2013 is turning out to be quite a year for me personally.
I am turning 30
I am changing careers
My wife and I are expecting our first child
I live a very full and blessed life, and up to this point it has afforded me the opportunity to hunt and fish at every waking moment. My beautiful and understanding wife know me well enough that when I start getting cantankerous in the valley, she kicks me out of the house and into the mountains for some fishing.
When we found out a couple of months ago that we have a little one on the way, all the fear and reservations that I had been feeling about starting a family simply melted away into unbridled bliss. It is an unbelievable thing to think about bringing a little person into this world, but my heart could not be more full of joy.
This last year was also my last year of teaching. Although my passion and love for working with kids will never go away, the thought of raising a family on a teacher’s salary and dealing with the deteriorating Arizona educational system was more than I could bear. At the end of July, I will be moving into my new job that will hopefully provide some new opportunities and a change of scenery.
I am excited to life is going to bring next. Here’s to passing my fly fishing addiction on to the next generation.
In all honesty, it only takes one fish to make your day. We have all used the line – “it’s not about catching fish, but more about the experience.” And while I guess there is a small amount of truth to that, no one wants to hike all day and get skunked.
Jake and I had fished a popular stream on the Rim after a killer hike/fish the day before. Our expectations were not high, but they sunk to new lows when we ran across 5 other fisherman working the same creek. Jake had caught one fish and I was looking at a big old zero. I was pretty sure that was all she wrote. With a couple of other fishermen having worked the water, we started to head back towards the truck.
We were going to pass a good pool and I decided to stop and throw a couple of casts, just to see if I could move anything. A solitary rise had me tying on a hopper as quick as I could. Cast to the middle of the pool and I see a hulking shadow cruising towards my bushy fly. It was one of those slow gulps, like you see on a movie, and when I lifted the rod, the tip pulsed as the big brown ran for the reeds.
I don’t know if I have hiked through more rugged terrain than we did on Saturday. Jake and I explored some new country, and even though the water was a bit high, we were able to pull a couple of fish.The creek and canyon definitely beat us up and by the time we were able to hike out, we had easily put 6 or 7 miles under our feet. For the amount of creek that we saw and fished, I would have expected a higher fish count, but I think we may have been a tad bit early. While Jake pulled several fish on dries, most of the others came on streamers, including the very healthy brown pictured below.
Tis the season when bugs start filling the banks here in Arizona and throughout the rest of the country. The past few weekends that I have made it into the mountains, the fish are already starting to look up. I typically like to set up with either a 5 or 6 foot uni-thread furled leader with another 5 or 6 feet of tippet to the mini hopper. Often I’ll tie a ice-dubbed pheasant tail or another beadhead about a foot off of the mini hopper. When all else fails, this always seems to get the fish to move. If you need to restock your box with mini hoppers or you need a furled leader or two, you can pick them up online in the Arizona Wanderings Shop.
I also can fill special orders, so if you see any particular flies on AZW that you like the look of, feel free to shoot me an email at Ben@AZWanderings. In additional promotional articles, take a look at costa mesa drug rehab center.
Best of luck on the water.
A healthy brown from a recent trip falls to bushy hopper
Early in 2013, I started to ask questions, research, and prepare for a fly fishing trip to Pyramid Lake. I am by all accounts a small stream fisherman and have limited experience fishing lakes. Having said that, a shot at a 10 or 15 pound fish had me willing to try out Pyramid. I had a 1000 questions though – What fly rod to take? What flies to tie? What’s the ladder for? As I started researching these questions, many of them could be found on various forums, but nothing concise enough for me to read through and have a whole understanding of everything that goes into fly fishing Pyramid Lake. So here are my novice thoughts on preparing for Pyramid Lake.
