BY DAVE HURLEY
SUTCLIFFE – The long-awaited Lahontan cutthroat opener at northwestern Nevada’s Pyramid Lake took place on Thursday, October 1, and the annual event is tantamount to a pilgrimage as a ‘who’s who’ of West Coast anglers make the trek to the high desert lake. Party boat captains and lake guides take days off from their normal haunts to fish the opener, and they are never left wanting. It wasn’t the free coffee and donuts at the Marina Store that draws the anglers, it is the promise of trophy Lahontan’s pushing 30 pounds.
Captain James Smith of California Dawn Sport Fishing has put this date on his calendar for the past few years, and he said, “It was a bit tougher out there today as we ‘only’ landed 40 Lahontan cutthroat trout to 18 pounds. At any other lake, we would find the action spectacular, but we have been accustomed to up to 100 fish days in early October. It would be something if every lake was managed like this one to produce such a great fishery.”
J.D. Richey of Richey’s Sport Fishing is one of the top guides on the lake, and he added, “It sounds a bit ridiculous to catch and release 60 trout to 15 pounds, but it was a little slow for the opener. We didn’t catch any ‘big’ fish, but if we were anywhere else, a 15-pound trout would be a cause for celebration. It is a bit disingenuous to be disappointed with our day, but it was slower than in the past. Kathy Wilson of Moss Landing is always out with me on the opener, and she landed 27 herself. We were able to find good bait scores, and jigging white 1-ounce P-Line Laser Minnows provided the best action in the bait schools.”
Nate Kelsch of Big Nate’s Guide Service is normally trolling at Lake Berryessa, but he also can’t withstand the alure of Pyramid’s cutthroat trout, and he reported, “Although it was much slower than what were used to, we still managed to put 97 fish to the boat and didn’t even launch until after 8:00 am. Cory Kellar of Tackle Tech also described the opener as ‘mediocre’ with only 30 to 40 fish jigging, and he and Todd Wittwer of Ko-kanee.net Guide Service were still on the lake in late afternoon searching for bait balls on the west side.
It does seem a bit ridiculous to describe a 40-fish day with Lahontan cutthroat trout to 18 pounds as ‘mediocre’ or ‘slower than what we are used to’, but the action at Pyramid can completely distort your perception. The month of October is prime time for jigging as the fish are found in deep water, and they won’t come into the shorelines in numbers for a few more months.
