishing when you walk in downtown Reno, in fact, it’s become a common sight in the past few years. With easy fishing access to the river via the parks system fly fishing in Reno is quickly becoming one of the area’s many attractions.
How to fish it
Nymph fishing is the most common way to catch. European Style Nymphing or ESN is a very popular method here in Reno. ESN utilizes a long thin leader with weighted flies attached to reach depth in the river quickly. There is no indicator attached to the line with the ESN technique instead the angler relies on the feeling of a fish biting the flies to let them know when to set the hook.
Indicator fishing is still very common and proves to be a productive method, especially in the winter months when the fish move into slower water.
Our Guide Service
We guide this section of the Truckee River in Reno as well as many other areas on the river. Most of the time we walk and wade but when the water levels are appropriate we float the river.
We use a 13’ AIRE whitewater raft outfitted with a fishing frame, the raft holds two people and is a great way to the river. We often focus on nymph fishing from the boat as well as streamer fishing when the conditions are right.
Some areas of the Truckee in the Reno area are hard to get to on foot without crossing private property however, from the raft we are able to access many of these hard-to-reach places.
Current Fly Fishing holds a Nevada Master Guides License and is a full-service fly fishing charter. We provide all the necessary gear you’ll need for a day on the water and take anglers of all ability levels. If you’re looking to get a line wet in the Reno area give us a call and get your trip booked today.