While fishing the East Walker river this last weekend, on a mild 67* day in late January, i found myself thinking back to what feels like a lifetime ago.... The first time i arrived at this beautiful river in Nevada's back country.
It was in November 2011, on a sunny mid fall day, when my brother and i first turned onto HWY 338, in remote Smith Valley, and headed toward the East Walker river. I remember how anxious we were, excited, watching this new country fly by us, as we sped down the road. You see, we had never really fished anywhere besides the Truckee river, and Pyramid lake, and a small valley in Plumas county. Our fishing world was very small, we had only recently taken up fly fishing ( like 2 weeks ago recently) and had only been seriously fishing for a year. We had spent that year heavily fishing the Truckee river, and enjoying the prolific water of the 2010-11 snow-pack. We lived in a small universe, that was now expanding. We we novices, in a huge world. We had only just started practicing catch and release, and still had a long way to go to perfect our handling skills. So much promise lay ahead though, down this new road, HWY 338.
As we arrived, we sat in awe at the base of the Sweet-water mountains, starring out over the Rosachi ranch valley, orange and yellows, surrounded by brown and blue mountains. It was a whole new world, a new fishing universe lay before our feet. That first trip, we chose to fish right below the Elbow. As we maneuvered my 05' Chevy Cobalt down the dirt road, across the Rosachi ranch, we starred in awe at this new river. It was so much smaller than our Truckee, so much more overgrown, so different all together!
We arrived around 12, and got our gear together. Back then, our "gear" was a fishing pole, and small tackle box that fight in our pocket. That was it, light, simple, easy. I was still using my regular spin cast reel, with a small red/white daredevil lure. Brett however, was bold, and choose to use his new fly rod, which we had picked up at a garage sale. We literally knew nothing about fly fishing, about nymphs, or tippet, or leader, or shit. Like, we knew nothing!! I remember though, for some reason, he choose to use a red copper john. Maybe because its the most common, and popular nymph around, but it did go his way. We also had no idea what "wadding" was either, but we were about to learn! We had always just fished from shore, never gotten in the water. The only time we got wet, was falling in, or netting a real monster fish. Well, on that 60* November day, we where about to learn what wadding was, and what wearing jeans wadding meant!
The East walker was, and is Extremely overgrown! That was totally new to us back then, the Truckee has a lot of open bank, but finding open bank on the East walker is like finding..... well, its tough! Finally, we just pushed through the thick brush, and dove into the icy water. it was a long 2 hours of fishing, but we managed several small rainbows. He caught a few on his fly, me a few on my lures. I'll never know what ultimately brought us back to that amazing river. It was shallow, like nothing we had fished, tough to fish, and the river was only giving small 10" rainbows. Plus, its a 2.5 hour drive. But something did hook us, and we came back ( with waders next time!)
That was the day our fishing Universe expanded, and kicked of some of the greatest fishing years of my life. We began exploring every creek, river, and lake withing 120 miles of Reno. It led us to some of the most breath taking places on earth. To some of the biggest fish we had ever seen, and created some of the greatest memories we will ever have. It touched off an arms race of finding every Lil stretch of river or creek that was fish-able, untouched by our feet. We spent all week researching new locations, online looking at videos, and maps, and pictures, trying to decipher where was good an bad. We felt like true explorers, venturing into untouched wilderness in search of the next trophy trout. This was truly the golden time, the time I look back on so fondly. It seemed like it would never end.
But it did. Life changed us both, and we have since drifted apart. And while I still fish just as hard, and just as much as I ever did before, our Universe has stopped expanding. I have now been to every little creek and lake in our region. And while there are still some unexplored regions high up in the sierra, the magic is gone. Don't get me wrong, I still love to fish, heck, I cant wait to be on the East walker river this coming weekend. Just, its different now, all those places that were once new, shinny, and unexplored, are now places Ive been to so many times, I know them like the back of my hand. I know what to expect around every bend.
I do have some new places to explore this year, some new lakes and rivers I want to fish for the first time. But to give you an idea of what i mean, in 2012, I must have tried over 60 different new lakes, rivers, and creeks. In 2013, it was probably around 40 new places, with many still fresh. In 2014, I only tried about 15 new places, and only 10-15 on my list this year.
