How Utah saved Lahontan Cutthroat Trout from Extinction 

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!

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.

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

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

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

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.

Very cool💪🏽💪🏽

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

Couple of heroes.

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

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

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

Amazing story, thank you for sharing!

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

Great coverage of an important fish recovery story.

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.

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.

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.

Awesome!!!!

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

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.

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