I did some background reading from my Trout and Salmon of North America book by Robert Behnke and bored Larry to death on the ride to Sparks to pass the time away until we reached Cabela’s and then the Reno Fly Shop. Let me share that boredom. The Lahontan subspecies of cutthroat is the only fish to carry the gene for size. In fact it was once considered the largest trout in North America until a larger Mackinaw was caught from the Great Lakes area. The world record for a Lahontan is 41 pounds with a reported 62 pounder caught by one of the Indians years ago. Between commercially harvesting the Lahontan in Lake Tahoe and eventually introducing the Mackinaw also in Tahoe that feed on the cutthroat, the Lahontan became extinct in the lake in the 1940’s. Eons of years ago Pyramid and Walker lakes were formed as the glaciers melted back from the Ice Age leaving rather high-alkaline water due to the sand and rock formations in this great valley encompassing most of Nevada leaving this strain of Lahontan cutthroats. Cutthroats seem to be the only species of trout that can survive in alkaline waters. Lahontan trout are stream spawners. Once the Truckee River was dammed and diverted in 1938 the Pyramid Lahontan was eventually listed as an Endangered Species. Observers came and measured 195 of the dying trout remaining in the Truckee which averaged 36 inches long and weighed 20 pounds. However, since then due to the efforts of the Paiute Indians and the DFG of Nevada and California, a distinct strain of Lahontan trout have been transplanted from Heenan Lake and Summit Lake resulting in the Lahontan being dropped from endangered to threatened. This has resulted in a slot limit for those “meat eating” fishermen. Whatya know I’m heading to a lake where I could catch one of my largest trout to date.

               There had been a tournament the weekend before we arrived, and upon glancing at the weigh-in board left after the tournament had closed those big 20 and 30 pounders were no more – the heaviest tournament fish were mostly in the 11 and 10 pound range, no small fish to say the least to be caught on a fly rod. Oh, did I mention the July 1932 issue of Sierra Sportsman magazine contains a story and pictures of two fishermen on Pyramid catching 11 Cutthroat trout which totaled 238 pounds – an average of just less than 22 pounds each.

                So with these visions dancing through my head, Larry, Marty, Allen and myself, and eventually Bob, headed to the lake at 5:30 Monday morning. Oh yes, it’s cold this time of year with the outside temperature registering 11 degrees about 10 miles from where Larry was taking us to fish. Once we arrived and waded out into the water with our ladders in hand, the temperature had risen to a balmy 34 degrees. We were also treated to fairly nice weather; the sun was shining and the lake calm until the wind kicked up around 9:00 but then calmed down again around 3:00.

                Okay, so I got lucky. On my third cast just to the side of Larry’s ladder where he was already fishing, I hooked a nice one. After several minutes of anticipation – I couldn’t see the fish when I got him up close due to the sun in my eyes and my Polaroid glasses still in the motel room – I beached a seven and a half pound Lahontan. What a pretty fish! I couldn’t seem to catch another one until later on that day, but between the five of us during our two days at the lake there were just under 80 fish landed, none of them under 18 inches. So the rest of you keep this in mind the next time Larry wants to be fishmeister on a Pyramid outing as you too could end up with a very nice beautiful cutthroat to add to your different species list.

Herman