After a bit of reflection, after writing this article, I realize what i need to do this year, and that is bring the magic back, find new places, new stretches of untouched land in this fishing universe of mine, make this year a year I wont forget, and renew my soul in the lake and streams I haven't yet touched!
Its funny how things work. All summer long I couldn't wait for fall and winter to arrive, for the big rivers and lakes to be more fish-able, for the weather to arrive and bring much needed water. However during the recent celebration of the 25 days of fishmas ( where i recap my 25 best fish of the year), i found myself missing some of my high country fishing locations.
During the warmer months of the year i love heading up to streams and lakes above 8k feet, many above 10k! I am able to beat the heat, and experience some of the best fishing of the year. Its all about perspective though. There are no monster fish at 10k feet, on the crest of the sierra, a monster there is an 18" Trout. the beauty and quality of the fish, the beauty of the mountains, and just being out in remote country alone, makes it worth it.
I tend to head in search of Golden's once June arrives. This means long hiking trips into granite filled mountains. It means gasping for air at 11,000 feet while hiking 5 miles to reach a secluded lake. Having the warm summer air in your face, starring into the glacier blue depths of a lake that sits nestled at 10,800, beneath the staggering granite peaks, well, its a very wonderful feeling.
Even if you don't find yourself a golden, you can always find some hungry brookies, that will literally chew your hopper to bits. No joke, I've watched as after 15min my brand new hopper is torn to shreds and all that remains is some scrap foam and a hook! Its always a blast to try and pull a sierra slam, or a grand slam, or my favorite, the ultra slam. If your skilled enough, there are several locations, with enough work, where you can catch ; Golden trout, cutthroat, rainbow, brown and brook trout. Its nearly impossible, but it can be done. Last year, i managed to catch a Golden, rainbow, Brown, and brookie all in the span of 8 hours. It wasn't easy, and the rainbow actually came on luck as i was waiting for my water taxi to arrive!
There are a few locations you can go to get some truly amazing Trout, but they all require back breaking hikes. Marlette is a fun lake to travel to. It seems so close, nestled between Tahoe and Carson. Yea, try again, its a 5 mile hike, with a 1500ft elevation change. Unless of course you feel really crazy, and do the front of the lake, which is only about 1.5 miles, but a 2000 ft elevation change in that short distance. Marlette is big, 1.5 miles long, and 50ft deep. Its a Catch and release only lake, barbless hooks required. However, its a blast to fish with hoppers in august, and has some rainbows and brookies that reach 22", which for Trout at 8k feet, is pretty dam impressive!
So as they snow falls, the days end a 4pm, and I'm stuck out at pyramid lake, praying for my big take, ill be thinking of you Sierra high country!
On Sunday i decided to take a break from Pyramid lake, and head out to one of my most favorite rivers, the East walker river. As usual i was in for beautiful scenery, and remote open river, but i was in for an unfortunate surprise.
The river suffered from one of the worst drought winters in decades. It brought flows to just a trickle during the hottest part of the summer. Usually in July and August, flows average 150-300 cfs, keep water temps below 70* most of the summer. The last few years, the river has managed to hold about 125-150cfs during the peak heat, which has let the river survive our hot summers. This year though, flows ranged between 50-100cfs, which lead to sustained water temps of 77* being recorded well into the Nevada side. This temperature is lethal to trout.
While these temps managed to stay just cool enough on the California side, and the first 9 miles of the Nevada section of river, beyond that appears to have been severely impacted. Impacts where minimal on the stretches left unhurt, but once your travel below the Elbow, fish loss may have been as high as 50%, with as much as 95% of fish over 18" not surviving.
Typically, this time of year, in early December, with my spin cast rod in hand, i cant count on an amazing day. Usually I'm able to land several 16-20" Brown trout, with just as many chasing my Lil Cleo rainbow pattern lure. Ive watched hungry 22" browns literally plow there way onto shore in pursuit of my lure. This time tho, not a single fish over 12". I did catch several small browns, which gives me hope! This is my second trip out to the river since fall begin, with similar results the first time. Other sign indicate the fish are gone. Planted rainbow trout often don't survive long in the river, they either become food for the browns, or are so picked on by them, they die. This time, i notice every rainbow i caught was very healthy, no stress marks or attack marks, and in plentiful numbers. That means no big fish to crowd them out. Also the population of crayfish was much higher than i have ever seen it! Those guys also usually end up as food, suggesting the big hunters are not there.
