The Pyramid Blues

2021 Dennis and Don at Pyramid Lake Nevada

There is something about destination fly fishing trips that make you want more out of life and to do it more often. Today I am feeling the Pyramid blues reminiscing on a trip taken in March of 2021 to Pyramid Lake in Nevada. Unfortunately barriers like $ often prevent those dreams getting too far from home. But when the stars align; you can afford to travel and own solid gear and a buddy calls and says: “Hey remember when we used to go fishing all the time? What are you doing next week, do you want to go to Pyramid? “ The answer is hell yes!

Long long ago in a distant past, alright, nineteen ninety-nine, You say it, nineteen ninety-nine, Mmm nineteen ninety-nine ( …now Prince will be stuck in your head for awhile) an idea was formed to start an online fly shop and discount gear so real people could afford it called wetlfy.net, it was an opportunity to get great product into the hands of the angler; not cheap stuff but top quality gear including Umpqua quality level flies at a fraction of the price! Traditional fly shops back then were super expensive and still are. Was this a game changing idea? Back then it was. The business perk was you had lots of gear and fishing was a business write off, what a perk!

With quick success WETFLY was beginning to enjoy destination (business) fly fishing trips annually to places like Montana, Idaho, Washington, Utah, Colorado and even Alaska for gear testing and relationship building with clients. Great memories from those business trips and long term friendships were formed because of them like the one I have with Dennis Cordova who I met via a WETFLY client Pat Straub in Montana via another longtime friend Allen Riccardi pictured below. Fast forward to this decade (Dennis and I pictured above) , and I look back and wonder why we don’t destination fish like we used to? There are always excuses why, there are thousand of them (families started, jobs became more demanding, to much work related travel, etc)

2009 Allan Riccardi, Pat Straub (Guide - WETFLY client) and Dennis Codova on the Missouri River outside Helena, Montana

You notice I didn’t include the pandemic as an excuse? Fly fishing exploded during the 2020-2021. I think for many of us in the world the last couple of years were weird, sad, crazy and sometimes fun binge watching all the Sopranos, Game of Thrones, Mad Men episodes all while sipping whiskey and wine. Beside burning a hole in my liver the last 2 years, it pushed me back into why I love fly fishing and have so much passion for WETFLY. It was music to my ears when Dennis called me up in March of 2021 to go fishing and brought me right back to where it all began.

Today I am sitting in the office wondering how to pull off another trip to Pyramid, can I do it in 2022? Still on the fence and why I have the Pyramid blues. Is it because I own WETFLY and I feel obligated to fish? Not really, I love to fish, I am actually thinking about ling cod right now too, that opens May 1; or Salmon season (if we have one) in July in the Puget sound— in all transparency I will probably use a down rigger, its a non pink year (they only return in odd years and love flies) a King salmon are deep, like 200 feet. Another reason I know it’s not obligation to fish is I am chomping at the bit for Idaho later this spring to go see family and catch mega size fat rainbows getting ready to spawn.

Maybe I am having the Pyramid blues because I didn’t catch a typical giant lahontan that everyone on Social media shares? You can see below I only caught a baby in 2021. As hard as I worked for that one, it sure felt like a monster though! My arms were super tired from casting for 2 days in the wind. Countless hours of brisk wind and giant fish rolling 30ft in front of you not biting squat—with all the right popcorn streamers, long red/black chironomid with white thorax lines. You name it, we used it, they just gave me the middle finger with a fin.

I don’t even think this was more than 24” but hey in some parts of the world that’s a big fish. At Pyramid it’s not though.

Maybe I am having the Pyramid blues because Dennis pictured below was more lucky and caught a nice one? (he always used to catch more fish when we went to Montana back in the day, at least that’s what he claimed from the other boat he was on with Allan)

What ever the reason that I am having the Pyramid blues it doesn’t matter. I know one thing for sure, I come from the era of Gen X and not afraid to compete and I am driven to win. Dennis, I have my eye on the trophy! Lets get back to Pyramid soon for a rematch in 2022.