Fly Fishing Pyramid Lake
Where to stay at Pyramid Lake:
There are a couple of different options for lodging while fishing Pyramid Lake. We were lucky enough to get a trailer at Crosby’s Lodge which is right on the lake and a 5 minute drive to start fishing. We were concerned because Crosby’s filled up quickly and we were on a waiting list. You can camp there on most of the lake beaches, but wind and low temperatures in the spring become huge issues. You must have a permit which is available at one of the stores there, or they are also available online. Also I have heard several stories of people’s camping gear getting stolen or destroyed by others, but I guess you run that risk everywhere. The other half-way decent option for lodging is Reno, where you can get a hotel room for relatively cheap. The only downside is that it’s a 45 minute drive from Reno to Pyramid Lake. My favorite place to stay at are the Portrush Hotels.
Crosby’s Lodge
Fly Rods, Reels, and Line for Pyramid Lake:
Rods – Most everyone that I talked to recommended a 6-8 weight rod for fly fishing Pyramid Lake. It was explained to me that the heavier weight rod is not necessarily for the big fish (although that does help), but it’s more for punching through the heavy winds that plague the fly fishermen there. Many bring their 5 weights and do just fine, but the heavier weight fly rods are considered the better tool for the job.
Pyramid Lake Fly Rods
For me I took my 9′ 6wt TFO BVK and a 9′ 8wt Scierra. I paired my 6 weight with a Lamson Konic reel spooled with a floating line, which I planned to use with my indicator rig. On the indicator, I used one of my flourocarbon furled leaders and tied 12 pound flourocarbon to the tippet ring. The way the bottom of the lake is made up, many of the fish cruise right along the shelf looking for food. Hanging big, bright nymphs under an indicator can be very productive, especially when the wind picks up and the waves start rolling in. When the waves roll, the nymphs bob up and down and often trigger strikes from big fish.
I made an investment for my 8 weight and picked up a Galvin Rush reel with an extra spool. I lined it with a Cortland Precision 30′ “QD”Quick Decent fly linewith a 200gr shooting head. This line is nice because the heavy shooting head and intermediate running line sinks together as opposed to having a huge hinge in the center. While I was there at Pyramid Lake, we originally tried drifting indicators and nymphs, but quickly found that stripping wooly buggers and beetles back along the bottom to be more productive
1. Ladder – The main reason for using a ladder at Pyramid Lake is to get up and out of the water. I think it originally started with milk crates and graduated to ladders. Float tubes are an option, but the wind blows you around pretty good. Nowadays, fisherman will wade out about chest deep in the water and set up their ladder so that they are right along the big drop off. This allows them to stand several rungs up, get mostly out of the water, and be able to make a cast. In some cases, you can actually see cruising fish as they move along the ledge looking for food.
Kyle’s Pyramid Ladder (I was jealous)
Here are my thoughts on ladders: The economical choice is to fish what you have. My buddy let me borrow is three step ladder which I used the first day. It sucked, because I was calf deep in extremely cold water and I chilled very quickly. I switched to my 6 foot A-frame ladder and was then able to climb higher on my ladder and be out of the water, but the A-Frame’s steps are very thin and after 10 hours standing on a ladder, I was fatigued and experiencing serious ladder envy. My buddy, Kyle, who runs the website Sleep When You’re Dead, had done a bit more research and rigged up a very comfortable ladder with a couple of easy modifications for Pyramid Lake. I came home and invested in a similar setup for my future trips to Pyramid, and the ladder will work as an all purpose ladder around the house.
I added a couple of velcro cup holders for water and a coffee cup, as well as some padding for shins and knees. Leaning into a ladder for three days does a number on your knees and legs. Do not underestimate the value of a comfortable ladder.
2. Stripping Basket – Standing on a ladder while stripping line back to yourself can make a mess real quick. Having a stripping basket to strip line into, can clear up a lot of the hassle. Never having used a stripping basket before, I was able to get my hands on a Linkurv stripping basket. I greatly underestimated the need for a stripping basket and was extremely glad that I had it with me on the trip.
