Revival

Pyramid Lake in Nevada is one the greatest stillwaters I have ever fished. This lake also has a great story, a story that is usually always the opposite of what we are used to hearing. This fishery was completely fished out in the beginning of the century and the Lahontan Cutthroat trout fully extinct by the beginning of the 1940's. In the early 1970's the original fish that was thought to be gone forever was found in the Pilot Peak mountain range located on the northern border of Nevada and Utah. Through more than 30+ years of working with the strain, making sure it was completely genetically pure, and with the Paiute Indian tribes blessing they were reintroduced into the lake in 2006.

According to the local biologist these fish are now thriving like they did in the past and growing at a faster rate than anyone could have ever imagined. Fish that have only been in the lake 5 years are already reaching well into the 20 pound class. Ten pound fish are as common now as catching the 4 and 5 pounders just five years ago. And the 20+ pound class fish seem to be the new bench mark that was 10 pounds for all anglers just a few years ago. 

First light on Pyramid Lake

The finer techniques that I used to catch these fish were midging and throwing streamers. As you can see I didn't connect with any of the 20+ pounders but, did find a few smaller ones. Definitely looking forward to fishing this stillwater more in future and witnessing this once lost fishery now thrive in its original home.

Hiked a few miles with my float tube to one of my favorite backcountry lakes in the Eastern Sierras. 

I also fished the American River and a few of its smaller tributaries in Northern California. Right now  the kings are at the end of the spawn, while the first few early steelhead are moving into the river. 

Who would have thought that a king would eat a red copper john.  

Highcountry Cutts

Decided to head up into the backcountry last weekend as I figured it would be a good way to exhaust my high-strung pup, get myself slightly into hunting shape, co-scout for moose and elk, dust off the old fly rod, and plus, I always feel better about myself when I drink whiskey in the woods vs. on my couch. Lastly, there were tales of 20in cruising cutties. We crested Cameron Pass into the backside of the Rawah's and found our way to the trailhead neither of us had seen before. We were greated by some men on horseback and said hello to an arriving packer with a string of mules---both parties questioned our desire to hike into our destination by foot. Needless to say the scenary was incredible. We had come up on 6 different bull moose on the way to the trailhead, spooked a bull and cow elk, buck muley, and found ourselves in fields of wildlflowers close to tree-line.

The hike was no 'walk in the park'; roughly 7.5 miles straight up. However, the fish tales held up in full. My buddy hooted and hottered on his first cast as a 17in cut came up and ate. I was off to a slow start, missing a few off the bat, and then the action seemed to slow to a halt after a 15min hale storm rolled in and past. I had enough of the refusals and pulled out the leach. Went 3 for 3 on casts and eats. Some of the prettist fish I had seen in a while. Plus, the water was gin clear and you could see the entire eat from start to finish---it was reminiscent of saltwater fishing, casting to cruising fish, watching them turn and gobble. We made our way around the banks, picking fish off. We switched back to drys as the sun came out and continued to giggle like school girls as some fish would come up and straight deny you with their middle fin up at you, while others simply couldn't resist. Another highlight was that every fish looked a little different from the next.

That about sums it up. I shall return again.

Since then...

I've covered some ground since I last checked in with you good folks here at Solid Hookups. I believe I was in Colorado then, and on my way to Maine shortly thereafter. Well, I did go back to Maine for a little while. Then back to Colorado for a wedding. Then back to Maine for another wedding. Then back to Colorado with Ariel to purchase a vehicle, pick up our few meager possessions from storage, and drive out to our new home in Wenatchee, Washington, where I would begin another six month contract of fisheries work for the feds. 

Wild Maine

We drove to Jackson Hole the first night and stayed with my aunt and uncle there. Bright and early the next morning we headed up into Yellowstone National Zoo where we stopped to see Brother Jesse and a few of his Bates compatriots. A round of Jesse's infamous breakfast sandwiches was enjoyed before we had to part ways again. They were headed off towards a quintessential Yellowstone fishing destination, while Ariel and I had intentions of making it to Coeur d'Alene before the day was through. We made it, and after a few more hours of driving the following day we finally laid eyes on our new home, nestled in a hot little valley, i.e. the Columbia River, between the Cascade mountains to the west and the plains to the east.

Between working 50 hours a week, house hunting, home furnishing, and exploring the local area, I haven't had much chance to fish yet. Really I've only fished twice to speak of since I hung my rod up from New Zealand. However, work so far has taken me into some really neat little corners of this region, and we've seen some incredibly beautiful native little trout. Most all of our work is funded by the Bonneville Power Administration as per mitigation efforts to there being about umpteen million dams on the main stem Columbia between here and the ocean that all have tried diligently to snuff out native anadromous fish populations. Our focus is primarily ESA-listed species, such as Columbia River steelhead, spring chinook, and bull trout. Most of our efforts could be chalked up to simple monitoring; collecting biological data and performing population estimates in sub-basins and tributaries to the Columbia River. A work typically entails us either driving or hiking into 3-5 different sites a week, setting up block nets at either end of our study reach, putting some electricity in the water with a backpack electrofisher, and seeing what comes up. Here's a few pictures of what we've seen so far.

Nason Creek

Wild resident rainbow, perhaps even a redband?

E-fishing on Chikamin Creek.

Sub-adult bull trout.

Rock Creek

Westslope cutthroat

Big Bad Bully

We visited a tiny little creek up the Entiat River on Monday. It's unlikely that there are anadromous fish up there as we seemed to climb straight up the side of the mountain into what resembled a hanging valley to access our site. Right off the bat we started finding fish. Little flickers of flame darted in and out of the field of electricity, their bellies a blaze of fire orange. Closer inspection of the the creeks residents reveled an awe-inspiring mystery of rich colors and tenacity of life. We found fish after fish, they poured out from under almost every piece of woody debris or log jam in the whole stretch. 

These little gems stole my heart.

Close to a hundred were captured in the 120 m reach, each more beautiful than the last. We didn't end up tagging any because it was obvious they were some form of cutthroat and we only tag ESA-listed species. I was disappointed as that meant we weren't going to stick around to do another pass, and I just wanted to spend a little more time with these rare little treasures. Their true identity remains cloaked in questions. They obviously have some degree of Westslope cutthroat in them. Hell, they might even be a relic population of pure Westslope cutthroat. I'm inclined to think that they are some form of Westslope x redband trout; at least to me they appear a perfect cross between the two. Both species spawn in the spring, but in the high country it takes longer for the water to warm up enough, and I'm also guessing that at their elevation they were just getting dressed and ready for the occasion.

Handsome lil feller.

Some form of Oncorhynchus mykiss from Lake Creek.

I love this work.