I have been doing some research about Lahontan Cutts lately and read something about the Pilot Peak Lahontan's. I read that the creek that they were found in was killed off in a forest fire?
I am wondering if this is an accurate statement? Maybe a Utah biologist could offer some insight? I hope there are some left in the creek because given the information I have read, they could be a great resource to Utah fisheries given their growth rates and life cycles.
They grow really really big really really fast.
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The Pyramid Lake Strain of LCT was originally found in Morrison Creek on Pilot Peak. Some of the fish were then transferred to nearby Bettridge Creek on BLM land as a precaution against extinction. If you're going to try for them this is the time of year to go. In low water years you don't get much survival through the summer beyond the current year's new brood of fish. While these fish have already surpassed 20 lbs since reintroduction in Pyramid Lake don't expect anything close to a pound on Pilot Peak.
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You will get a lot of resistance to have Lahontan's introduced into Utah waters.
The reason: Utah has other native cutthroat species indigenous to Utah that are used in fisheries management. Utah will be hesitant to start introducing a non-indigenous cutthroat strain into Utah.
As interesting as those cutthroat might be, don't expect to start seeing them popping up in Utah any time soon.
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I wasn't planning on fishing for them. I am just interested if a population still exists to propagate a once thought to be extinct species. I think they would be a valuable resource for fisheries with an over abundance of prey like Scofield and Joes Valley (chubs) or Porcupine (kokanee). I would think they would have to be sterilized without a doubt to eliminate hybridizing, but I think they would do a better job than tiger trout and splake, and it'd be a lot more fun to have a good chance of catching a 20 lb fish!!
I think it's a good idea myself, but I've been wrong before. As long as they are sterile, what difference does it make?
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They are still there but due to the size of the creek, they are really small.
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I know the fish are small, but they have the genetics to be HUGE. Size is relative to space and food supply in pretty much every species. These small fish have produced offspring that at five years old reached 24 pounds.
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Since Utah is not their native territory I pretty much doubt they will be anted any where else.
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Utah is not the native range of browns, rainbows, brookies, goldens, lakers, kokanee, tigers(hybrid), splake(hybrid) and all of their subspecies, not to mention ALL of the warm water species yet they ALL get planted throughout the state.
Sterilize these big cutts and lets just see what happens. We don't have anything to lose do we? Maybe we could put them into an isolated fishery (fertile fish) and to our part to keep an already endangered species from going extinct. Once they are stable in their native ranges we can remove them from the ecosystem they were planted in.
I like the possibilities.
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Just head west on 1-80 for about 500 miles/ 7 hours. I don't think you're likely to find any big ones closer than that any time soon.
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Aww but I have to agree....the possibilities.[
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It would be nice but with the regs the USFWS is putting out over Colorado cutthroat and bonneville cutthroat I highly doubt we will see them any time soon.
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Oh I got that with PBH's posts, just dreaming out loud.
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That you can do, it's not illegal yet.[
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Like what Flygoddess said, "just dreaming out loud." I know there will be resistance to it, but Bonneville and Colorado Cutts did not occupy every single body of water in the state, even historically.
I'm sure that there is a body or two of water somewhere in the state that doesn't have, or never has had any form of Cutt in it, ever. If this body of water does not link to any other body with Cutts in it, why not give it a try?
So, there is one, maybe two streams in the WORLD that have this fish in it. It was thought to be extinct in 1940. IF for no other reason, the idea should be at least entertained to keep them from going extinct. I have read a lot of books about Cutthroat trout. We have already wiped out many of the species found throughout North America and the World. These species of Cutts are also usually the biggest strains. I really want to try and keep this one around, and maybe by the time my kid is old enough to fish with me there is a fish-able population of these awesome fish.
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RE"I like the possibilities. "
As has been noted, there may be some challenges in getting the Pyramid Lahontans widely used here. However, 10,000 years ago, (very short time geologically/evolutionarily) there was an even bigger basin lake around here. I've read speculation that the offspring of this lake have the genetics to also produce the epically huge fish evolutionarily selected for when the lake was here. Of course, the lake I'm talking about is lake Bonneville. And the fish are the Bonneville cutts that were/are in our foothills headwater creeks. The old Utah lake cutts were possibly as large as the Lahontans.
Consider those possibilities?
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I agree that sterilized Lahontan have some interesting possibilities. Besides growing quickly, they are more piscavorious than most cutts and bows.
The other interesting thing about them is that they do well in very alkaline waters, and they tolerate higher temps than most other trout.
I am not saying just randomly stock them everywhere, but there are probably some particular waters that they would do well in.
I know that another problem is that the numbers of the Pilot Peak "true" Lahontans are not up enough to go around yet.
It is just great to see them being returned to Pyramid Lake. I am sure Nevada has a bunch of other places where they would like to restore them also.
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I agree that the "historic" Bonneville Cutt had the genetic potential to be this size. The problem here is that, from what I have read is that this "historic" fish was what was found in Utah Lake. There are reports of those Cutts going over 40 pounds!! Problem is, they have been eliminated entirely. They may have been that special subspecies of Bonneville that gets that big, but now are gone forever.
I don't want the same fate to befall the Pilot Lahontan.
For a little back history, the Pilot Peak strain of Lahontan was put there at the turn of the 20th century, just 40 years before they were officially extinct in Pyramid Lake. Good thing they tried moving them because they are ( at least until recently in the last 5 years) no longer found in their native Pyramid Lake. To keep the fishery alive, Lahontan's from surrounding lakes were transplanted into Pyramid lake. Although they are Lahontan's, they do not have the same genetic potential as the "historic" Lahontan (Pilot Peak).
I believe this same scenario is also true of the Bonneville. The Bear Lake strain of the Bonneville can get into the teens in weight, but nothing close to those once found in Utah Lake. The Bonneville found everywhere else in the state don't even come close to this potential (at least not on a regular basis).
I still want to see if it is a possibility.
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I helped with the project when I worked for the BLM. They moved them from Donner Creek over bettridge. Wendover wanted to pipe all the water that was flowing in Donner to use in town. I helped put up the pole fence that ws designed to keep the cows out of the stream bottom and we also put some log structures in to create some deeper pools for the fish. I heard they moved some of the fish to a pond to protect the genetics. I spent one day doing some electroshocking to see what kind of numbers were in Donner creek before we moved them. They were not very big. Reminded me of the natives in the small streams in the Uintas. I haven't heard anything about them for a few years. gshorthair
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This is a funny thread.
I don't understand why you guys are trying for doubles. Swing for the freakin' fence and hit a home-run!
KAMLOOPS RAINBOWS!!!!
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I caught one pub of bettridge 3 years ago and they are small.
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