Pyramid Lake

Overview

Pyramid Lake is the terminus of the Truckee River, a remnant of ancient Lake Lahontan lying entirely within the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation a short drive north of Reno. It covers roughly 188 square miles, reaches 356 feet deep, and its alkaline water grows the largest cutthroat trout on earth. The tribe's own fishing page calls it the site of the 41-pound world-record Lahontan cutthroat, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service records settlers' accounts of trout upwards of 40 pounds. The original lake strain vanished after Derby Dam diverted the Truckee in the early 1900s and blocked the spawning run; by the 1940s it was gone from the lake. What anglers catch today came back by a strange route. In 1977 a remnant population was found in a small stream on Pilot Peak on the Nevada-Utah border, later confirmed by genetics as the Pyramid Lake lineage, and USFWS stocked those Pilot Peak fish into the lake in 2006 in partnership with the tribe. Fin-clipped Pilot Peak fish now run well over 20 pounds; the tribe's Summit strain, with an intact adipose, fills in the numbers. The forage is tui chub, and the fishing follows it: stripped chub and bugger patterns in October and November, slow indicator rigs with balanced leeches and midges through winter, chironomids over the spawning fish in March and April, and chub patterns again in May and June. Anglers stand on ladders at the drop-offs to reach cruising fish. Trout season is October 1 through June 30 only.