There was some good news, i did see several fresh Redd's, suggesting some browns had spawned on the lower river, which was great news! If the big fish are gone, than at least some fish remain. Its also possible as the water temps rose, the fish moved up the river to get to cooler water. The optimistic side of me prays this is what happened, and when spring flows return, the fish will work there way back down the river.
Needless to say, Sunday was a sad day. The river i love fishing, the river that helped breed my catch and release side, the river that helped me get into fly fishing, the river that taught me there was just more than the Truckee river in my region, may have suffered a serious setback. A river that once carried 18-24" in every single hole, a river that brought the chance of amazing fish on every single cast! Not a total loss, but a painful one nonetheless. Hopefully winter brings us lots of snow, and the river is able to begin to recover, and return to greatness!
This fall, with severe drought plaguing us in the Sierra Region, I have been left with very few fishing options compared to normal years. I can usually count on fishing the Truckee river, the East Walker, and many small creeks. They are all far to low to risk the fishes health. However, i have on option, that provides and irresistible allure.... 25lbs Cutthroat trout!
With the amazing emerald jewel just 45 minutes from home, a 27 mile long graveyard for the Truckee river, Pyramid lake currently contains some of the best Trout angling on the entire planet. What makes it so special is the ability to catch large fish, from shore! Casting spoons, or slinging buggers, could easily get you a 10lbs, 15lbs or even a 25lbs cutthroat. Personally, they are not usually the most stunning in beauty, nothing like a fall brown, or spring bow', but sometimes, these cutties can be on fire, and truly beautiful! Its their size, the fight, and the possibility of a 20lbs cutthroat on fire, that draws me to this lake.
You are probably thinking to yourself, this guy is an idiot for considering fishing anywhere else! why pass up the chance at 36" cutthroat, for 20" Browns on the East walker? Well, its simple really. First, i consider myself a good angler, but not a pro. I can catch fish with the best of them, but I'm not they guy who can go to Pyramid and catch 10+ fish a day slinging buggers. For me, it takes some work. And that often means standing on a ladder for hours, and hours, and oh, a few more hours. Sometimes not getting a tug for 3-4 hours straight. when is 45*, wind gently blowing in your face, and your feet going numb, it can get a little, tiresome!
But i am hanging in there. My biggest fish of the season is about 24", although i have lost several fish that would have been over 30". Thanksgiving weekend really tested my resolve. On Thanksgiving day, i lost a 10lbs+ fish on my spin cast rod. Friday i stood from 7am, to 3pm, in wind that reached 60mph gusts. I watched the blue waters around me become littered with tumble weeds, and a huge dust storm arise at the north end of the lake. But nothing special on my line. On Saturday, i sat in cold winds, and cloudy conditions, from 7am to 430pm. Just as i was getting ready to leave, rain showers arriving, i got the tug. A big one to, probably 15lbs, quickly ripped line from my spool, until my knot broke, and my line fell slack. It was so heartbreaking! Finally on Sunday, i stood in the rain, all day, soaking cold to the bone, slinging flies all day, hoping, hoping, and nothing came.
I am hoping all this patience pays off. If i land the 20lbs fish of my dreams, all this will be worth it. But until then, i question my resolve, and once spring arrives, if i haven't landed at least a 10lbs fish, it will be very difficult, with water back in the river, to keep at it! I will be out there this weekend though, search hing for my hog!
We are finally seeing some winter weather pushing into our region, which is goo news for our drought stricken rivers. The not so good news is the size of the storms are falling apart. Lets keep our fingers crossed that they continue to flow this way.
This year is off to a much different start than last winter. Our mountains are much whiter than last Thanksgiving. However, in terms of total precip, we aren't much better off yet. Its very hard to predict what winter will hold for our region, but there are some predictions out there right now, here they are:
- El Nino is still likely in play, but it will be a weak El Nino
- GFS models are indicating a 200% December for the California/
Sierra region
- Our winter is likely to be an 85-95%, if El Nino really kicks in,
as high as 125%
Although none of this is fact, things look very mixed right now. A nice trough has set up, looking to bring a big storm in mid week this week, hopefully delivering 2ft of wet snow to the mountains. Then it looks as though a ridge of high pressure will build back in for a week or so. After that, it appears we will get more storms. At this point,as much as im trying to be optimistic, things aren't look wonderful. The bright side is, we almost definitely wont be as bad as the 35% winter we had last season!!
