Pyramid - Fish'n with the Old Man

Had a great time with my dad on our annual Pyramid excursion. Unfortunately, the catchin was slow, but the fishing is always fun. We had some fish chasing streamers into our feet. We also saw a couple schools of cruisers along the ledges.We only fish a half day and landed a few, but overall it was slow. The water has warmed up significantly, from the low 50's last week to 58 mid day, its almost too warm now. This about wraps up the still water season for me. I think the lake will fish into June this year, but now that the snow is melting, access to the upper Truckee and the upper section of the Little Truckee are starting to look very appealing. The trick will be finding wadable and fishable water, some sections are blown out.

Pyramid - Fish'n with the Boys

Mom was gone this weekend so it was time for a guy trip. I didn't get a lot of quality fishing in, but we had a good time. A few sand toys and a bag of M&M's and you'll get about an hour of uninterupted fishing.....right. I'm totally confused, there wasn't a single person at any of the beaches accept Indian Head and South Nets. Sand Hole and Cattle Guard were abandon, probalby because there aren't any fish to be had. In about an hour and a half i got one fish, that's it! At the creel census station they said its been slow for the past two weeks, and they think most of the fish have spawned, but there not totally finished. They're going to have a couple more tours at the hatchery, so that means the fish will be spawing for another week or two, but it looks as though its winding down. As expect, last weeks warm weather brought the mid-day surface temperature up to 53 degrees and winds created some nice rollers, but where are the fish? This year has been unusual, I never really saw the big push of fish which typically lasts for a week, if not two. Did they go up the Truckee this year due to its higher than normal flows? Who knows. I'll give it another shot soon, but if I don't start getting fish, it will be time to move on to the Truckee and Little Truckee. Its been too long since I've been on moving water.

Pyramid - Its Gonna Be Late

I don't even know where to begin, kind of a bummer day. Was planning to head out to Anderson Bay on the east side of the lake only to find out its been closed. Apparently the closure is indefinite as the Tribe is considering whether or not to allow access.While on the east side we tried Howard Bay for about half an hour. Something grabbed my fly a couple of times, but it could have been Cui-ui, there are over 2 million in the lake today and HUGE schools of them congregate in that particular bay this time of year. Visibility was a foot...max. Even the Pelicans were striking out largely due to the low visibility. Here's a few hundered congregated near the Truckee inlet.
Here's the Pyramid Lake Fishway and one of its many fish ladders which leads to the Marble Bluff Fish Handling Facility. The ladders help fish get over Marble Bluff Dam. The dam was constructed in 1976 to reduce erosion in the lower Truckee and aid in the spawning migration of the the Cui-ui and Lahontan Cutthroat Trout.Here's where the fishway dumps into the lake.The creel census station said it was very slow today, we barely ended up fishing and didn't land anything. Nobody was catching fish at the north nets, however, apparently fishing was fair (but very crowded) at the south nets. It looks like its going to be late this year, the water is still cold. This week is going to be warm, I hope that gets the fish moving next week. Since the Truckee is flowing unsually high this year, and high enough for fish to breach the silt delta barrier, I'm wondering if the proponderance of LCT are trying to run up the Truckee to spawn vs. running up David Dunn hatchery in Sutcliffe. Has anyone spoke to the fisheries biologist about this possibility? Here is some insightful research which explains how lake water levels and Truckee water flows impact the ability of fish to successfully spawn in the river.

Pyramid - From Hot to Not

It rained literally the entire day, non stop. The wind was almost non existent as were the fish. In 6 hours I landed 3. I spoke to guys from Block House to Pelican, nobody did well, it was very slow. I didn't see any schools of fish like last week, just a couple of singles cruising the shelf. The fish seemed to want to watch my fly rather than take it, I had several chase it in and bump it, but they didn't grab it.

Looked like this all day.

This sand dune looks unassuming at first but....

Upon closer inspection, what appears to be white sand is actually thousands of small snail shells. Pyramid Lake is a remnant of ancient Lake Lahontan. These gastropods lived in Lake Lahontan dating back as far as 25,000 years ago, but have since died off. They were so abundant, that even today they still wash ashore in droves.

Can you appreciate the size of ancient Lake Lahontan? It was practically an inland sea, and within it evolved, what explorer John C. Fremont dubbed, "Salmon Trout". Today we call them Lahontan Cutthroat Trout.

We need water temperatures back in the 50's and some high winds for the fishing to pick up again. Of note, off colored water from the Truckee inlet has crept up as far as Rawhide Lookout, where visibility is only 2 feet. Not that you can't fish it, but something to be aware of.

Pyramid - Heating Up

Best fish of the day for me, just shy of 26" in full spawn colors. The amazing part was it started out as a double hookup, yep, he had a twin of the same size that took my beatle dropper. I was able to get both to the top before one came unbuttoned. Bummer, that would have been about 12lbs of fish on one cast had I landed both! Not a nibble for me or anyone else from Block House to Rawhide Lookout. They're stacked up near the nets, I landed a dozen there and lost two more. A westerly wind howled at 35-45mph, the harder it blew, the better the fishing was. Air temp was 60, water temp was 51, up several degrees from last week and just about perfect. Looks like the fish are in full spawn mode now, they're schooling up heavy and chasing anything you throw in front of them. They're bunched up, so back to back fish are not uncommon. Keep an eye out down the beach, if others are hooking up, its only a matter of seconds before the school is in front of you. Streamers outperfomed midges by a large margin today. This guy took a Martini Bugger right at the surface.Wind and cloud cover really emblodens the fish to come into the shallows to hunt. It also provides them with cover for ambushing Tui Chubs, the LCT's primary forage.
I thought this little creek and its cold snow melt water source would lure fish to its inlet. No such luck today, but fish do congregate at fresh water sources like this one from time to time.

