EP058: Travis Hawks - 2020 State of The Truckee River

Welcome to season 6 of the Reno Fly Shop Podcast. We felt it fitting to start it off with the 2020 State of the Truckee River with Travis Hawks from the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

This is our 6th State of the Truckee episode presenting the results of the NDOW annual sampling of the Truckee River fishery. We started these recordings (2016) in the middle of a multi year drought and as you will hear in this recording the Truckee River has made a miraculous recovery. Fish populations and composition in many locations are as good or better than ever sampled. As Travis presents, Mother Nature had a great hand in this recovery. We have been fortunate to have several average to above average winters in a row and natural runoff with reservoir releases have kept water in the river almost year around.

Travis with a Truckee River Brown Trout

In this year’s recording we were able to cover the 2020 sampling results rather quickly and thoroughly, which left us some time to discuss general topics of the condition in the Truckee River watershed. We dive into many topics. One being, the recent episode on this podcast that covered the USFWS efforts to recover/restore the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout into the Truckee River.

Travis gets the opportunity to present his opinions on these topics and respond to several of the possible management scenarios that were presented in that episode. I have provided a button to listen to that episode here if you haven’t had the chance.

EP056: Helen Neville and Mary Peacock – LCT Recovery – Challenges and Opportunities

It is important to note that while Travis and I discuss our opinions of several management scenarios that were presented in Episode 56. These opinions reflect only the approach and management strategies presented for the Truckee River watershed. Management scenarios that might be challenging or problematic in a river the size of the Truckee are appropriate and can be very effective in other watersheds. We hope that care and responsible review be given to those and all fishery management options.

Travis sampling the success of adaptive management strategies on the Truckee River

Show Notes and Data:

Salmonid Fish/Mile   Zone 2 Zone 3 Zone 4 Zone 5 Average 2020 138.1 426.2 875 372 452.83 2019     1509.3 526.2 1017.75 2018 22.5 224.1 607.8 170.4 256.2 2017 5.8 75.8 78.4 86.5 61.7 2016 60.8 97.7 27.9 204.0 97.6 2013 121.0 429.0 969.8 767.9 572.0 2012 130.7 373.7 1450.3 1162.2 779.2 TRUCKEE RIVER Wild Rainbow Trout Distribution 2020     by Zone Total Rainbow Wild Rainbow Percent Wild Percent Juvenile of Wild Zone 2 21 21 100.0% 9.5% Zone 3 77 77 100.0% 31.2% Zone 4 99 98 99.0% 30.6% Zone 5 89 71 79.8% 22.5% All Zones 286 267 93.4% 27.0% EP053: Travis Hawks – 2019 State of the Truckee River EP047: Travis Hawks – 2018 State of the Truckee River EP037: Travis Hawks – 2017 State of the Truckee River EP026: Travis Hawks – 2016 State of the Truckee River   Want our next Podcast, Blog Post and Fishing Report delivered to your Inbox?  I agree to have my personal information transfered to MailChimp ( more information )  

Finally, in celebration of starting our sixth season of the Reno Fly Shop Podcast and in a way to show our appreciation to all of the listeners we have offered a coupon code for listeners of this podcast. For on month in our online store enter HAWKS2020 at checkout and receive 10% off anything that you purchase. This will only be good for month or until we release our next episode.

So have fun and we hope you enjoy these episodes.