<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the sun crept up over Tohakum Peak, I got my first\nglimpse of a fishery that\u2019s been on my bucket\nlist<\/a> for a long time\u2014Nevada\u2019s unique and legendary Pyramid Lake<\/a>. Known by locals as the \u201cdesert\nsea,\u201d Pyramid is located completely within the Paiute Tribe Reservation and\nremains virtually untouched by modern development. Its turquoise waters are surrounded\nby rocky, almost Martian terrain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Pyramid is the remnant of ancient Lake Lahontan, an\ninland sea that once covered most of Nevada. At 188 square miles, it remains\nlarger than any lake in Idaho. It\u2019s also approximately one-sixth as salty as\nocean water! But for all its distinctive qualities, one stands out: Pyramid\nLake might be the best trophy trout fishery in the West. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Several circumstances converge to help Pyramid trout grow\nto massive proportions. They are native Lahontan\ncutthroats<\/a> that thrive in Nevada\u2019s alkaline-rich waterways. The lake is\nalso carefully managed to promote trophy opportunities. And, most importantly,\nit is home to millions of tui chub, native baitfish that provide world-class forage.\nThe result is a lake where a 10-pound\ntrout<\/a> are not uncommon, and giants over 20 pounds are caught every year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, it was time for my maiden voyage. Buddies Caleb and\nRandal joined me for a road trip to Pyramid, where we linked up with JD Richey<\/a>, a fellow columnist and who also guides<\/a>\nacross the western U.S. After catching a few hours of sleep at Pyramid Lake Lodge<\/a>, we met JD at the\nlake\u2019s only boat ramp. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Weather is a huge deal at Pyramid, and our trip brought both\ngood and bad news. On the plus side, we got a sunny October day with moderate\nwind. Unfortunately, a massive storm had come through a few days prior,\nscattering the schools of chub (and the trout, with them). <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re transitioning from summer to winter pattern now,\u201d\nsaid JD. \u201cWe\u2019re going to have to work hard.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n When baitfish are schooled up, Lahontan can be targeted\nwith tube jigs, swimbaits, jigging spoons and streamer patterns. The same holds\ntrue during winter, when the trout push the chubs close to shore (and many\nanglers target them from stepladders, a unique Pyramid tactic). But with the\nfish dispersed over thousands of acres, our best chance was to cover\nwater by trolling<\/a> with spoons and crankbaits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I helped JD rig up four rods on downriggers. One particular\nspoon caught my attention. It had a unique shape and was painted in a \u201cWonder Bread\u201d\npattern of white with blue, yellow and pink spots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI got that from a guy in Alaska,\u201d JD said. \u201cBut he won\u2019t\ntell me where he gets it. He just sends me a couple if I run out.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n After an hour of trolling, one of the rods popped off its\ndownrigger. When I reeled in the slack, the line was still in the downrigger\nclip, but when we removed the line from the clip by hand, I immediately felt\nthe thump of a fish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWonder Bread for the win!\u201d I smiled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fish fought hard on our relatively light gear, but\ncheers broke out as we netted<\/a>\na 23-inch Lahontan\u2014a beautiful, colored-up male pushing 5 pounds. It was not a\nPyramid giant, by any means, but it was a new personal best Lahontan for me, topping\nthe 20-inch Idaho\nstate record<\/a> I caught through the ice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Our day unfolded in similar fashion. The bite was tough,\nand jigging opportunities never materialized. We fished several areas\u2014none\ncooler than the stretch near the tufa rock \u201cpyramid\u201d formation\u2014experimenting\nwith different lures and depths as we went. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Wonder Bread remained the meal of choice. We scraped\ntogether about one bite per hour, and all but one came on JD\u2019s mystery spoon. Our\ncatches were quality specimens ranging from 20 to 24 inches and 3 to 5 pounds,\nbut we never hooked into a giant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Back at the lodge, JD joined us for dinner and Game 1 of\nthe World Series. The stories, jokes and laughs continued to flow, even as the\ntrophy Lahontans covering the walls provided a mildly painful reminder of\nwhat\u2019s possible at Pyramid when conditions are right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, I\u2019m calling our debut a success. We caught nice cutthroats,\nexperienced the sights and sounds of a one-of-a-kind fishery, and got to chop\nit up with a seasoned pro in JD, along with a fun mix of locals and fellow\ntravelers. My monster Lahontan will have to wait until next time\u2014but there will\nbe a next time, and I can\u2019t wait! Tight lines! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As the sun crept up over Tohakum Peak, I got my first glimpse of a fishery that\u2019s been on my bucket list for a long time\u2014Nevada\u2019s unique and legendary Pyramid Lake. Known by locals as the \u201cdesert sea,\u201d Pyramid is located completely within the Paiute Tribe Reservation and remains virtually untouched by modern development. Its…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2072"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2075,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072\/revisions\/2075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}