Lahontan Cutthroats

[wilco5]

So I saw on the wildlife website that a strain of cutthroats called Lahontans have been established in the Pilot Peak range in Box Elder County. Does anyone know if that's true? I can't see much by way of water there, are there any streams or anything they are in? It would be kind of cool to catch a new strain. Thanks!
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[kochanut]

they get damn big and quick also.... Pyramid Lake in NV and Lake Lenore in central WA have some massive ones in there that i have caught, but im with you, i dont see much water up that way.
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[TS30]

I've heard the various reports of Lahontans. I've been told by credible sources they exist in certain drainages in Utah. I believe they are there. I wouldn't expect them to get as big as they are in Pyramid. That is as much due to the body of water as it is the strain of fish.
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[troutgass]

I did some research on Lahontan Cutts and kochanut is right. They get massive. Just wiki or google Pyramid Lake or Lake Lenore with Lahontan and see what comes up. I would love to see that strain here in Utah if they would survive.
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[pookiebar]

The story I have heard from an aquantance in DWR in the past was that the strain of fish resided in Lake Bonneville and was assumed extinct. Then some prospector back in the '80s, yes there are still gold prospectors even now. Was going up the various creeks in the Pilot range and would catch these cutthroat trout and eat them. He observed that some of these fish were quite large, considering the dinky body of water they were in.

He reported the fish to the DWR becasue there were no fish reports for those creeks etc. When the state officials went out to investigate what type of trout they were, they could not identify the species. They then took a few back to holding ponds for further study and found that they would grow like a weed in the right situations. They have since planted them in a few lakes, and they are indeed fast growers and extremely agressive feeders, think Bonneville cuts on steroids. Do to their size and feeding styles they will not likely be put in other lakes becasue they could desimate other fish populations.

There are skeletons of the ones from Lake Bonneville that they estimate at over 100 pounds!!!
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[flygoddess]

Have never heard of them that big but anything is possible. They are like Kamloop, a special strain that grow supper fast.
I have seen big ones at Pyramid, but I would say the biggest trout I have seen.

But, now I have been told, that Trout don't live THAT long. Like maybe 7 years. I know Lakers do, but, like I said I have been told Trout don't. Like Henry's, they are like 5 years...

If that is the case, then 100 pounder would be slim...right?
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[albinotrout]

You are right,they are there. I went up there this last summer. I only hit one of the creeks that I know that have them in it. The fish are small, well at least the ones we found. I caught it on a small fly. The water is almost non existant and it took us a while to find it. You had to get clear up into the canyon to find it above ground. The rest was in a pipe down lower. I want to check out the other creek when I can get out there. If I did not know that these were lahontans then I would have guessed bonneville cuts. But they are lahontans. I spent years researching to find the exact location because the names are not on the map and one of the creeks has two names.[cool] Happy hunting!
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[packfish]

There are some on the Nev/Utah border area. I think the Pilot Peak area has some that probably saved them-
the eggs from there I think are taken by the state of Nev to bring them back to their native areas. I don't think the Lahontans were ever natives to Utah. I know of some areas in Nev were you can fish for them in small streams- but don't expect to catch some monster trout- expect to catch a trout the size of most every other trout in a small creek.
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[albinotrout]

[quote pookiebar] Do to their size and feeding styles they will not likely be put in other lakes becasue they could desimate other fish populations.

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Can you say carp control?[:p]
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[Lonnie]

Interesting side note, there are articles from th early pioneer historic accounts of the giant cutthroats (to 40lbs) That were once abundant in utah lake. So much so they even used pitch forks to harvest them. Commercial fishing outfits were established on utah lake in the late 1800's to early 1900's . I have seen the old photo's of the average 25lb cuts (Known as bonniville cuts) . I also read a theory that the lahontan and bonniville are close relatives left over from lake bonniville. They found ,some before thought to be extinct, boniville cuts in the deep creek mountains in 1974. There is several articles on the internet , check um out. I'd sure like to see a new population in UT
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[justaguyinutah]

I use to live in Reno and spent a lot of time fishing Pyramid. The first fish i caught was over 7lbs using my fly rod and standing on ladder it is a blast. If you have get a chance to go fish Pyramid you need to in the winter months.
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[doggonefishin]

A few comments on aspects of this thread.

1. RE: "The story I have heard from an aquantance in DWR in the past was that the strain of fish resided in Lake Bonneville and was assumed extinct."

False, the Lahontan cutt evolved in the Lahontan basin of Northwestern Nevada, eastern California and a small part of Oregon. The Bonneville cutt evolved in the Bonneville basin and lake. These are not actually "closely" related at all evolutionarily speaking. Our Bonnevilles are closest to the Yellowstone and Snake river finespotted cutts.

