Fly Fishing ain't EASY! // Truckee River Euro Nymphing

[@salmotrutta3069]

First fished Truckee in 1984. Thanks for the trip down OLD memory lane! Think over the next quarter century I fished every inch from Tahoe to the state line. Keep at it. That's beautiful water.

[@driftstone]

That's amazing! I would love to say that about some of my rivers up around Mount Shasta. Thanks for stopping by!

[@CalledCollectiveMedia]

Heck yeah! Love it man! Yet another solidddddd video! I appreciate the share!

[@driftstone]

...and I appreciate the watch. Keep crankin' out the great vids yourself!

[@CalledCollectiveMedia]

@@driftstone oh thanks man! I will be up in the mountains here pretty soon which I am excited about!

[@driftstone]

This warmer Yas got me going stir crazy. Have fun up there!

[@elisjournal4435]

Great stuff, Eric! Love that quote... the skunk appears every now and then for the true fly fishermen!

[@driftstone]

Absolutely! I also think some people get stuck in their comfort zone. Either they like to fish the same rivers or use the same flies and techniques because they don't want to skunk. It's not fun in the moment when it happens, but overall, I think it richens the experience.

[@TroutFlies]

What a nostalgia fest! Cool to see you fish my old stomping grounds. Thanks for the shout out in the video and description! We'll have to get some redemption over there at some point

[@driftstone]

When it comes down to it, I love the challenges that fishing present. So I'll definitely be going back to make a sequel!

[@mikeirthum4509]

I really appreciate your hard work, learning something new each video!

[@driftstone]

Hey Mike, that makes me happy. What rivers do you get to fish?

[@mikeirthum4509]

@@driftstone I live down in San Luis Obispo so I have to travel for all my fly fishing trips. Up north I have only ever been to the McCloud, upper and lower and Upper Sac. I'll be up there next 5 days, leaving tomorrow morning. Hopefully the water is too high and off, really looking forward to this trip!

[@Thizzamajig]

The Truckee is my home river, fished it for over thirty years. It still humbles me and hands me a skunk on many occasions. You did great.

[@driftstone]

Well thank you for that. It sure is a beautiful place!

[@dominicdelucchi2473]

Great time fishing with you hope to do it again. Another Awesome video too

[@driftstone]

Thanks again Dominic for coming and meeting up. I hope to get down to Putah one of these days!

[@dsfishco.4725]

Look at this; you finally made it to Truckee. Great video, man! I absolutely love the drone shots, very nice. The Truckee River has some trophy fish, hope you hook into one next time you go. It could be tough sometimes but very rewarding.

[@driftstone]

Yeah, I hope to get back out there this summer and give it another go. I learned a lot on this trip.

[@joanlynch5271]

Yes the drone shots are nice. I thought that you are supposed to destroy pike minnows.

[@ruggedoutdoorchronicles1387]

thats some beautiful water! great video!

[@driftstone]

Thanks bro, looks like you've got a channel... :D

[@ruggedoutdoorchronicles1387]

@@driftstone yes I do! after a rough start in starting off my channel, i’ve finally got my channel up and going! learning as I go of course!

[@driftstone]

Yup, same. There's always so much to get better at. Keep up the good work

[@ruggedoutdoorchronicles1387]

@@driftstone yes I totally agree with you on that one!

[@psilocybin444]

Thanks for rocking the sweatshirt guys! Good work on finding some trout!

[@KI-dc9ok]

The Little T is way too crowded now-a-days. Other spots on the main river get swamped now too. All the bay area crowd taking up fly fishing during covid. some guys around hirshdale were taking fish home to cook this fall... add a drought with warm waters and guys that don't know how to catch and release in warm conditions and this fishery will be crushed by end of summer

[@decolonizedmeateater]

Ya .. all the Europeans settlers came and fishing beeen shitty across the continent for a few hundred years. They kept spreading and reproducing and oppressing the natives until there weren’t any more of them around. Like the native fish. Add dams and capitalist exploitation nationally and abroad, and it’s bad news .

[@Petesworkshop2225]

Nice. I grew up fishing the truckee, I used to long for different opportunities, but in reality, the truckee is one of the best waters anyone could experience. In the 70s I would drink straight from the river, would not do that today.

[@driftstone]

ha no way would I drink that water. Which is kind of sad. Still a stunning place to fish. Thanks for stopping by.

[@AnotherFishingAdventure]

You're a great fisherman. Nice work out there. The videos are great!

[@driftstone]

Thanks man! I'm heading up to NE Washington next month, I'm going to go look for some water to fish!

[@AnotherFishingAdventure]

@@driftstone awesome! Fishing up here is great

[@familyflyties3913]

The waters you fish have some of the most beautiful terrain. Love the waters and the fish caught!

[@driftstone]

I can't complain, these mountains never grow old.

[@flowflyfishing2131]

Hi Eric. Both those river are tough rivers to fish. You are doing a great job. You are right, fly fishing is a life long learning process, it's one of the best aspects of it, every time I go out, I come back with a little better understanding of it. At the same time, I come back realizing I still have a ton to learn. It's great to see your progress and your passion for the sport. Keep up the good work.