Linekurv Stripping Basket
3. Waders and Layers – The worse the weather and wind at Pyramid Lake, the better the fishing. Having said that, standing on a ladder all day in the howling wind can get old real quick. The water itself is extremely cold and fly fishermen should be prepared with proper layering. I layered up with a merino wool base layer, fleece wading pants, and breathable chest waders. On my top, I wore a merino wool base layer, my lucky Filson shirt, REI Primaloft jacket, and my Cabelas softshell. I stayed pretty toasty all day.
Tactics for Pyramid Lake:
There are two distinct ways to fly fish Pyramid Lake: Indicator fishing and stripping flies. Both can be very effective and it is the main reason why many Pyramid Lake fly fishermen show up with two fly rods.
Pyramid Lake – Indicator Fishing (image credit to Nick Smith)
When getting ready to head up to Pyramid, everyone I talked to explained how indicator fishing was the most productive. Typically, fly fishermen attach around 7-9 feet of 12lb. fluorocarbon strait to their fly line and tie their first nymph to the other end. Then, add another 2 feet of fluoro and attach your second nymph. The goal is to be hanging the nymphs right off of the bottom of the drop off where the big cutthroats are cruising. The indicators do not spook the fish, so bigger is better.
Big indicators are also important as the wind creates some pretty good chop and bigger indicators are easier to keep track as they roll over the waves. I have also heard that the more wind and waves, the better, as it causes the hanging nymphs to have more movement under the water. Also, because there is so much wind and movement, the lake seems to have an actual current, so having a dead drift is important on Pyramid. When the action gets slow though, give the indicator a twitch or two, as sometimes this can draw a strike.
Pyramid Lake – Stripping flies (image credit to Nick Smith)
On my trip to Pyramid, I found that stripping flies was the most productive method for my time on the water. I got bored real quick while looking at an indicator so I moved over to stripping flies. We rigged a piece of 12 pound fluoro straight from the end of a heavy sinking line to the first fly. The lead fly does not need to be weighted as the sinking line does most of the work in that regard. We often chose a black wooly worm and tied another foot and half to two feet of fluoro to the second fly which was usually a “popcorn beetle” (white foam/chartreuse body) or a midnight beetle (northern lights foam/purple body). Since the second fly was made of foam and buoyant it often had really good action and illicit many takes as it literally bounced along the bottom of the lake.
The other method that is often used at Pyramid is called “Floater No Cator” which is really just what it sounds like: floating line, two nymph setup, with no indicator. Simply cast your flies out as far as possible and allow them to sink to the bottom. Once they are on the bottom, slow strip them back. This method allows you to feel the take as opposed to seeing an indicator go under. Many Pyramid Lake fly fishermen swear by this technique and say that it often results in bigger fish.
Pyramid Nymphs
Fly Patterns for Pyramid Lake:
This is by no means an exhaustive list but here are some of the patterns that I tied and fished on the lake. If you have other suggestions, please leave a comment below and I’ll add them to the list.
In all honesty, I had my doubts about Pyramid Lake when I first went up, but after 3 solid days of fishing on the water, I was hooked. I’m headed back next spring and will be looking for my first 10# fish. If this article has been helpful or I can add something to it, feel free to leave me a comment below. Take care and good luck at Pyramid Lake
Rambling Review – Western Visions Fly Fishing Lanyards
Western Vision Lanyards
Why:
Outdoorsmen, and specifically fly fishermen, are always looking for new ways to carry their gear and essentials. Although the concept of fly fishing is relatively easy, there are so many gadgets and gismos to take onto the water that organization often can be a real problem. A great way to keep all of fly fishing essentials close to hand is by using a lanyard. Western Visions Fly Fishing Lanyards is a family company based out of California that creates beautiful customized fly fishing lanyards, and I was honored to have a chance to check out their handiwork.
Western Vision Lanyards
First impressions:
Beadwork – When I first started talking to Gary and Lacey over at Western Visions Fly Fishing Lanyards, I was a bit overwhelmed with the choices in colors and options that they could do on the different lanyards. They have every size, shape, and color of high quality spacer beads that adds quite a bit of character and personality to each lanyard.