2. The fish in the one stream on the Pilots that has Lahontans are small. You will not catch bruisers here.

3. The Lahontans cutts in Pyramid and Walker lakes now are derived from sources other than the original Pyramid lake cutts. These fish now, while being very fun to catch and nice size do NOT attain the huge size of the original Pyramid lake residents. The stream resident forms found in numerous locations in Nevada do not get inordinately large.

4. There is evidence that the Pilot peak fish in question were originally from Pyramid lake and thus have the genetics of the original inhabitants. This could be important because some leading trout experts such as Robert Behnke feel that THESE fish could possibly attain the exceptional size again, assuming the food and water conditions were appropriate. However, this has not been proven yet.

5. The strain does well in alkaline lakes such as some in Washington State.

6. Re"Interesting side note, there are articles from th early pioneer historic accounts of the giant cutthroats (to 40lbs) That were once abundant in utah lake. So much so they even used pitch forks to harvest them."

True, but a different strain. These were Bonneville cutts. These UL cutts were huge as well. The world record though is a 41 lb Lahontan. A commercial catch of 62 lbs was reported.



Source; Trout and Salmon of North America, by Robert Behnke.
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[GEEZER]

I've paid my dues fishing Pyramid and Walker lakes for those Lahontan cutts. All back in the late 60's before water was allocated to Pyramid Lake in an attempt to save the fishery. I haven't been back since that happened but I plan to someday.

If I remember correctly, that record cutt was caught in 1929 by a Piute indian named John Skimmerhorn.

My wife had an uncle (long deceased) that grew up in Wadsworth Nevada along the Truckee River where his family farmed. He told me stories of his father & other farmers in the area going to a ford on the river in the spring and pitchforking wagon loads of those fish onto the banks where the kids would gather them & fill the wagons. He said they would plow them into their fields and gardens for fertilizer.

When I was only 10 or 11 yrs. old, I got acquanted with a gentleman in Ely NV where I grew up named Bob Dickey.
Bob owned a motel in Ely and was the White Pine County game warden. Bob & I hit it off pretty well & he took me with him on numerous trips to stock the streams in the area. One summer I went with him to the Nevada state hatchery in Verdi where we picked up a truckload of Lahontan cutthroat fingerlings. We hauled them to some rearing ponds on the Swallow ranch in Spring Valley. I accompanied Bob on a couple expiditions when we packed some of those fish into the headwaters of streams on the east side of the Shell Creek mountains.
The streams I remember them being packed into were Taft Creek, McCoy creek, Little Negro creek and Basset creek. Bob and another gentleman from Ely named Bill Isaac also packed some of them into Baker Lake in what is now Great Basin National Park.

This is kinda windy & rambling but I love that part of the world and thinking - writing about it just feels good.
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[albinotrout]

I first learned of the lahontans in the Pilot range several years ago while looking into the fishing at Great Basin NP. I found several articles on them and found that they were planted there probably early 19 teens. Also after emailing the DWR found that there was a fire there several years ago and that the plan was to let them reproduce naturally. The stream I was at we only saw a couple of them. But the stream is only about a foot wide in places and at most 6" deep. But we were there in August. I think the spring runoff will help the fishery out a little. And the fish ARE small. I would be surprised to see anything of size come out of there.
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[PBH]

[quote wilco5]So I saw on the wildlife website that a strain of cutthroats called Lahontans have been established in the Pilot Peak range in Box Elder County. Does anyone know if that's true?[/quote]

They've been out there for years and years....


Here, is a document that mentions them. I'd recommend reading the whole document, but if you're only interested in the Lahontans out on Pilot Mountain, read page 4:
http://wildlife.utah.gov/blueribbon/4-step_plan.pdf
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[THESLAYER]

I've pulled those monsters out of pyramid lake nv. They are awesome up to 20+# beautiful spring with big spoons and hold on....
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[troutgass]

[quote PBH][quote wilco5]So I saw on the wildlife website that a strain of cutthroats called Lahontans have been established in the Pilot Peak range in Box Elder County. Does anyone know if that's true?[/quote]

They've been out there for years and years....


Here, is a document that mentions them. I'd recommend reading the whole document, but if you're only interested in the Lahontans out on Pilot Mountain, read page 4:
[url "http://wildlife.utah.gov/blueribbon/4-step_plan.pdf[/quote]"]http://wildlife.utah.gov/...ep_plan.pdf[/quote][/url]

Thanks PBH for that article. That is an interesting read regarding ratio of fish and what effects growth and size of trout. I would be interested to see a new report on some of those fisheries that they talked about to see how they are coming.
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[packfish]

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