I'm not the expert in the deep water full sinking line method (or fishing naked as some call it; to me, fishing naked means fishing a floating line with long leader, but without a strike indicator) as I don't do it very often, but as I understand "drop shotting" the weight is below the lure/fly, but I usually instead just put a split shot (if allowed by the regs) about 18" above the chironomid pupa pattern. You don't need a long leader for this method, just 4 to 5'. I use a 4X to 5X tippet. To get the depth right, I attached a small weight to the fly hook with a rubber band (the hook point piercing the rubber band), and then let down the weight to the bottom and reel up any slack line plus one foot, as you want to be one foot above the bottom. Retrieve and remove the weight. Some guys attach their hemostats to the fly, but after losing a pair of hemostats that way, I don't use that method any longer, and I've never lost the weight/rubber band setup, and if I did, it is a lot cheaper than losing hemostats. Just cast out and let the setup sink (about a minute); I like to see about a foot of the line above the water so I can see if the line is vertical; you want it as vertical as possible. Sometimes I then just do a very slow hand twist retrieve, about 10 hand twists, and if I get no hits, I let it sink again and repeat. Other times I just lift the rod tip very, very slowly up in the air about 5' and if I get no hits, drop it back down very slowly and repeat. Hits are often very hard, as the fish sees the fly above it, swims up to grab the fly and then turns down, realizes it is hooked and then zooms toward the surface to jump out of the water, sometimes almost into your lap or boat. Your rod dives down into the water as a result of what the fish is doing and this is where you might break off if you grab the line, so just set your drag loosely and let the line go out so you don't break off. If it is windy and you're swaying with the wind (you need to be anchored for this method of fishing), you may have to add one or two feet of length to your line to account for the swaying motion. If you have a fish finder and it is telling you that the fish are two feet off the bottom instead of one foot, then you need to shorten up a bit to account for that. It is all about getting the depth just right so that your fly is hanging right in front of or slightly above the fish's nose. But, once you get it right and assuming that there are fish there who like your fly pattern and especially if there is a chironomid hatch in progress, you should be getting a hit on just about every cast. If you're sure you've got the depth right and aren't getting hits, then change the size of the pupa or the color or both to try to match the natural. The other guys who are chironomiding experts will probably chime in with their better advice on this method, but that's how I do it.
Good luck on Pyramid Lake! I've never fished that lake either, but from the videos I've seen and articles I've read, it seems like the guys are fishing relatively shallow water, like 5 to 8' deep. I wouldn't expect the fish to be down deep in the winter, but since I've never fished that lake, I don't know. The online videos show guys using step ladders to spot fish and cast to them.
Rex
I've been fishing the fast sinking lines vertically for a long time, naked (while fully dressed). Rex has done a great job describing the technique I use.
In the old days, when we'd go up to Grimes, we would tow our 14-foot boat up, minus gas outboard, but fitted with two electrics and two batteries. Scouting the lake's thermoclines and/or springs, we'd anchor up. Anchoring properly was one of the keys to effectively fishing. If, as Rex mentions, there is wind, swinging on anchor isn't effective. To help counter this, we'd deploy the bow line anchor and back away until we had 70 or so feet of anchor line scoped out, then drop the stern hook with some slack. The final step was to then retrieve line on the bow anchor till both lines were relatively taught. When anchored perpendicular to the wind, this minimized swing and maximized line and fly control.
Fly selection was, as it almost always is, a big part of it. I like to fish two flies on the same leader when fishing naked, I think it gives the fisherman more chances to find the right pattern.
Rex describes very well our technique for measuring bottom. One additional trick we have used is to tie a small piece of monofilament to the fly line between the reel and the stripping guide once the proper fly depth is found. This way, when you hook the big fish and he pulls lots of line (Lahontans can do this), you don't have to remeasure with your hemostat, rubber band bumper or whatever tool. You just find your monofilament "marker" and you're set.
We often would hand twist retrieve our flies more than five feet - sometimes you'd look over the side of the boat when the bloom wasn't too bad and you could see a large opened mouthed Lahontan following the flies up. Try not over reacting when you see a 20 plus inch trout with his mouth open a few inches away from your fly! Retrieving two small flies on a slow hand twist retrieve when you're in 30 feet of water requires patience. Varying the retrieve is one tool.
Grimes takes on midges (and blood worms and hares ears and...) when fished vertically are, in my experience, not hard takes but are, in fact, super subtle at times. Often the take would be missed if you weren't watching the rod tip as the take was often an almost imperceptible one-inch rod tip dip which requires an instant hard lift on the rod for a hook set.
Now with all that said, this past season, fishing with Rex (that could be a book title), I employed his technique more often than not. That's casting as dang far as you can, counting down to the right depth and stripping in the fly pattern at the right retrieve. So darn much fun! (when it works). Like
@troutpocket, I really like my Airflo Sixth Sense and its nifty "hang markers".
I have yet to try the "naked" technique with a floating line and long, long leader without an indicator. I do have two leaders set up for it and have read some wonderful write ups about using this technique in BC lakes. Maybe next spring, reservations already made. I watched a guy fish a certain submerged island on a BC lake using this technique, he was a very, very successful angler while us indicator guys struggled.... why? I don't know and I've spent time pondering that. Probably that dang brown Maxima, or maybe it was the split shot. No, it was probably the swivel. ;-)
I'll admit that the floating line method will usually be more effective because the fly is out further away from the boat and anchor lines. I try to offset that by paying out a lot of anchor rope so that the anchor rope is as far from the fly as possible, but that does mean you sway more with the wind, which makes it harder to control your depth (unless you double-anchor, but then you have two anchor ropes for the fish to get tangled up in, and if you're in a pram, you get waves slapping against the side of the boat); it is a trade-off problem, for sure.