Keep your hopes us, our fisheries will surely be impacted by yet another dry winter. A 100% winter will at least hold us over one more year, and spare the majority of rivers/ lakes from total loss. a 120% or greater will get us moving in the right direction. a 200% winter would be our silver bullet, but don't hold your breath for that one. Anything less than a 90% winter though, spells catastrophic results. A bad winter, will likely mean a total, or near total loss of the Truckee river, the East walker river, many lakes will be in danger, like Frenchmans, Boca, Prosser, Stampede, and S
pooner, and im sure many more.
Feel free to leave your predictions, and lets see if they come true in the spring! put the % you think we will end up at!
One of the biggest challenges our regions rivers will face in the coming years is the increase in population. this will affect our rivers in several different ways, from increased number of fisherman, to increased water usage, to increased pollution. the question really is how do we deal with these factors, as fisherman?
There are several ways the growth in the future will affect the eastern sierra rivers and creeks. One of the most obvious will be the impact of more fisherman on our rivers. with more people, will come more people who want to enjoy the resources around them. this brings a very unique challenge of how to continue to enhance our fisheries while dealing with the increased amount of people. Most fisherman out there are not catch and release conservation minded. the average fisherman only fishes several times a year, keeps fish they catch, and only travels short distances. this presents are great opportunity in solving this challenge. here are several ways i believe we should move forward in the state of Nevada, and the Sierra mountains.
1. Fishing sticking programs- Fishing stocking has very mixed results. most stocked fish tend to only survive a few weeks, tops. this means stocking thousands of trout in a region where they may not be fished is a waste. Fishing stocking is very expensive, and requires a lot of resources, from collecting eggs to raising brood.
* i believe one of the keys to managing the future will be more targeted stocking. we need to enhance local places to fish, local ponds. since most people don't travel far, it will keep close to home, while preserving rivers like the East walker. If you have fisherman who would be removing trophy fish fishing local ponds, versus fishing our blue ribbon rivers, its a winner! this requires NDOW to review some of the places, or quantities that are stocked. should remote, or non-visited places be stocked?
2. Increased Protective Regulations- Some of our local rivers already contain good regulations. Many people don't like fishing regulations ( i know lots of fisherman who hate barb-less hook regs) and regulations can be tough to enforce. However merely having them in place, and visible ( signs at entry points) will mean most fisherman will follow them. Catch and release and low limit regs really do work. So do barb-less regs! I personally believe that single barb-less can be dangerous, therefore I'm ok with just barb-less regulations. Creating large sections of river that are protected will allow for more, healthy fish on our rivers. The Truckee river should be Barb-less hooks/ limit 2 under 18" for the entire stretch of river. allowing a few fish to be removed will mean bigger fish for the rest of us, and keep big healthy breeders in our river. most people who keep there catch end up keeping large fish. by having a size limit, it will keep more large fish in our rivers! there are several bodies of water in our region that could use more protection, such as the West walker, the Truckee river, the West Carson to name a few.
Take a look at a local restoration project
3. Restoration and preservation- this to me is key. if we do not work to restore and preserve more of our rivers, then fishing will not get better! since 2002, the Nature conservancy has restored 11.5 miles of Truckee river ( including the current project, to be completed summer 2014). That means there are now 11.5 miles more of river that was essentially unfishable a decade ago. there goal is 20 miles of river restoration, but there are easily 15-25 more miles of river that could be restored or enhanced. just think, if 20 more miles of river were restored, in 30 years, there will be so much more mature, healthy river for everyone to fish. there are tons of places that could use restoration ( full reconstruction of the river or stream) and enhancement ( minor improvements to increase habitat) some rivers that could use a full blow restore, are the West walker river, basically east of Topaz, and some of the upper stretches above 395. The Truckee is another great example, from sparks east, there are still many miles of channelized river. Many rivers could see small projects that would be inexpensive that would help with erosion, increase habitat, and provide for better fisheries, from the little Truckee, to the east/west Carson, to the Owens river.
Nature conservancy - check out there work on our local rivers!
4. Education- the final key is public awareness. most fisherman out there have no clue what is going. they don't know about catch and release, conservation, or restoration, and the problems our rivers face. Most people aren't aware of the up coming challenges, so the only way to move forward is to work to educate people. there are many ways, and i think the key is for our local organizations, TU, the Nature conservancy, NDOW, to help people understand. simple, easy to understand brochures should be handed out at public events, on what the challenge is, and how to fix it. social media, and public relation is key to building support and knowledge of making our rivers a better place!
