The Ruby Lake trip was a resounding success. Rick Allen drove up separately from Jeff Martin and myself and once there, we set up camp. Mark Merrill was there when we arrived, having gotten there just 5 minutes earlier. We occupied 2 adjacent camps and the campground host arrived on the scene within 15 minutes. He was very helpful, providing the necessary paperwork and payment envelopes to us. Because this place is so very far away from any kind of store, the host now has firewood and ice for sale at relatively reasonable prices. I mean, you could drive the 2 hours to Elko for these things and 2 hours back, but of course that would take up most of the day and ultimately cost you more.
Once camp was set up, the fishing commenced. I have said before that the fishing is tough here. This trip proved the rule. It is tough, very tough in fact. But over the course of 3 and half days of fishing, we all caught some. I was immediately into a large fish, but my hook straightened and I lost the fish. Most strikes came on a red larva with copper ribbing, copper bead head, and a little flash for a tail. Another similar fly (black with silver ribbing, black bead head, and tail flash) also received attention from the fish.
The trophy of the trip was caught out of one of the ponds South of the campground. Here it is:
I did not measure or weigh this fish, but I estimated it at about 24” to 25” long and somewhere in the neighborhood of 8 pounds. He took a Chernobyl-style Mormon Cricket tied with foam. It was really windy that day and we were having trouble actually seeing the fish, so I tied on this big fly as an indicator. This fish slashed at it on the first cast but missed it. A few casts later he was on. Jeff was fishing nearby, pulled out his phone and took nearly a minute and a half of video of me fighting and landing it, plus a couple of photos.
As I have said many times, you will not catch many fish here, but the ones you catch will likely be the largest trout of your life. As a point of interest, Rick caught a couple of Tiger Trout on this trip. Other than that, we all caught Rainbows.
Both Mark Merrill and I had fished the Ruby before and we both agreed that there weren’t as many fish this time. This certainly contributed to the tough fishing. The Ruby isn’t for everybody but if you go, make sure you have ALL the provisions you will need, including cash for the campground fee ($15/night). I believe this fishery is very sensitive, so please catch a few fish, release them after being fully revived, and stay only a few days and move on. You probably won’t see many other anglers so you’ll have the place nearly to yourself. The setting is truly amazing.