Has anybody fished Pyramid Lake near Reno, NV? I'm intrigued by the huge Lahontan Cutthroat Trout.


Not the Fat Man

I've never fished there but have been out to the lake several times while visiting family in Reno. During certain times of the year, there is a certain area where they stand on ladders out in the water while fishing. Pretty different way to fish but I forget why they use the ladders. Real neat area around the lake.

Its can be an absolute grind, like one shot at a fish on a three day trip. You have to unreasonably love the chase and fly fishing. The worse the conditions the better the fishing too according to my buddy I went with who goes out there regularly.

I have a friend that did it a few years ago. He caught a couple but I do think it's one heck of a grind to get a few. Really just a trip to check that rare species off the bucket list.

That's a friggin' monster

i have been wanting to go do this for a while.

I believe it's because the water is shallow out to a certain distance from shore, then drops off significantly. The big lahontans are down in the deeper water. Eons ago, pyramid lake used to stretch from it's current location up into the southeast Oregon.

When the lake shrank over time, it became two lakes with the northern lake eventually drying up. The fish that were in the northern lake now live in the streams in the the mountains of southeast Oregon. Because the creeks are so small and dependent on heavy winter snows, the fish are now only in the 6-12" range.

Part of my old job was to help monitor water temperatures the creeks where they lived. Beautiful fish! It was fun to see them migrate upstream into deeper pools of water in the fall

Can you fish for them in those creeks?

I believe they're protected in those creeks. Access to most of them is blocked by private land. The creeks are usually only about three feet wide and shallow with periodic deep pools. There are bigger creeks in the area with other trout that draw anglers to the area. The area is so remote, the fishing in that part of Oregon isn't worth the effort unless you visit the area for other reasons. It's fantastic country, though.

Heard about this a few years ago and looked into it out of curiosity. The fish come into shallow areas to feed mostly drop offs. From what I remember the ladders allow you to get out of the cold waters so you can fish all day. Even with insulated waders 12 hours is a long time to be in the water. I read it wasn't uncommon to be out there sunrise to sunset and not catch a fish. Being on a ladder also makes the fisherman easier for the fish to see so it can be detrimental to use a ladder in certain situations. The fish that are caught can be massive like the one in the OP.

I have lived in Reno since 2014 and I've gone out to Pyramid Lake to fish a few times but I've always had to fish from the shore. Never caught anything. I don't have a ladder setup and I don't fish enough to go through all that trouble. But it's a beautiful spot and I've seen photos of catches similar to the OP. You can see one guy sitting on top of his ladder in my picture below.

Had a buddy work for USFW out there for a while. Ran a ladder set up and caught some nice fish.

I can't imagine standing on a ladder, in the water, when my line goes tight with one of those monsters and keeping balance!

I've seen some guide services that fish from boats. Anybody thoughts?

We lived there way back when I was a little kid. Fallon, Nevada from '86-91. My dad caught a 12 pound cutthroat there one year. Lol then we moved to Rock Springs, Wyoming. One crappy desert town to the next but a lot of hunting and fishing opportunities.