Literary accounts of fishouts in the recent past,
to make you sorry you didn't go.
Pyramid Lake in the Banana Belt
By Dougald Scott
Pyramid Lake in the Banana Belt
By Dougald Scott
This year's Pyramid Lake fishout was a huge success. Just about everyone had at least one 20 fish day, and some of the old Pyramid hands like Fishmaster Jim Hall, Markus Lavenson, John Steele, and Gil Santos had 40+ fish days. As usual, the fish were good sized averaging over 20 inches and full of fight. The weather also cooperated with warm sunny days with moderate, sporadic windsÉ not the Pyramid many of us have experienced or expected.
Twenty-two club members were in attendance, with most arriving on Sunday and spending most of the week on the water. A few left early and others arrived midweek to replace them. It was Sam Bishop's first trip to Pyramid. He and his wife Elena arrived on Saturday and had already explored many areas by the time most of us arrived on Sunday. As usual, we stayed in trailers and cabins at Crosby's Lodge in the settlement of Sutcliffe, on the western shore of the Lake. Each trailer had its own kitchen and each group produced a unique menu of scrumptious meals during the week. Some of the more exotic dishes included abalone, duck, pheasant, and elk.
Most people fished the North and South nets on Sunday and early Monday. Fish were caught here, but it was slower than in years past. Even so, new member Duwayne Norton managed to score five fish shortly after arriving at North nets on Sunday afternoon. By Monday afternoon a scouting party had located a red-hot bite at the southern end of the lake, known in our club as "Lone Tree." As soon as the wind built enough to cause small waves, indicator nymphing was the ticket, and most fishers scored 20 to 30 fish for the day. Joe Bigas caught so many that he hurt his wrist and had trouble fishing the next day.
By Tuesday, word was out and just about all the club members were down at Lone Tree. It was a great day for fishing and we had the area to ourselves. When you have twenty or so people standing in a line of ladders out in the lake, casting and retrieving, while trading friendly barbs and insults, laughing, and catching lots of fish; the camaraderie is a wonderfully unique experience. Lone tree continued to be the club's gathering place for the rest of the trip with great fishing every day. The hot flies were the midnight cowboy (a black wooly bugger with red and blue flash), Jim Hall's special Y2K beetle, and a chartreuse and white beetle. The red Copper John, prince nymph, hare's ear, and pheasant tail were the flies of choice for indicator nymphing.
This year's ladder diving competition was won by Dougald Scott. He plans to train hard for next year, but hopes someone else will take home the trophy in 2005. Howard Power took the prize for the smallest fish of the trip, once he convinced everyone that he wasn't fishing with live bait; it was a 2" minnow foul hooked through its middle. In spite of a close challenge by Richard Kline, Jim Hall maintained his title as "Cui-ui Master" (the cui-ui is a large sucker endemic to Pyramid Lake). Jim also showed everyone up with a beautiful eight pound Lahanton cutthroat. Richard Kline did start a new award category for catching a dead fish on a beetle pattern... no one is sure what to call this category.
Some other memorable events of this trip: John Steele and Jim Hall resurrected rods that had been owned by Manny Gutierrez and Rick VonCarnap and fished with them; Betty Rentz didn't get her van stuck and need a tow; Markus Lavenson managed to pick up a traffic ticket for rolling through the only stop sign for miles around. There were two father and son teams who fished together: Harry Petrakis and his son Chris; and Norm Bedell and his son Scott. What a memorable experience for them to share.
Paul Schraeder acknowledged that Herb Parnell, a regular on the Pyramid trip, was not present: "We miss Herb."
According to Tom McMillan "this was the best year ever...every day." Ed Marcillac said "I learned a lot from Markus and Betty on how to bobber fish." And finally, no one will argue with how Gil Santos very aptly summed up the trip: "Thank the Great Spirit for the great weather, the friendship and the experience."