Fly Fish Nevada

I had planned on taking my boys on a fishing trip this summer, but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out where.  I thought of a dozen different places and went back and forth about whether to camp or get a motel room.  As the time approached, I finally decided on Elko.  It’s in Nevada, the fishing is good, it’s not a place I get to fish often and the motel rooms were cheap.  Camping was out mainly because I wanted a little vacation and it was 97 degrees.

The boys as we begin to explore Lamoille Canyon.

So off we went on Monday the 2nd.  We arrived in Elko around 2:00, ate lunch and then checked in.  The room at the Days Inn wasn’t Caesar’s Palace but the room had three beds, which made my boys happy.  We settled in then headed up to Lamoille Canyon to check it out.  I took my fly rod, but took the spinning rods for the boys figuring that we would do more scouting than fishing.  Nope!  We hit is just right as the sun sank below the canyon rim and put some shade on the beaver ponds.

Lamoille Creek in one of it's steeper sections.

Owen fishing a small Panther Martin with no luck.

We saw the trout rising and could not ignore them.  For the next hour and a half we fished a little meandering section of Lamoille Creek between a couple of beaver ponds.  Unfortunately, they wanted dry flies, not lures and the boys had a tough time.  They toughed it out as I caught 6-8 fish including, to my surprise, a couple of healthy tiger trout.  Henry got about half that many brookies and Owen only a few tugs.  Tired from the drive we left, grabbed some burgers and retired to our room to watch Shark Week.

My first fish of the night, a small but pretty brook trout.

My first tiger trout...ever!!

One of the beaver ponds set against the Ruby Mountains

Henry and his first trout of the evening.

The next morning we got up early and drove the 60 or so miles to the Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge.  We planned on doing a little bass fishing, but it didn’t work out.  As this was the first trip in Nevada for the boys this year, they needed junior fishing licenses and I discovered once we got there that I had forgotten to get them.  Oops!  Being the honest sportsman I am I told the boys we had to go back to Elko and buy them licenses before we fished anymore.  To their credit, they took it in stride.  The fact that it was so hot, the area we planned to fish was dry and I promised we could go back to Lamoille Creek helped.  After making the boys legal, we drove back up to the canyon.

We found this playful coyote in the field surounding Ruby Lake.

A harvester in the hay fields near Ruby Lake.

Now it was about noon but none of us were ready for lunch, so we hit a spot lower down the canyon with some awesome pocket water.  I gave the boys a quick lesson in fishing a dry in this type of water and sent Henry off while I coached Owen and showed him how to dap a dry fly.  Owen is new to fly fishing and was getting frustrated, especially after my second cast produced a fine brookie.   He had a few small fish inspect his fly, but no takers.  Henry also had no luck.  After about an hour, we found a shady spot and ate some lunch and I smoked a cigar.

Some sexy Lamoille Creek pocket water.

A nice fat brookie from a little pool you would expect to find such a trout.

Owen learning to dap a dry fly.

After lunch it was back to the beaver ponds.  We arrived a little early and the sun was still on the water.  Mind you the canyon is deep, so by 5:30 the sun was gone, but it was only 4:30 when we arrived.  I gave the boys some casting pointers and they practiced on the few trout that were rising.  Henry managed a tiger trout and Owen remained skunky.  The shadows descended and we hit the section from the night before.  As usual, Henry was doing his own thing and Owen stuck with me.  I was on fish right away, catching them almost at will.  Owen, on the other hand, couldn’t buy a bite.  From then on it was our mission to get him a fish and as it would turn out, his first on a fly rod.

One of the many beaver lodges scattered around this meadow.

We tried everything.  We traded flies.  I resorted to casting for him and passing him the rod.  We switched positions.  No luck.  He had fish take his fly, but he could never time the hook set right.  I cast my own rod now and then and sure enough I’d hook another fish.  This went on for over an hour.  Tears were shed.  Finally, as it so often happens when you are in a slump, you get a dribbler up the middle for a hit.   Owen turned to say something to me and began stripping his line in preparation for another cast and BAM!  He had his first fish on a fly rod.  A nice 11 1/2 inch tiger.  He caught a few more little brookies and Henry finally showed up and had caught 6 or 8 including a few bigger tigers.  I rounded out my evening with a 13-inch tiger.

Owen shows off his first tiger trout and his first fish on a fly rod.

13 inches of tiger trout. Not to shabby.

Again we headed back about 9:00 pm, grabbed some burgers and watched TV.  We were beat.  The next morning we slept in and explored South Fork Reservoir.  It was hot and the water weedy and the bass weren’t cooperating.  We drove around looking things over and decided enough was enough.  We headed back to Elko, relaxed in the room, went to the park to throw the football around, got some pizza and turned in early.

The entrance to the Ruby Dome Ranch at the bottom of Lamoille Canyon.

Nothing turned out how I expected, but it worked out and we had fun.  I will definitely be heading back to Lamoille Canyon.  I want to spend some time in that pocket water.  I also want to hit some of the other places we didn’t have time for, Wild Horse Reservoir, the Owyhee River, the South Fork of the Humboldt, etc.  For now, though, we had a blast and I know the boys and I will be talking about this trip for years.

Looking down the canyon.

This particular pond was dry on this trip. It is likely the damn washed out.

Now that is a slab of granite. The Ruby Mountains are the most rugged in the lower 48 states.

Just awesome scenery. These photos don't do Lamoille justice.

*A few of the scenery pictures were from a trip in 2009.  We were in Elko for work and the guy I was with happened to be from Atlanta.  He wanted to see Lamoille so we wandered up there.  You might notice a few of the trees have yet to leaf out.   I don’t want some fanboy posting a You Tube video detailing all the faked photos, you know?

Filed under: On the Water Tagged: | brook trout, Elko, Henry, Lamoille Canyon, Lamoille Creek, Owen, South Fork Reservoir, tiger trout