Opening day

The rest of the waterways in the Sierras opened today and they were calling when I woke up.  I had a choice today, climb back up on my roof and keep laying comp or go catch some trout.  I'm glad I didn't go up on the roof.

Little Truckee

Decided to head over to the Little Truckee on Saturday for some combat fishing.  That poor river never gets a break and should go back to being closed until the season opener.  Any how, I wanted to try go after any browns that might be in sucking up rainbow eggs.  I have had pretty good luck this time of year getting some nice browns to move but I didn't see any yesterday.  I was lucky enough to get 2 nice bows amongst the 15 other guys I ran across.

The Triple Articulator

In the never ending attempt to catch a loch leven 28" or beter on the river I tied up an Au Sable river inspired triple articulating fly.  I recently watched a short film at the Fly Fishing Film Tour where they were pitching quadruple articulated flies at Browns over 30".  I wasn't quite motivated to tie four articulations in a fly that might be around 6" long and possibly not work so I'll try 3 to start with, although Iwasko would say "tie that bastard as long as you can".  Headed out tomorrow to see if this big S.O.B. can move a toad.  Here's the link to the teaser for the Au Sable.  http://flyfilmtour.com/brothers-brown. The last couple pics are Iwasko getting it done across the U.S. Slab of the month worthy for sure at moldychum.com 

Redemption Apr. 15th

My buddy Nick came up today to get a little redemption for the trip we had 3 weeks ago when there was a full moon.  The weather forecast was calling for wind, clouds, and some light snow showers and we had all of it.  The morning bite didn't produce like I thought it would so we switched beaches around 10am, and it paid off.  We each landed around 7 fish today before we split at 2 after the bite turned off.  Pretty good day in the end but I really thought we were going to do better.  Just when you start to think you have the weather patterns figured out relative to the bite, Pyramid puts you back in your place.

Lights Out

Headed out to Pyramid today after I woke up this morning and it was raining in town.  The plan was to go fish the Truckee today, but I didn't want to get down to the water and find it murked up from the rain.  I made it out to the lake today around 6:30 and there wasn't a cloud in the sky.  That usually isn't a good sign but with the wind kicking up some decent waves I knew the lake would produce.  From 6:30-8:30 there was more action than I have had in my last 3 trips out combined.  I wouldn't really say the spawn is in full swing, I just think you have to catch the right conditions.  I got all my fish stripping today, however there were quite a few guys sticking fish on the indicator.  The fish were 1 to 2 today, for every 1 fish I landed I missed or pulled out of 2, it could have easily been a 30 fish day.  I fished next to an old timer today named Brian who fishes out there 4 days a week.  I told him I liked his chair and he gave me the number to the guy who makes them.  I guess its time to channel my inner old man and buy one.

F3T and some trout

I called up a local fisherman buddy of mine and asked him if he was going to the fly fishing film festival yesterday.  What could be better than watching fish porn at night?  Fishing earlier that morning of course.  After meeting his buddy from Orvis for some fresh flies we hit the big truck for some perfect weather.  I started the day pitching streamers but had very little luck moving fish in the low water temps.  After watching Z land one and miss another 3 or 4 I put the dry line on and sunk some baetis.  Maybe 10 fish between us all day and another 15 lost but man was it hot.  The fly fishing film tour was a good time, lots of great footage from all over the world, especially the wild steel head video to end the night

3 foot waves

Got out to the lake around 11am today and the wind was howlin'.  The waves were so big I had a hard time making it out to the ledge, I even got knocked off the ladder a few times.  Today was the best day fishing I can remember out at Pyramid in 2 years.  I landed 12 fish and missed another 6 or so.  One fish grabbed the fly and ran out into the middle of the lake into my backing and threw the fly, I would have liked to have seen that one.  I was out there last sunday and it looked like the spawn was in full swing, there must have been 40 guys in the water at the net.  I think we saw 3 or 4 fish landed that day.  The water was glass and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, just the opposite of today.

Cold Day at Pyramid

  Took another trip out to pyramid today and it was frigid.  It was so cold when I got there this morning I had to pitch jigs for the first 3 hours to keep my hands from getting wet from the sink tip.  Never really got above 25 degrees out there.  The fishing was a bit slow possibly due to the ridge of high pressure hanging over Nevada, that or the cloudless sky.  I managed to land 5 fish today the biggest of which was 25".  Fishing hasn't been the best that I remember for this time of year but the fish are feisty and have been taking out line.  Last week I had one fish jump clean out three times, I don't think I have seen that before.
  I went to cabelas yesterday and picked up the new Konic 7-8wt reel from Lamson.  I have an old Reddington 8wt reel I have been using out there for the last 2 years but the drag is failing and it was a tank.  I was impressed with the older version Lamson I have in the 5wt variety with streamer tip loaded on it.  The new ones are lighter and range between $139-$159 depending on the wt you choose. 

