How Utah saved Lahontan Cutthroat Trout from Extinction

[@hadleytorres8171]

This is what i imagine the Bonneville cutthroat trout of Utah lake must have been like. I'd assume these awesome fish are even a bit smaller than the historic reports tell tale of... But what I'd give to see utah lake in it's prime!

[@jessicacordova5024]

What an awesome story. A lot of people don’t think about the conservation that goes into our lakes and other bodies of water and don’t like paying fishing license and park fees but I’ll always be glad to pay because I know how much work goes into making sure that we have fish to catch. The Kokanee spawn at strawberry is where I realized the amount of work it takes.

[@spencermckerigan9597]

I've had the pleasure of fishing Pyramid Lake the last 2 years and it is one of my favorite lakes to fish for trout. Getting out there before sunrise and listening to the waves crash and hooking into the unknow is magical.

[@joedirte1029]

What a great story, fun to hear Doug Miller's voice too....

[@tinoyb9294]

I've heard they used to be even larger. Let's hope the Yellowstone cutts make a similar recovery. Well done!

[@gs6810]

Give them time. In 15 years they will be catching 40lb monsters from Pyramid lake.

[@mgriffith4354]

Great info! Thanks to Steve. Your story is one that needs to be told.

[@frankmen123]

Couple of heroes.

[@hoglefish]

I do wish they would have used Lahontan’s in Strawberry. They are much better suited to strawberry than Bear Lake Cutthroats.

[@scottsorensen8490]

Incredible story right there! Incredible couple of fellows! Thanks for sharing Adam!

[@cutthroat399]

That's the kinda of stuff that tickles your heartstrings! Great story!

[@flyguy2021]

Great coverage of an important fish recovery story.

[@beckyscreativespooniebeehive]

Amazing story, thank you for sharing!

[@rickbrown7067]

Love it out there. I caught a 8 lb one and loved it. Bob Benkie was a mentor at CSU. Great person.

[@cutthroat399]

Very jealous!

[@rickbrown7067]

@@cutthroat399 The big chromids and balanced leaches work great. It towed me around in my float tube, can’t wait to go back.

[@cutthroat399]

I actually meant the privilege of learning from behnke himself, but that too.

[@snowmobile68]

What an awesome story. I've been lucky enough to fish Pyramid and catch a Lahontan but never knew the story behind it. Thanks!

[@Bjreeder24]

Cool video...There are still a few wild populations of LCT that never were extirpated that nobody seems to know about. The Pyramid lake fishery is a great story, but the only spawning ground for these fish is subject to hybridization by rainbow trout, so despite all the money poured into the PL fishery, its basically a recreational fishery. The last 2 lakes with native naturally spawning LCT are in a constant struggle for funding even though they both face conservation issues.

[@mattpinder2656]

Awesome insight. What are those lakes that need funding and attention?? Thanks

[@Bjreeder24]

@@mattpinder2656 sure, but a disclaimer first. FYI for all who read this comment. You will not fare well if you try to break regs at the 2 lakes that still harbor native wild spawning LCT. Summit lake is strictly no fishing at all in the watershed ever unless you are a tribal member and there is always staff present. And Independence lake which belongs to The Nature Conservancy. Independence is patrolled by staff and undercover game wardens and is a no take lake that is closed to fishing for a good part of the season. Summit is a terminal desert lake formed some 13000 years ago by headwater exchange from alluvial deposition and a massive landslide diverting 2 small mountain creeks that previously flowed into separate basins together. Independence is an alpine lake that was once 2 lakes with spawning habitat in between and sadly had a dam added (along with a bunch of invasive fishes) for irrigation purposes and to my knowledge is the only great basin water that iis diverted to irrigate land outside of basin. I have a grip of info like this and am working on a video about these other populations. It will be posted on my channel, but it is a big undertaking with no funding and I need to put a lot of work into the channel first.

[@chalillofviso8980]

@@Bjreeder24 any update?...🙂

[@pablolibre8499]

@@Bjreeder24 There are LCT elsewhere in Nevada including small streams. I've heard the story of Pilot Peak trout restoring the PL strain of LCT many times.Great success story. Hopefully Nevada doesn't loose its Bull Trout population. What many people don't realize is that Nevada used to have spawning runs of salmon coming off of the Snake River.

[@joeindependent8518]

Thank you Don Duff, Dr. Behnke, and Bryce Nielson (Utah)!! These 3 Wiseman brought back the original Pyramid Lake Lahonton Cutthroat trout from extinction!! Nevada showed no interest in these trout for about 30 years of knowing about their presence.

[@lzjranchshiawathahideoutby254]

I have to respectfully disagree. See comments above. Kent Summers discovered them years before any of the others heard about them.

[@joeindependent8518]

@@lzjranchshiawathahideoutby254 I know nothing about who you are talking about. What is the story???

[@lzjranchshiawathahideoutby254]

@@joeindependent8518 That's exactly the point. Someone really needs to critically look into the FACTUAL history of events.