If local fisherman aren't united in moving forward, nothing will be accomplished. we all want the fishing in our region to be amazing. doing nothing about it is not an option. hoping things will get better is also not an option. this year, the Truckee river take limit was reduced from 5 fish to 3 fish. This is a step in the right direction. more can be taken, fisherman like you must get interactive. i know our first response is to become defensive over our favorite places to fish, but that wont solve what will come, change! Come join us at the Truckee river fisherman
Over the last few years, i have really come to appreciate just how lucky I am to live here in Reno, as it relates to fishing. Not only am i located within a few hours of dozens of major rivers, hundreds of lakes, and thousands of creeks, but also a time of improving water conditions and river awareness.
However, there are some big challenges that us avid fisherman will face in the coming decades, very large, and sometimes scary ones. the questions becomes how do move forward, what kinds of action needs to be taken now, in order for things to be just as good or better than they are now! i recently had a conversation that opened my eyes, there are people who believe the best action for our local rivers is to purely do nothing, no restoration, no regulations, merely to "hide" our local rivers. They claimed unnecessary publicity was the sole cause of river degradation, and the way to fix it was merely to stop talking about our rivers. and that government can do no good at all in terms of setting river management policy, or actively restoring our local waters.
This idea of 'lets go back to the way things were' is not the way forward. lets take a look at a few of the major challenges that we will face here in the western united states, and some ways that we work to counter them. doing nothing is the worst possible angle to take. creating an active community of local fisherman that can take action, and force our local/state agencies to do the same is an invaluable tool, and i hope to use the Truckee River Fisherman in such a way. David Bobizen has been a friend to this page, I'm hoping to reach out to him, as well as some of our friends in NDOW, TU, and the nature conservancy, and create real change in our rivers here in Nevada, and in the west.
Here are some of the serious problems we may face:
- - Population growth; Our region is growing. Reno has doubled in size since i was born, many of you have seen it triple, or more! its something we cant change. with social media, and an increase in fishing popularity, its unavoidable that our rivers, lakes, creeks will become more crowded, we cant stop it.
* fixes- we cant slow down the growth of fishing in our region, nor can we hide rivers (for very long). However, we can restore rivers that have seen serious degradation ( Truckee, west walker) and create " new" places to fish from old. increased C&R zones, fly fishing only sections, and lower limits on take.
- - Pollution; although huge, huge strides have been in our region on increasing water clarity, and reducing pollution. Trout are sensitive fish, and with more people moving to our region, increased pollution could be a problem.
* increased public awareness, community clean ups, revised and straighted regulations to help prevent industrial pollution.
- - Drought/ climate change- putting the climate change debate aside, change always happens. we have droughts, and climate change will likely impact our region, from reduced rainfall, to warmer temps, huge changes may be in store, and they will be hard to predict, but some measures can be taken now, to minimize their impact in the future.
* its hard to make it rain more, but we can conserve water, make grass illegal, reduce farming, and learn to better manage our reservoirs, using newer more reliable weather prediction models.
- - overfishing- Although many people who read this probably practice C&R, the majority of fisherman do not. In a healthy river, fish can be harvested, but there are many rivers and lakes in our region that could easily go from stable to unstable, from any one or all of the condition listed above. Policy/ Regulations will need to be crafted to ensure its helping, and not hurting our waterways.
* Regulations that work to protect rivers like the Truckee, while keeping access to take fisherman. using urban ponds, as our take fisheries. lower take limits, size restrictions, are all possible answers.
- Education; this one is key to ensuring that we can meet the challenges that we may face. becoming educated about all the topics above, and about trout, will be a huge advantage, along with promoting knowledge and information about our resources.
Through my next few blogs, i will identify some of the challenges, and ways i believe we can fix them. i by no means and expert, and would love input. good ideas, information, perspective are always wonderful to receive. what i will not accept are people hoping we can just go back, put our heads in the sand. i want to see our region get better, and ignoring these problems will not achieve that goal! Feel free to contact us on the Facebook page, or reply here. i would love some input! thanks so much!
FACEBOOK
YOUTUBE
GOOGLE +