Quality components – All of the Western Visions Fly Fishing Lanyards are built with high quality components.
The swivels are premium ball bearing swivels with 75lb. breaking strength and these are linked to the 1″ stainless steel Duo-lock Snaps where you attach your different tools and accessories.
In the center of the lanyard, the 4” aluminum tippet post keeps all your tippet right where you need it.
On the very bottom of the lanyard is a black oxide shirt/wader clip. By clipping this to either your shirt or waders, your lanyard stays close to your body instead of swinging out in front of you every time you bend over.
Western Vision Lanyards
Field Use:
In truth, I never had tried a lanyard before the Western Visions Fly Fishing Lanyard. Most of my gear is thrown in a pocket or a bag, so having all of my essentials right in front of me was really nice. Although it can be easy to load up the lanyard with tippet, tools and accessories, the foam neck pad keeps it very comfortable even on a full day of fishing. After the first hour, I almost forgot that I was wearing it, as it rode very comfortable on my neck. Each lanyard has a bead located at the neck piece which allows the lanyard to be fit to the desired size.
Although I don’t find myself on too many raging rivers, I do hike into some pretty brushy areas. Western Visions Fly Fishing Lanyards are made from micro paracord that has somewhere around 100lb breaking strength. In a worst-case scenario, a lanyard with a 100lb breaking strength can become a noose, real quick. These lanyards have a built in safety breakaway connector that will pop open in one of those “help-my-lanyard-is-strangling-me” moments.
One feature that Western Visions Fly Fishing Lanyards puts on their lanyards is a net swivel. The net swivel is located in the middle of the foam neckpiece and works perfect with a simple net release.
The last features that I had personally appreciated were the circular foam patches located on either side of the lanyard. Anyone who has fished with me, knows that I like to stick flies in the brim of my hat to dry. The result is a mangled hat brim. The foam fly patches are a great feature when I need to dry flies.
Western Vision Lanyards
Pros:
Custom beadwork
High Quality Components
Well thought out design
Built in net holder
Comfortable
Durable
Safety breakaway connector for emergency situations
Foam fly patches
Cons:
I think the one con about lanyard use in general, is the tendency of fly fishermen to put too much gear and accessories on lanyards. As with all lanyards, choose what you put on your lanyard carefully. Sometimes less is more.
Western Visions Fly Fishing Lanyards
Prognosis:If you are looking to make the switch to a fly fishing lanyard, you owe it to yourself to talk to Gary and Lacey over at Western Visions Fly Fishing Lanyards. These are custom high quality fly fishing lanyards made right here in the U.S.A.
* Disclaimer:
The reviews at Arizona Wanderings are my honest opinion. Arizona Wanderings is not sponsored by or associated with any of the stated companies and is accepting no compensation, monetary or otherwise, in exchange for this review. My independent status may change in the future but, as of the date of publication, no relationship other than described above has been pursued or established.
I am still looking to bag my first Merriams gobbler here in Arizona. I had a tag in two previous seasons and had a great time hunting them, but truth be told, I’m still learning so much every time I get into the woods after these birds. This season proved to be the most action packed couple of days in the field, but one of the most disappointing and unfulfilling hunts that I have ever had.
I drew a tag with my hunting buddy, Austin and we set out after work on a Friday. We drove the five hours to camp and set up camp in the dark. After only a couple hours of sleep, we donned our camouflage and heated water for instant coffee before bumping down the road in the darkness to see if we could find some roosted birds. After a couple of stops to crow call, we were able to elicit a shock gobble from the darkness only a couple hundred yards from the truck. We had about an hour before daylight, so we sat in the truck sipping coffee while waiting for the sun to lighten the sky. Nature called and we both got out of the truck and went our separate ways to take care of our morning business. The sky began to show signs of lightening so we quietly grabbed our gear and made our way into the woods.
