Nevada County Fishing Reports

The Truckee is back to cold, clear, stable winter flows after recent storms. Trout are spread into soft, slow water… tailouts, subtle seams, and bubble lines. Small midges and baetis dominate right now, with fish keyed on size over movement. Indicator nymphing is the most effective approach given how slow and specific these holding zones are. Streamers can still produce, but only with very slow, deliberate presentations in soft water rather than aggressive retrieves.

The Mackinaw bite at Donner has been leaning more toward quality rather than quantity… that is, if you can get on the water. Recent storms buried the launch ramp in snow, with folks needing a shovel to get their boats on the water. Once out, good-sized macks are holding in 60 to 80 feet, hitting Flatfish and Rapalas trolled very slowly. Water temps are in the low 40s and will continue to drop, pushing fish into even deeper zones soon. The bite is anything but consistent, although most hookups have been good-sized fish, with a 15+ pounder reported last week.

The last CDFW rainbow plant was in early November, but both shore and boat anglers are still finding fish — mainly on small Rapalas or spinners early in the morning.

This was a tough one for me but I think it was my fault for not adapting. Water temp was just over 60, and it was bright and sunny with some mixed cloud cover (I fished Thursday and Friday). Skunked on Thursday, but I put too much effort into top water (got one strike only). On Friday, slowly switched to finesse fishing throughout the day, and finally got a decent spotted on a Texas-rigged creature bait (Zoom Lizard) that I was slowly dragging on the bottom. Switched to dropshot at about 25 – 30 feet and got some bites, but couldn’t land them. Still new to this, so learning slowly, but I think I need to switch to weightless or wacky worm.