Finding Treasure in the form of big Lahontan Cutthroat Trout at Pyramid Lake,
Nevada (continued)
The
beaches were vacant and nobody was fishing them, it didn’t inspire a lot of
confidence but we had inside information right? At least that was what I was
telling myself as I waded into the cold water. We spent the next two hours
casting spoons and AC Plug swimbaits that were customized just for Pyramid with
not so much as a tick.
Cal wades out further to extend
his casting distance, it is important to test the area in front of you as
changes in depth are sudden
Mark explained to us that
fish at Pyramid don’t usually hold in one spot, instead they cruise the edges
looking for food, and often hookups will come in flurries. That is why anglers
will sit on one spot all day making the same cast over and over again. It is
important to put the lure in front of the fish when they are present, and at
times that may mean making countless casts when the fish are not around.
Cal is rewarded with a colorful
seven pound buck
The lures we were using
were either green or yellow, and all were massive at 1-4oz., a far cry from what
we were used to fishing for trout. We decided to make a slight move and find
clearer water, and walked further down the rocky beach. We found an area where
there was a clearly visible drop off, and proceeded to wade out into the water a
safe distance where we could reach the drop with our casts. It wasn’t more than
ten minutes before I saw a huge shadow chase my green spoon all the way back to
within three feet of the tip of my rod. “What the heck was that?” I exclaimed.
“Sometimes they will do that,” Mark replied. “They love to chase, but will not
always take the bait, vary your retrieve a little but get it back out there!
Usually when there is one follower there are others.”
Back into the water
I didn’t wait another
minute and cast my spoon back out as far as I could and started my retrieve.
Sure enough there was a strike but it didn’t stick, no more than three cranks
later on the Curado E5 did I get another strike and this time the fish was
finally on. The fish put up a good fight, and while there were no aerial
acrobatics there was plenty of head shaking. When we finally got the fish out of
the net I was in awe of how pretty the four pound female Cutthroat was. My first
Lahontan Cutthroat had me hooked, and the minute after I returned her back into
the cold water I was back to casting.
Another brightly colored 1oz.
spoon, a lot of the colors we used at Pyramid are quite unlike anything we would
normally use for trout in the California lakes we are accustomed to
As Mark continued to
search for big fish with his AC Plug swimbait Cal switched to the same spoon I
was using and waded further out to get closer to the shelf. It is important to
test the ground in front of you as wade, as the drop offs at Pyramid can be
quite sudden, and swamping your waders in a deep drop can be extremely
dangerous. Cal worked the ledge for about thirty minutes when he got a massive
strike and proceeded to land a beautiful seven pound buck. The males are much
more orange in color than the silvery hens, and the mature bucks will exhibit a
pronounced hook jaw.
Swinging for the fences Mark stays
committed to throwing the swimbaits