[@driftstone]

Thanks for the reminder and encouragement. I love learning and in this phase where I have so much I still don't know, sometimes there are big leaps of knowledge gained. Other times, I leave scratching my head and can't piece anything together. The common names for hatches still confuses the heck out of me. I think I'm going to pick up a book on the subject because I can't seem to find a good source for that online.

[@flowflyfishing2131]

@@driftstone I completely understand. In the past 6 years, I have dived in really deep, reading lots of books, practice. It's amazing how much there is to learn. I am sort of studying insects and entomology related to the flies we use. Also, I have been on a wet flies kick and been tying a lot. I am looking forward to getting up soon. If you would like a book recommendation, I am happy to give you one.

[@driftstone]

@@flowflyfishing2131 Wet flies have intrigued me as well. I'd love some book recommendations, I've seen a few titles, but anything with a good high level book that covers the major insects would be helpful.

[@flowflyfishing2131]

​@@driftstone Sorry for such a long thread, I though about emailing you. Wet Flies by David Hughes - 2nd edition is great. The last 3-4 chapters talk about fishing techniques. Gary Borger wrote 4 books that are good, Reading Water, Fly Fishing as a Predator, Fishing the Film, and Long Flies. Your nymphing techniques are very advanced for a beginner, but Nymph Masters is a great book by Jason Randell. He also wrote Feeding Time, which is all about trout and their feeding behaviors . I read all of these books, after reading a couple chapters, I would run to the river and practice. Casting is one of the most important aspects to dial in because every drift is connected a cast, also it help with line control - mending etc. I received some training from world-champion casters because I live 25 minutes from a competitive casting pond and because I was obsessed with being able to cast within 6 inches from a target, up to 40-50 feet. My current obsession is learning some what about bugs, entomology and the flies we fish. As for these books, I have a book called Western Hatches, it's a pocket book. I just bought a book on May Flies by and another on Stoneflies by Richard Arbona - both of these books are very in-depth. Like you said, it's a life long learning process. I say, pick your subject, geek out on it, find a friend or two to chat about your current obsession, and go practice what you learn. Many of these books I checked out from the library, that may be a resource for you.

[@markfischer1012]

Another Great Video and adventure m, Thanks Eric. , The little Truckee has been hit hard by the guides the last 10 years , 200 guides in just the Truckee area , not enough water. North Fork Yuba has less traffic .

[@driftstone]

I actually just went to the N. Yuba. It was beautiful, be we could barely find fish bigger than 8".

[@PalmCirclePete]

Nice dude! I just saw this one from you because I’m actually heading up to the truckee tomorrow for the first time. Lived right here in sac for a while but never had the chance to fish truckee. Great video!

[@driftstone]

Ha, no way. I can't believe you've never been! The fishing was a little slow for me, but it was beautiful and gives ya more reason to go back. Good luck up there!

[@SuperDuperOutdoors]

The Truckee is so big...got a dink and nothing else. I will be back. Good stuff bro.

[@driftstone]

Haha, no kidding. You could spend a year learning that river.

[@drowsyflyfishing8728]

Great video dudes!! I wanna try euro nymphing now lol

[@driftstone]

It's a ton of fun and super effective. The Bow may not be the best river for it, but it's fun to experiment.

[@JasonPoindexterus]

Great video! Excellent production quality! I was wondering, what is the stick that is trailing you @ 9:00 used for?

[@driftstone]

That's a wading stick. So I can confidently moving around in the river.

[@JasonPoindexterus]

@@driftstone thank you for the response! I will have to get one

[@driftstone]

@@JasonPoindexterus I'm cheap and just use wooden tool handles, but you can buy collapseable wading sticks. Similar to trekking poles.

[@RosinFlyFishing]

Beautiful video Eric, as always!

[@driftstone]

Thank you sir!

[@fabulousrobert6607]

Dude, that water looks amazing. I’m glad someone is out there getting after those Browns and Rainbows. If I can recommend, take a class to learn how to fly fish the Truckee, and to learn fly fishing in general. There are a few guides in the area, Truckee and Reno that offer in the class and field instruction. For all they offer, it is totally worth it. Who knows, maybe you’ll learn something and actually catch good sized trout your first time out. Good luck!! 👍🏼

[@driftstone]

Glad you enjoyed watching me struggle. Perhaps merely throwing money at the problem by hiring a guide isn't why I fish. ಠ_ಠ

[@williamcooke6056]

Perhaps I'm hoping you realize what type of fishing he was doing? Ever seen anyone Euro-nymphing before? Mr. Fabulous? Perhaps you should hire that guide?

[@tlfishing1751]

Awesome videos man keep it up !!

[@driftstone]

Thanks Tony

[@chrisstclair3954]

Great taste in music , get them trout.

[@driftstone]

Thanks Chris, still have a lot to learn about this river!

