I have been traveling to Pyramid lake since 2008 chasing after the ever-elusive 10 plus pound cutthroat trout. My first trip was more of a learning experience as I was clueless about the lake. I only caught 1 fish and it was on a red copper john.
When traveling to pyramid your first time, don't think your flies that work on your home waters are going to be the ticket. I went with that misconception.
The next year I travelled to the pond on a fishing derby weekend. We went to the south nets . What a zoo. We ended up way down the beach as people get the ladders in the water well before light. I was fishing one ladder away from a guy who had a chair specifically built for the lake. It was a dead giveaway that he was a local. He was catching a lot of fish. I didn't know it at the time but conditions were ideal. The day was windy and cloudy. We had been catching fish all day . About 4pm the bigger fish rolled in . I got 2 nice fish on consecutive casts. The friendly local guy next to me stopped to admire the fish and chat a minute. Turned out his name was Larry Draper. Funny he has the same last name as me. Larry starts fishing again and hooks up with something big. The fight lasts a little while and when the fish gets close Larry asked me to net it. I put 13 lbs of cutty in the net and Larry one the hook line and sinker derby with the fish. Since that time Larry and I have become good friends.
After many trips and countless miles , enter last weekend, when I was fishing with Larry, on one of his custom chairs, I got into a real big fish myself. I was stripping a big black fly, tied with 3 large hackles, when I got a hit. Hadn't felt a bite in hours. Strip setting and lifting the rod brought a giant head up to the surface shaking all the while. I wish I could say it was an epic battle but the truth is the fish just kept shaking his head. Someone grabbed the net from shore and slid it under the fish. People down the beach I am sure heard my jubilation. We let it go after several pics making the trip phenomenal.
Douglas Draper