We set up on a large pine tree with a decent view of the ridge in front of us. I was covering the right while Austin covered left. As the light came up, we began to call and as neither of us had ever seen before, two hens and two gobblers made a beeline for us. The one gobbler moved in quickly on Austin’s side and he waited as long as he could before taking his shot. The morning exploded with a boom as his turkey went down with a thump.
Austin’s Turkey
After congratulations and a couple quick pictures, we could still hear gobbles from in front of us. So, we set up quickly about 25 yards ahead and started calling again. Within minutes another gobbler and hen moved in on our decoy, but were always just out of range or behind heavy brush. They circled to our right and I figured that they would be making a loop back around to check out our setup. No sooner had the thought crossed my mind, a loud gunshot echoed to our right, not more than 70 yards away.
We could not believe it. Another hunter had set up just on the other side of us and shot a bird no more than 50 yards away from where we were. We walked over to speak with the hunter and see the bird he had shot. His story was, they had seen our truck parked that morning, seen that the radio was on inside the truck, as we were out with the call of nature, and instead of moving on, decided to set up a hundred yards down the road. They had seen and heard us shoot the first bird, and instead of then identifying that they were there with us, remained where they were and shot in our general direction at a bird that we called in. Here’s the kicker – one of the hunters was an Arizona Game and Fish Employee.
Not wanting to escalate the situation and realizing that nothing good was going to come of standing there and talking about it, we opted to head back to camp and make a game plan for the afternoon. The wind picked up the rest of the day and made it difficult to locate any turkeys. As the sun went down and turkeys started to get back on the roost, we did a bit more calling and found two birds off of the one ride. We marked the spot for the following morning.
Morning came early, and anticipation was high. The first bird was unresponsive, and after an hour or so of calling, we bailed on him to go and try the other bird that we had located the night before. We walked about a mile down a small two track, and sure enough, two gobblers sounded off at our hen calls. We made a quick set up about 50 yards of the track and started calling. As if on a string, the gobbler came closer and soon enough I saw a red head moving up the small ravine in front of us. Through the brush, I could see him in full strut at about 50 yards in front of me. He was moving through some trees and I needed him to walk about ten more yards for a clear shot. As that thought went through my mind, I heard the sound of a truck bouncing down the two track and my heart sank. The turkey turned to look at the road and then moved off into the trees, taking my chance at a gobbler with him.
The truck continued towards us and stopped parallel with where we had set up. A hunter clambered out of the truck in full camo and started to cluck on his call. We made our position known to him and he hopped back into his truck and continued down the road. Seriously, who is driving around at 7:15 am hunting turkey from a truck? We called for another 10 minutes and decided to throw in the towel.
I truly do not know if I have ever been so disappointed on a hunting trip. Even as I write this, I can feel my blood start to boil. We made our way back to town and I knew that with the craziness of work and life, that I would not be able to make it back up to fill my tag. Every minute in the woods is a learning experience and I was grateful to have been able to be there. Here’s hoping that next year will have some different results.
Rambling Review – Cortland Precision Quick Descent 30′ Sink Tip Fly line
Cortland Precision Quick Descent 30′ Sink Tip Fly line
Why:
I was invited on an April trip to Pyramid Lake in western Nevada. Although nymphing under an indicator is fairly successful on Pyramid, many fishermen prefer to using a heavy sinking line and strip different flies back along the bottom of the lake to tempt the big Lahontan Cutthroat that live in the depths. While doing some research on different lines, I came across the Cortland Precision Quick Descent 30′ Sink Tip fly line which appeared to be the perfect fit for my 8 weight fly rod.
First impressions:
The specs – The Cortland Precision Quick Descent 30′ Sink Tip Fly line is a heavy sink tip shooting head with an intermediate running line. I was able to get my hands on the 200 grain line which Cortland recommended for my 8 weigh tand the type of fishing I would be doing at Pyramid Lake.
The shooting head is a dark gray line while the intermediate running line was green. The color of the running line varies, depending on which weighted grain sink tip you get from Cortland.
