Unfinished Business – A Pyramid Lake Redemption Story

A year is a long time to nurse a grudge against a fish. To be perfectly accurate, it was against an entire species of fish in this case. I was ghosted by Lahontan Cutthroat Trout last year, and honestly, I had sworn that I was done with the place after the previous year’s debacle. But ghosts are unfinished business. And what do ghosts do? They haunt you. They haunt you until you finally make peace with them. So, when I got the phone call, I was packing my gear before I’d even finished making excuses. I was going back seeking redemption.

Before the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout of Pyramid Lake were extirpated, around one million pounds of Lahontan Cutthroat Trout were harvested from Pyramid Lake.  I was just trying to catch one.  

We got off to an inauspicious start with wind so intense that it blew my shoes down the beach when I changed into my waders. The morning started with the very same beating we suffered through last year.  But things changed.  The beating continued, but the bite was on.  Despite a little reel snafu, I landed a thick, river-spawned, Pilot Peak strain Lahontan Cutthroat - long, broad, and every bit the adversary I’d imagined for twelve months. Redemption, it turns out, is measured in pounds and inches.

I had a really great time talking to the Oconee River Trout Unlimited Group about the history of Pyramid Lake, the recovery of the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout and of course, how to catch the beasties!

– C. H. Daniels