Thursday Cutty

Made it out to Pyramid last thursday and was able to fish from 11-5.  The fishing has gotten a little better in the middle of the day out there with occasional cruisers coming through every 30 minutes or so.  I have yet to get any large fish yet this year in the 5 trips or so I've made, everything is in the 18-25 inch range.  Thats what draws me to pyramid, you never know when that next tug of the line is going to be the fish of a lifetime.  Above, a ladder fish from thursday, 6 total.

Pyramid 12-16-12

Rob Anderson's pyramid blog has had some reports of folks doing good in the PM out there as of late.  The weather has been cold, windy, and cloudy bringing more fish into shore over the last 5 days.  I fished from 1-5 today and had all kinds of action.  I was able to pick up fish on the indicator, buggers, and beetles.  7 fish were landed and 4 got off the hook with another 6 or so missed bites.  The pic above was a nice 6 pound female that took a beetle, the very next cast I landed another 6 pound female.  I was shocked to see not 1 but 2 large females, I cant remember ever catching a female that large.

Slooooooooow

Took a trip out to pyramid today, mostly because there was a thick bank of fog out the window when I woke up.  That wasn't the case about 5 miles outside the lake, by the time I dropped the ladder in the water there wasn't a cloud in sight.  There were some pics of a 20 pounder that was landed a couple weeks ago but there were no 20 pounders sighted today.  I fished a beach scatter with 8 or 9 guys and I didn't see a single fish landed among them.  I was able to get three to take today, one on a jig and two on the beetle.  All in all a pretty slow day.  Not sure whats going on out there but it's shaping up to be a repeat of last year.

Snow Day

  It was supposed to be cold and snowing all day.  So I put on seven layers and hit the Big T.  It snowed a little but it actually got pretty warm today, the fishing was hot.  I landed 8 fish today including this nice 20 inch brown that took 2 tries to hook.  What was more impressive was the number of fish I moved that missed the streamer.  There were around 15 others that made a pass at my fly but couldn't wrap their lips around it.  2 were bo's that were this same class fish and 1 was a brown that was around 25 inches, a little pee came out when I missed that one.  Supposed to be cold as hell tomorrow so I'm headed out to Pyramid for my first time this season.  There has been reports of cutty's up to 20 lbs being landed already this year....

Man v. Deer

I drew a party tag with my buddies Dinny Woo and Bluey the Great out in the Rubies earlier this year.  I put in for the time off and planned on staying out there for 8 days to knock down a pig.  Two weeks ago I lost my job due to my company shutting the lights off.  I was lucky enough to land a job with one of our competitors 3 days later.  I was however unlucky enough to land the new job during the time I was supposed to go hunting.  So after my buddies finally made their way to Reno we were off to Elko.  I was only able to hunt Saturday and Sunday morning and had to be back to work Monday morning.  We saw10 or 12 different bucks in those 2 days and on Sunday morning we saw a decent 3x3.  We decided to make a move on him by dropping into a canyon 1000 feet below us.  By the time we set up on a decent shooting post we had lost him.  After a half hour he popped out and milled around for another half hour without presenting a shot, only to drop behind a large bush.  We watched the bush for 15 minutes thinking that we had missed our opportunity.  Finally, and at the last minute, he walked out into the sunlight and presented himself broadside.  Bluey hit him with the range finder at 525 yards and I hopped on the 6.5x284 and put the lights out.  We boned him out and packed the meat down another 2000 feet and called it a good hunt.  It wasn't the biggest buck but it was my first one and I was pleased with it.  Thanks fellas for helping me make it a great trip in such a short amount of time.

Feather River Salmon

My buddy called last week and said the salmon fishing was going off on the Feather and the Sac. We decided to hit the Feather because we have a lot of good memories there.  We fished on saturday and had pretty decent luck.  We were able to get 3 in the boat and lost another 4, my buddy Danny killed it, both fish above were his. 

The "Provo Hooker"

   Sat down and tied up a new streamer pattern I found on finpusher.com.  These guys catch some serious browns in Utah and Montana.  I imagine its good practice to try out new flies in the areas you frequent so trout don't become framiliar with your patterns, sometimes hard to believe when you look at how fast streamers move through the water though.  Over the last few years I have had success tying up local guide patterns and patterns a highway patrolman buddy of mine runs(6"+).  However, lately I have  had little success landing trophy browns in the 24"-30" range.  Mabey the "Provo Hooker" will do the "trick"....