So we made our first big drive yesterday. From Bend, OR to Sutcliffe, NV. It took us 8 and ½ hours, that is big. We chose to take back roads the whole way, which was both amazing and draining. Amazing because we saw next to no one. The roads were pretty much empty for all 400 miles. Draining because they were all small 2 lane roads that were pretty skinny, keeping the 8ft wide trailer from hitting the shoulder and pulling us to an untimely death definitely kept me focused for the whole 8 ½ hours.
But we’re here! Heck yes! Unfortunately we rolled in in the dark so we didn’t get to check anything out. We spent today getting oriented, dialing in the trailer for our 2 week stay and wetting a line.
We met this tall drink of water en route to Pyramid.
This place is crazy. The lake is huge, I read a stat somewhere that said that it has more water than the Great Salt Lake. The dimensions are 11 miles by 15 miles. That is big. And you fish it with fly rods. Talk about scratching lottery tickets! Basically you wade to a drop off, or wade to a drop off and set up your ladder, then you cast, wait for an hour for your line to hit the bottom, and then retrieve your flies at a snails pace. Or you can throw nymphs under a bobber – yes, you read that correctly. You tie 2 nymphs on, put an indicator on so that they will be suspended a foot or three above the bottom, cast out and wait.
Look at the size of that lake – how the heck do we find fish in there?
Those of you who have fished with me know that I generally fish fairly quickly, I move a lot. When I streamer fish I strip quickly, I target the active fish and don’t swing or let it sink too much. I pretty much normally fish the exact opposite of how we are going to be fishing here for the next 2 weeks. But you know what that’s ok, because at any moment you could hook a 20 lb trout. They are out there! Since January 1, more than 15 fish over 10 lbs have been recorded at Crosby’s Lodge, the local tackle shop/casino/bar/gift shop. I cannot wait to hook into one of those bad larrys!
Aimee and George aren’t feeling that well, but we are planning for them to feel better and are spending the evening lining up some reels so that we can both fish streamers on the bottom. I might even go crazy and tie a new leader or a couple flies. It’s going to be a wild night. To help me along I am drinking a couple Terminal Gravity Breakfast Porters. Aimee got them for me before we left Bend and they will be the last Oregon brewed beer that I review for a while. The beers are dark and delicious, and if you like porters you should give it a try!
Appearance: Poured in a mason jar. Clear brown almost the exact color of a brown beer bottle. Little to no head, a fair number of bubbles.
Smell: Sweet, nutty with hints of caramel.
Taste/Mouthfeel: Bubbly! You especially get a lot of bubbles on the back end, as a result I find this to be a very crisp porter. You have the standard malty/smokiness, with a sweet hint of caramel and a clean slightly bitter finish.
Overall: This beer isn’t going to blow your mind, but it is a good standard porter. With its crisp finish it seems more sessionable than a lot of porters out there.
4 out of a Six Pack Scale©
IBU: 40.5
ABV: 5.8% (on the bottle – the website says 5.7%)
Brewery: Terminal Gravity Brewing, Enterprise, Oregon.