[@joeindependent8518]

@@lzjranchshiawathahideoutby254 I just watched the video for the 1st time and they 100% agreed with what I SAID!!!!

[@Bjreeder24]

I believe both gentlemen here are right. Summers did find them first, but samples were shelved and it wasn't until Behnke examined pyloric caecum and determined from his expert analysis that the specimens from the Pilot stream were indeed progeny from original PL fish. That is when biologists from FWS began taking them seriously. Then Dr. Mary Peacock, an evolutionary and conservation geneticist and perhaps a lesser known legend in this story caught wind and conducted further analysis to compare the samples with highly degraded museum original PL specimen. That final analysis was finally enough to get FWS to expand the hatchery program. Unfortunately the fish had 70 some years to bottleneck. The original population was millions of fish, each with unique genetics. The pilot fish was some 50 fish that had decades to be selected for in a stream habitat. I came into fisheries conservation after all this and have only had the pleasure to study ichthyology under Dr. Peacock and do some volunteer work in her lab. Along with 5 years working for TU's LCT biologist on conservation projects in isolated watersheds outside of PL.

[@lzjranchshiawathahideoutby254]

Hmmm.... I thought Kent Summers and Denise Knight out of the Ogden Utah DWR office were the biologists who initially found and later confirmed the fish as Lahontan cutthroats via electrophoresis studies performed back in the mid 70's and early 80's (respectively)? Mr. Jack Rensel was the UDWR Ogden regional office supervisor when the investigation and studies were conducted. Jack's daughter accompanied Kent, Denise and myself on the first trip to sample the fish that Kent had discovered ~one decade earlier. John Lipink was the Fisheries manager at that time and over saw the work that Kent and Denise were doing. I had no knowledge of Dr. Robert Behnke, Bryce Nielsen and/or Don Duff having been involved at that time nor did any of them accompany us when we conducted the on the ground investigation, water analysis, electro-shocking, etc... Incidentally, electro-shocking didn't work very well as the water had very low ionic concentration/conductivity. Can someone update me on the exact chronology of the persons involved and the events that took place? Thank you Dale Hepworth for forwarding your letter that further substantiates that Kent made the initial discovery. The link to view your letter is as below. I was forwarded the following letter sent originally to the editor of Trout Unlimited (TU)'s magazine several years ago by a retired Utah DWR Fisheries manager who completed his master's degree at Colorado State University under the instruction and direction of Dr. Robert Behnke. His letter was sent in response to an article published by TU about the life and accomplishments of the late Dr. Behnke after his passing (in which he was credited with the discovery of Utah's Lahontan trout). The author of the letter was a professional peer and colleague to all those involved in the search and discovery of the Pilot Mountain Lahontan trout in Utah. His written recollection coincides almost exactly with what I remember personally as a witness directly working with the Ogden Regional Office Fisheries staff as a seasonal employee. I was with Kent Summers and helped electro-shock the fish with Denise Knight and Jack Rensel's daughter. We traveled there, camped at the DWR's cabin located there, set up a transect on the stream they were in, electro-shocked them, measured them, weighed them, photographed them, sampled them , catalogued them and we documented it. Although Dr. Behnke obviously made significant contributions in confirming the identity of the fish as Lahontans, to be historically correct, it was clearly Mr. Kent Summers of the UDWR who was the initial discoverer of the fish. It was also his idea to look for them in that incredibly unlikely location, who actually found them there and recognized them as a variety/strain of cutthroat unlike any other previously described in the state of Utah. He should be credited for his initial achievement both publicly and historically. I would encourage both TU and KSL Outdoors to further investigate Kent's historic role from the very beginning of the story and to publicly report his initial and direct contribution that has somehow been forgotten and glossed over... Here's the link for his colleague's substantiating letter that was written and submitted but apparently never published by TU almost 6 years ago: docs.google.com/document/d/1dHik073GRwQqWPZCb9CQxSNzaKevn97AQ23qbFMnQP8/edit?usp=sharing

[@texture650]

Very cool💪🏽💪🏽

[@dennissavage5069]

Awesome!!!!

[@jeremyatkinson4976]

Only part of the story. What about the Tribes fight against the Authorites to get the Lake back to a situation whereby there is water and a spawning area. Utah didn't save the trout, it nearly killed them all.

[@wyatthampton4351]

Utah saved a species Native to Nevada huh? Cause the Nevada Piute tribe and Nevada DOW haven't been protecting and spawning and rebuilding the truckee to save the species for the better part of the last century. But whatever gets ya more views.... I was born and raised not 30 miles from Pyramid lake.

[@Flylifeoutfitters]

Good job hot spotting a lake. This is how these types of places get ruined.

[@rustyshackleford1091]

The lake is massive so it probably won’t get ruined, but I agree with you on not hot spotting lakes. Fisheries can get ruined quickly with social media.

[@rustbeltwilds837]

social media really hurt the wild brown fishery @@rustyshackleford1091