A Day on the River

The Truckee River is legendary in its' fishing difficulty, the locals jokingly referring to it as the 'Toughee River'. Yet what makes up for the sometimes onerous fishing days is the wild character and natural beauty of the local trout. At times you'll be plugging away in one hole for hours, changing rigs by the minute and generally getting frustrated as your flies swipe by the mouths of uninterested fish. Then like a lighting bolt out of a clear sky, the fortune will change in an instant and you've got yourself a 20", 5 lb. trout fiercely fighting the tug of your 3 lb. test and the metallic endurance of your miniature hook.

This particular day followed that exact pattern. Bud Nick Patch and I took an early morning into the early hours of afternoon with no fish landed, no bites materialized and zero subtle hints of fish.





But we kept plugging away, changing rigs and hitting holes with every thing we had. Soon enough Nick found the magic fly and probably on the sixtieth drift hit the first fish of the day.







And then we reaped the rewards of Nick's find.





And then somehow after a hundred plus drifts in this one particular hole, I managed to strike my proudest fish I've ever pulled from the Toughee River.





This stout trout which was probably about 18" in length probably topped the scales at the 3 to 3.5 lb mark. I could barely get my hand around it's footballed body. Such a beauty and so fun to catch (and definitely release).

The fly and the damage the trout did to the hook. A true hook bender.



A great day on the river passing time until the snow falls.