[@Mahjoubi2]

A really beautiful scene. I wish you success from your Egyptian friend

[@kingkiddfishing]

Filming fly fishing ain't easy! You may have had a skunked day, but I already know you had great footage. Hurts to know you scraped all that hard work. Great video by the way!

[@driftstone]

I actually have a couple reasons for scrapping it. At some point last fall I decided to never post a video when I skunk. Maybe I should change that policy as it happens less often now and people can still see the river and learn what not to do haha. The other reason was that I didn't plan a way to dump my memory cards. 256GB of cards for the Nikon and that is enough to film one full day of fishing. So for multi-day trips, I'm going to need another 256gb of cards or a means to dump them. I don't have a laptop. So I deleted it to make room for day 2. There's always something to spend money on haha Thanks for the nice words!

[@purpledrakefishing]

I have had limited luck with only a few small fish caught in that section in the small canyon you fished. Only fished the U once before, but caught just one small brown. Have heard the U is poor fishing from other people for some unknown reason. There are definitely some spots on the Truckee that just don't seem to hold many fish. Tricky river!

[@driftstone]

That's always the fun part of walking up on a new river for the first time. I had some tips, but you really just need to spend time there to learn those things. I'd like to visit other areas up around Hirschdale Rd next.

[@purpledrakefishing]

@@driftstone It will take a few trips to get dialed into the river for sure. IMO, I think it is the best overall trout stream in California/NV.

[@driftstone]

@@purpledrakefishing that's saying a lot!

[@desertraider2947]

@@purpledrakefishing Facts. Once one learns the Truckee, they become Jedis :)

[@francoisa5928]

It’s my home water for the last 5 years. It took me en entire winter to catch my first trout, the trick? go big (jig stream with a 6mm bead) or go tiny (like a small perdigon) but then add a few split shot to go down to the 6-8 feet of depth where the fish are. Nothing in between, every hole is fished everyday, they have seen everything. Good luck.

[@vanceregan9708]

Yep, another excellent video!

[@driftstone]

Thanks Vance, have you ever had the pleasure of fishing up there?

[@vanceregan9708]

@@driftstone just the Little Truckee one day 2 years ago. Landed one 13” and had my fly snapped off by a big one. Not much to talk about!

[@MalachiLehbruh]

I caught 60 yesterday on a mahogany nymph under a thingamabobber with 2x I believe 10 lb and 4x tipping worked like a charm

[@brentsawrie4753]

The Little Truckee and the Truckee can both be humbling rivers, no matter how long you’ve been fishing. I’ve talked with folks who have fished both for decades and all have said be prepared to be humbled. I Fish both regularly and have had epic days and days with out even having a single hit.

[@driftstone]

Thanks for the reassurance. I know I need to go back and give it another go!

[@desertraider2947]

The Little Truckee used to be such an awesome fishery until all the yuppies learned about it and now its basically combat fishing. Beautiful sceneray with hit or miss results due to the insane amount of fishing pressure unfortunately. No thanks, I'll take the formidable Truckee river all day for the win and the hammers. Nice Vid :)

[@driftstone]

It was a bit shocking, I almost never see other anglers on our best rivers around Redding, so to see so many on the banks of such a small stream was a new experience. Maybe if they can get Boca and Stampede filled they'll release more water through there. I'll definitely be back to the Truckee, it's amazing up there!

[@daveadams7191]

The Truckee will make you earn your catch.

[@driftstone]

Yessir, it will. Man I need to get back down there this fall!

[@flyguy4515]

Love euro nymphing...

[@tomlevine9889]

What flies/nymphs were you using that day? My son and I are headed there soon. Thanks. Love your videos.

[@driftstone]

ha, you want to know what not to use then? :D I used all my normal flies, Sexy Walt's worms, Dredgers, Red Darts and Duracells. That bug I picked up was a Skwala Stone Fly and I stupidly never fished one. Have a good trip, I'd love to hear back how it goes!

[@tomlevine9889]

@@driftstone We're heading to the Flaming Gorge in NE Utah then to the Truckee. I've used Swalas at the Yuba earlier late this winter and early spring with good success. Fish those in the shallows right near the shore. I'll report back. Thanks.

[@dennischafin9160]

Nice t see the Truckee try not to video “man holding staff”

[@driftstone]

😂🤣 This man likes to hold his staff and his rods. Thanks for the obvious advice and welcome to the channel.

[@fishingnoob2216]

Ahhhh during mid summer try fishing upwards under boca reservoir. Or try the little truckee River. It’s loaded with fish with little to no ppl.

[@driftstone]

I definitely want to check out more spots. I fished the Little Truckee the day before this and I have never seen more people fishing a small stream in my life. haha

[@jeromedamian5740]

This type of fly fishing is only going to become more challenging with the on going videos out there, more people on more rivers, I absolutely love watching videos but I also feel there are limits to what we say and do while on are favorite waters . I my self , just don't tell people where I fish . Its always so much more fun to be someplace where people just don't know or go to often.

[@robertsteven5755]

No need for music!

[@driftstone]

Im much lighter handed with music these. Thanks for watching