Truckee River and Middle Fork Feather River Fly Fishing Report 8-31-26

Truckee River

Fly fishing on the Truckee River continues to improve as cooler early fall temps have the fish starting to put on the feed bags. Flows are holding steady and water temps are coming down to more reasonable levels. A cooling trend this week with highs in the 60’s and lows in the low 30’s will continue to help bring water temps down.

Dry fly and dry dropper fishing has been a ton of fun this week. There are still some fish rising to spent caddis and trico spinners. The big dry has gotten some love as well, but most of my clients fish have been on the nymph. There are fish in many water types but most have come from pocket water and deeper runs. Some fish are feeding in pretty skinny riffles so its with a shot fishing that water type as well with a small dry.

What’s Working

Nymph’s: Raindrop Perdigon (14-16), Plastic Surgeon (14-18), Electrolyte Baetis (14-16), Jigged PT (14-18), Rusty Jig (14-16), Walt’s Worm (14-18), Pat’s Rubberlegs (8-10), bunny jig (8), 20 Incher (8-10) Dries: Chubby Chernobyl orange, pink (8-10), Film Critic bwo (16-18), Last Chance Cripple (16-18), E/C Caddis (14-18), Missing Link (16-18), Morrish Hopper (12),

Middle Fork Feather River

Rejoice! Water temperatures have finally come back down to reasonable levels. This weeks cooler weather will continue to improve water conditions. The downside is flows are very low at 20cfs on the Portola gauge. Better flows are found below Two Rivers. Trico spinners have fish feeding on the surface mid morning providing fun dry fly opportunities. Beside that it’s still mostly a nymph game as we wait for the Isonichyia Mayfly hatch to start. Dry dropper is my go to rig on this iconic Wild and Scenic River.

Concentrate fishing efforts in the deeper runs and riffles and dont be afraid to fish the deeper frog water!

What’s Working

Nymph’s: Rusty Jig (14-16), Raindrop Perdigon (14-16), Electrolyte Baetis (14-16), Jigged PT (14-16), Plastic Surgeon (14-18), Zebra May (18) Walts Worm (16-20) Dries: Trico spinner (20-22), Parachute Adams (18-20), Parachute BWO (18-20), Chubby Chernobyl orange (10-12),

Looking Ahead

Fall is poking its head out as we finish the month of August with cooler temps and shorter days. With cooler water temps Webber Lake is back on the menu. Here we fish for trophy Lahontan Cutthroat trout, rainbows, browns and large brookies. This is a fun fishery in a stunning setting and will be open for another month or so. Milton Lake is still fishing for wild brown trout and will improve throughout the fall. Webber is open until October 15 so don’t wait to book your adventure here!