Visibility was a big improvement over last week, 5ft plus from Block House northward. The Truckee is flowing into the lake at 2,300cfs, nearly 4x its mean and has the entire south end of the lake from Block House on looking like chocolate milk.

Pyramid - Cold Again

This last cold snap that came through on Thursday and Friday followed by a calm and sunny weekend really put the fish off. Three of us fished 4 different beaches for 7 hours with only 2 fish in the net, one long-line release and two fish that chased our flies into the shallows. The creel census station reported numerous goose-eggs and we didn't run into anyone who did well. The mid day water termperature actually dropped to only 45 degrees (a degree colder than last week). Unless the water gets into the low 50's this week, it looks like the big fish run won't occur until late April and into May. The good news is, we haven't missed it yet. Water visibility is appoximately 1ft at Popcorn and 3ft at Cattle Guard improving to a maximum visitibility of 5 feet at the nets (yes, it was so slow we broke down and made a few combat casts). Even though we only got two fish, I did manage to make one of the most amazing catches. The first fish of the morning came on a lasso, that's not the name of a fly, it's just what you're thinking it is. Somehow, my mono line looped around the tail of the fish and it didn't come loose until I'd landed him. I'm guessing he was chasing my lead fly to cause this to happen. We'll see what next week brings. Here's the big fish of the day...bout 25".

Pyramid - Starting to Pick Up

I Fished almost the entire west shore Sunday, water is like chocolate milk from Howard Bay to Popcorn Rock, it clears up to about 3ft visibility at Block House, but it doesn't get much clearer than that, even at Pelican. The Truckee (measured at Nixon) is coming into the lake at about 1,400cfs, double the historical mean. Despite low visibility, fish are schooled up, in shallow and actively on the move. I had three fish back to back in only 2 foot visibility near Cattle Guard. All in all I put 5 in the net dragging streamers. I fished next to a guy that did very well on an ice cream cone midges 7 feet under an indicator. According to the biologist, the spawn is late this year and fish numbers should peak in the next few weeks. THIS IS THE TIME TO BE OUT THERE! For what its worth, the Tribe voted to allow fishing at the North and South Nets again, not that I care to stand shoulder to shoulder...See you out there!

Pyramid - Testing Super Ladder

Wanted to try out my new ladder, worked like a charm. Water was 42, northern wind howled at 20-30, gusts around 45. Fishing was fair, on average one fish per person per hour. When a strong wind comes out of the north, there are only a few beaches that face south and permit casting. Managed to put 2 little guys in the net, lost 2 others including a 28" buiser who was about ready to be netted (darn barbless hooks).

Pyramid - Damn that Dam!

If you think you knew everything about Pyramid Lake, guess again.

Pyramid Lake is Dying from John Pilger on Vimeo.

I found this 30 minute special on Pyramid Lake filmed in 1976 very informative. It tells the sad story of Derby Dam's fatal impact on Winnemucca Lake and the Paiute people. I knew that Winnemucca Lake had water in it as late as the 1930's, but did you know that the water in Pyramid Lake used to flow into Winnemucca Lake via a short section of the Truckee River which has since dried up. In other words, the Truckee River didn't always end at Pyramid Lake. I drive by the remnants of Winnemucca Lake on the way to Gerlach frequently, its hard to believe that as of 1905 it used to be 100 feet deep and that Lahontan Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarki henshawi) used to swim freely between the two lakes. I'll point out two untruths in the video: 1) Coincidentally, in April of 1977 (the year after this film) Kent Sumners of the Utah Department of Fish and Game re-discovered, what taxonomical analysis has proven to be, the original strain of Pyramid Lake Lahontan Cutthroat Trout, scroll to Pg 199. These trout are now being reared at the Lahontan National Fish Hatchery (which I've visited) for eventual reintroductin into Pyramid Lake and other watersheds. 2) The current Summit Lake strain of Lahontan Cutthroat Trout in Pyramid obviously didn't go extinct at the turn of the century, despite the prediction of the fisheries biologist. Hope you enjoy, more to come on resurecting the original (30-40lb) strain of LCT in a future post.

Super Ladder - Pyramid Lake

The Truckee was flowing at 1,000cfs and winds were predicted to gust up to 50mph @ Pyramid. Some people tie flies when the weather won't allow them to fish, I build stuff. Today I hung around my shop and built a new Pyramid ladder. I ordered this bad boy from back east, it has a large standing platform that's a full 5' off the ground, to keep the rollers from breaking on your knees. I bent a piece of aluminum across the top guardrail and manage to create a sturdy seat mount. The seat is a Cabelas special and should get the job done. The ladder can be used for standing or sitting, depending on which direction you face it.
I added a stripping basket and a gear box and mounted them to the ladder using RAM articulating mounts. RAM mounts are awesome, and you can attach just about anything you'd like to them, even a beer holder. I configured my net with a lanyard that allows me to net fish w/o having to leave the standing platform, but it quickly breaks away via a magnetic connector if you have to chase a big fish down the beach. I added two adjustable levelers on the front of the ladder to keep the standing platform level when on steep beaches and uneven ground. Lastly, I put a perpendicular support bar across the back legs of the ladder to prevent tip-overs. Now the only thing left is to see if it helps me catch fish!

Pyramid Licenses - Online

Hey, beats trying to find someone who sells them at 6am on your first trip of the season. Took all of about 5 minutes. Click Here.