Ron's Fish Rag

Pyramid Lake - April weather just too good to be true

After a failed attempt at salmon due to weather the week before, I headed up to enjoy the festivities and fishing up at Pyramid Lake. This year's turn-out was impressive with probably 200-300 folks camped out on the beach. Alan and I headed out first thing Friday morning at dawn.

We decided to start out on the far side by LA Rock with the idea of working the shallows for big fish. The plan almost came together when I hooked a 8 to 10 lb. class fish. I fought the fish to boat side and it slipped the hooks (barbless) only to have it go after the lure again. I managed to hook the fish on the surface a second time only to lose it again after a short battle. Talk about aggressive! Our technique the first day was to use Lyman's behind a planer board. Hot colors were fire tiger and purple/black. We stacked two rods on the same planer main line. Doing this we were able to work the shallows from a distance.

 

The next day Alan's dad Jack joined us and we moved out into deeper water to try and get on some numbers. The bite took off and it was almost wide open. We fished out on the 200 foot line at 30 feet on the wire from Warrior to Pelican. The hot lure started out to be a frog colored flatfish, but later we switched to orange, black and copper spoons. We had great quality fish up to 4#'s with 41 being brought to the boat.

We headed back in around 3:30 for the potluck. I cooked a cajun tri-tip and Al served smoked pheasant. The food was excellent! Someone also brought duck sausages that were out of this world and as usual cheese cake was also to die for. After some good conversation next to fire it was off to bed (early bird...).

The next day was Sunday so we were again up before dawn looking for a few more before we headed home. Worked the shallows along Windlass Bay for some good action on the Lyman's again. I have to say it is really something to hit the shallows at first light. We were hitting fish almost every pass. We then moved back out to deep water as the sun began to warm things up.In the deep water, the hot lure turned out to be the rainbow trout double flutter.

All in all we had beautiful weather, great fishing and great friends. We brought at least 60 fish to the boat. We only kept a couple with this being primarily a catch and release trip. 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  

 

The forces of wind and tide

I hit the water with my good friend Rob at first light, anxious to get him his first keeper. We set out hoping to catch the last of the flood tide. When fishing deeper water the beginning and ends of the tides are really what I refer to as "Prime Time". They are usually the most productive parts of the day.  

I could see from the wind forecast that we were likely to have a steady westerly. I always develop my plan for the day based on wind and tide, direction and magnitude. When the wind and tide are moving in the same direction the boat will be far more stable with less movement. This translates into a far more enjoyable day and makes it much easier on the anglers to maintain focus on the rods. The trick is to find a location that is holding fish for every wind direction and tide combination.

We started our day in 54 feet of water in the Pittsburg area with plenty of fish marching under the boat. We had our share of small taps, but no major pull downs or action. Both Rob and I were using JPS and ghost initially as our choice of bait. At the start of the ebb the wind began to kick up to 15 knots so I was forced to make a move to water more in alignment with the wind direction. We found a good spot holding fish in 27 ft. of water and stayed there until grass began to inundate the lines. By the middle of the ebb the wind had backed off a bit so we moved out into deeper water to escape the grass. We set up in 37 ft. of water again with good marks showing. I managed to catch a shaker finally so we were encouraged that the bite could turn on.

With the ebb slowing down and heading into Prime Time again, I cracked a fresh package of eel thinking now would be the time to get the best possible scent into the water. In about ten minutes, I had a nice pull down, but couldn't connect. Knowing that the eel was most likely still on the hook (one tough bait) I dropped it right back down. Sure enough he came right back to it and with a good hard hook set, it was game on! The reel immediately started peeling line and I could tell the fish was heavy so I handed the fish off to Rob. While this is Rob's first legal sturgeon, he is no greenhorn to the sport. He has fished marlin and tuna and spent quite a few days with me fishing halibut. Rob had no problem fighting this little fatty and in short order we had his 56 inch sturgeon in the boat.

Mission accomplished!