The bite at Pyramid seemed to be less affected than the river by the air temps this week as we continue to see pretty consistent fishing out here. With the storm moving through this weekend, we should have some great days with a steady bite window most of the day and as the days get sunnier and warmer beginning next week, expect the mornings and evenings to be best. Remember to keep an eye on the following factors if planning a trip out here; The barometric pressure (a dropping pressure is best with a low pressure being next-best), wind direction (ideally, you want to have the wind blowing across the beach you’re choosing to fish for the day or if it’s 15 MPH or below, directly into the beach), moon phase (the days leading up to a full moon are typically the best, with the 2-3 days after a full moon being the worst), and cloud cover (overcast days will keep fish in close for longer periods and makes fishing much more consistent). This is where the belief that the worse the weather the better the fishing is when it comes to Pyramid Lake, and as a generalization, this is true, but more so it comes down to these factors. Of course, time of year plays a huge factor as well, and right now during the winter, the thermocline will be closer to the surface of the water keeping fish higher in the water column and although there’s fewer fish around right now this would be when you find the bigger ones off shore, Fall the thermocline is deeper causing the fish to sit in 30-40 of water, making the best fishing off of a boat or float tube, and spring is great as water temps are right in their ideal threshold and they are in pre-spawn behavior, making them feed aggressively and hang in close all day.

We are now in the prime months to be shore fishing out here if big fish is your goal, and the next 3 months, February, March, and April, will provide the best shots of the year in terms of trophy fish. The bite using indicators and stripping streamers remains pretty equal, so continue to have both set-up’s rigged, switching off when conditions such as wind or cloud cover change. For the indicator, the midge bite continues to improve and fish are hitting a variety of sizes and colors, with rule of thumb being, calmer days call for smaller sizes in 10’s-12’s and days with larger swells calling for heavier, darker patterns. The leech bite is steady as well and always a good fall back when nothing else is seeming to produce. We’ve continued to fish around 6-8 feet deep throughout most of the day, but we have found good luck shallowing it up to 3-4 feet early mornings when the sun hasn’t popped over the hill and the fish are rolling on the surface.  The streamer bite seems a bit steadier throughout the day and having the extra bit of versatility in terms of being able to cover greater areas of water and various depths has helped on those days where to bobber just doesn’t seem to go down. Using the classics such as midnight cowboy buggers, beetles and boobies are still the best choice for out here, even in a world of increasing specialty flies for this destination fishery. While the ever-evolving flies for bobber fishing has certainly upped the game on this method out here, don’t always believe the hype on the latest and greatest flies, especially for streamers, typically paring a black and a white streamer such as a midnight cowboy with a chartreuse and white popcorn beetle will still fish better than anything else, in my opinion!