Traveling to different fishing locales has, in my opinion, always been a time to reflect upon or consider what to expect once I finally arrive at my destination. This is especially true when one is driving and not flying. Western fishing destinations usually means one has miles and miles of road to conquer. One can only listen to so many radio stations, books on tape, or news networks before boredom sets in.
On my recent trip to Pyramid Lake in Nevada last week, boredom set in by the time I came to the crossroads in Farson. I’m not kidding. The roads are not overly crowded with tourists or locals this time of year. I did listen to satellite radio, but used it for background noise more than anything else as I counted out of state license plates, antelope, deer and even small herds of elk near South Pass.
Once I managed to come out the other side of the always challenging freeways, interstate exchanges and drivers in the Park City, Utah, to Salt Lake City area unscathed, ahead of me were the salt flats of the great Salt Lake and the empty roads of Nevada for the next 530 miles on Interstate 80. This gave me plenty of time to rehearse how I planned to approach the Lahontan cutthroat trout swimming Pyramid Lake.
The last time there was late October 2021. The fishing was good and the trout were willing. Since I fly fish 99.99% of the time, the flies that fooled the trout most often during my October excursion were balanced leeches and large midge pupae fly patterns. I was hoping the flies that I had tied up to use for this trip would be as successful as those used six months earlier. To be sure I had plenty of flies, I called guides and other friends of mine that fished Pyramid regularly to find out what fly options would work should leeches and midges not be successful.
Those in the know suggested I tie up several different beetle and caddis patterns the Lahontans like to eat in early spring. Compared to what we would use in Cody Country, the beetle flies were huge. To be better prepared, it was also suggested I tie up some dumbbell eyed streamers, just in case.
Time flies by more quickly when solving puzzles or daydreaming about large trout. Before long, 14 hours and 40 minutes came to an end at Sutcliffe, Nev., which is located on the Paiute Indian Reservation and the place to purchase a tribal non-resident fishing permit for Pyramid Lake. After becoming legal as an angler, I drove one of the access roads to the lake and rigged up. Now was the time to test my skills and hand-tied flies on the lake’s huge cutthroat.
Since there was no wind (more about this later) upon arrival, the lake was flat and clear with nothing but small rolling waves splashing the shoreline. Conditions were perfect to try a red bodied foam beetle to see how things would play out once cast upon the lake’s waters. Trout were visibly present. Many large fish in the 25 inches and larger category were rolling or swirling in the wide shallow bay I had chosen to fish. There wasn’t another angler for hundreds of yards so I would not crowd anyone, plus, I had a great visual on the large pyramid shape rock that gives the lake its name as a backdrop for scenery.
I waded from shore out to my waist and cast into the deep blue water of the lake. Five minutes might have passed before I had my first take. I am not ashamed to say I blew the hook set. That happens as you all know. However, I did get a tug and positive response to my beetle. The tug is the drug it has been said, so I recast my fly to the approximate vicinity of my first take. Again, a swirl and my fly was gone. It had been sucked up by what appeared to be a very nice Lahontan cutthroat. This time, though, I was ready. I leaned back on my rod and put all the energy I could into my hook set.
Line peeled off my reel. Within minutes, I was hoping my 12 pound leader was up to the job and also hoped the trout wasn’t going to straighten out my hook. My luck held through the battle and I put my first Pyramid trout into my net. A cutthroat about 5 pounds and 25 inches is a very good start to the day. I fished the beetle by itself for a few more trout, before changing my fly rig from a single to a two-fly setup. My leader was 9 feet of 2X tied to an olive balanced leech, then another 3 feet of 3X tippet was tagged to the back of the leech’s hook and fastened to a green bodied beetle with a white foam back.
This system was suggested to me by good friend Bill Brady from SoCal whose daughter lives in Cody now. This combo, too, worked very well. As I strip retrieved the leech pattern back, the weighted leech would make my beetle dive, then float back up as I paused in my stripping action. This turned out to be a deadly duo combination. By late afternoon, my arm was worn out from fighting fish and I had to head to Reno to check into a hotel and meet some friends coming to meet me for the next few days. I will be trying this setup on East Newton and Luce Reservoir just as soon as this cold weather passes.
I am fortunate I had one good day of action on decent sized cutthroats before wind and cold weather rolled in enveloping Pyramid Lake in a dust cloud while the wind piled 2-4 foot waves onto the beaches the next few days. Because I had driven more than 900 miles to get to Pyramid to meet up and fish with a friend and because the wind and I are not strangers to one another, I kept on fishing the next day or two despite the bad weather. Actually, my friend and I kept on fishing. So did hundreds of other anglers expecting to catch one of those Lahontans much larger than 25 inches. We did see large cutthroat swim past us while the waves crashed the beach and the wind blew but we saw very few trout landed due to the conditions. More than a few cruising trout easily pushed 14, 17, 20 pounds and larger, but the hookups were far and few between after the first day.
After I finally packed my gear and put Pyramid Lake in my rear view mirror to retrace my route back to Cody on Thursday last week, my thoughts going home were different than the ones I had when I had departed Park County the previous Friday. Instead of expectations, I had disappointment and frustration to contend with on the drive. One thing I resolved to do however is to not give up, but to go back to Pyramid Lake and try my luck once more for its huge Lahontan cutthroat. Someday in the future, I have not only dreams to sustain me but definite plans to return and put my fly into the maw of one, if not more, or those fabulously huge cutthroat trout. That would be bully, don’t you agree?
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