Cortland Precision Quick Descent 30′ Sink Tip Fly line Taper
Field Use:
Pyramid Lake is unlike anything that I had ever fished before. Standing on a ladder in 4 feet of water while the wind howls around you can be some very difficult and technical fishing. Although I started with floating line and an indicator, my ADD took over and I switched to the Cortland Quick Decent line to strip streamers. If this tells you anything, I fished for 3 days with the Cortland Precision Quick Descent 30′ Sink Tip Fly line and I never went back to the floating line.
Cortland Precision Quick Descent 30′ Sink Tip Fly line
This line just flat out casts. Mind you, the wind is often in your face and you are chucking big #4 and #6 size buggers by your head. I learned pretty quick that once the shooting head is past the last guide, you release that line and just watch that running line zip through the guides. With a slight tailwind, I could lay out a good portion of the 125’ of line. For a small stream guy who rarely casts more than 40’, I was ecstatic. The Cortland Precision Quick Descent 30′ Sink Tip Fly line is finished off with Cortland’s Dur-A-Slik coating to keep it smooth through the guides and casting farther.
The one strong selling point for me on the Cortland Precision Quick Descent 30′ Sink Tip Fly line is the intermediate running line. Many sink tip lines are designed with a floating running line and work well on rivers or from a float tube. On Pryamid Lake, I wanted my line to be uniformly sinking so that I was in constant contact with my flies. The intermediate running line eliminates the giant hinge in the line often seen with floating line and keeps those flies on the bottom.
Cortland Precision Quick Descent 30′ Sink Tip Fly line
I have used quite a few different lines from Cortland, and I have bantered back and forth with some buddies about Rio vs. Cortland and the supremacy of one over the other. Hands down, I believe that Cortland line has stood the test of time and makes some of the most durable, affordable, and versatile line out there. My one issue is availability of information for the different types of line that Cortland makes as well as the availability of the lines themselves. Cortland has a whole slew of different fly lines for different fishing situations, but it is tough to find information about them.
Here is what I was able to find out from the head of the Cortland fly line department
For matching a QD line with graphite rods your usually want 1.25-1.75 times the AFTMA line rating 30’ grain suggestion for you rod in sizes up to 10 wt. Experienced anglers may choose a sinking head line with a head weight outside these ranges for certain applications, but these windows will serve as a great starting point to make sure that you are matching your rod with a sinking line that will help it perform properly and make less work for you. If you know you will be fishing with particularly big flies or making very short casts and presentations, look for a line on the heavier side of the window.
Example:
5wt rod (AFTMA 140GN) 175-245 grain suggested window.
Cortland is in the process of building a brand new website with more fly lines and information available to fly fishermen. I for one am extremely excited to see the great things that Cortland is doing and am looking forward to seeing the continued innovation in the fly line industry.
Cortland Precision Quick Descent 30′ Sink Tip Fly Line Welded Loop
Pros:
Integrated heavy sink tip and shooting head
Intermediate running line eliminates hinge in the line caused by floating running line
Available in different grain sink tips for a variety of situations
Color-coded running line to differentiate between different grain sink tips
Dur-A-Slik finish on line to keep line casting farther
Welded loops for easy rigging
Cons:
Lack of information about pairing grain weight to fly rod weight, as well as sink rate statistics (soon to be changed by their new website)
Cortland Precision Quick Descent 30′ Sink Tip Fly line
Prognosis: I really like the Cortland Precision Quick Descent 30′ Sink Tip fly linefor its castability and for getting line down quick and would highly recommend it. I think this is a perfect sinking line for Pyramid Lake. I’m looking forward to getting to the California coast sometime in the future to see how it performs on the ocean.
* Disclaimer:
The reviews at Arizona Wanderings are my honest opinion. Arizona Wanderings is not sponsored by or associated with any of the stated companies and is accepting no compensation, monetary or otherwise, in exchange for this review. The Cortland Precision Quick Descent 30′ Sink Tip Fly line was provided for the purpose of this review. My independent status may change in the future but, as of the date of publication, no relationship other than described above has been pursued or established.
