The 2012-2013 fishing

season is off to a great

start! There have been

a number of fish caught

exceeding 12 pounds,

with the largest weigh-

ing in at a whopping 24

pounds (a picture of that

fish is on page 3).

With reports of an abun-

dance of bait balls and

with the early December

influx of water, we pre-

dict that the fishing will

only get better.

Our creel station has

interviewed 1,133 an-

glers since opening day.

Of that number 650

were boat fishers and

483 were shore fishers.

The average size of a

keeper was 19.4 inches.

The throwback size dis-

tribution shows a ma-

jority of fish (48%) in the

17-20 inch range with a

catch rate of 1.1 hours

per fish and the total

fish per angler was 4.8.

As you know this num-

ber varies per fisher-

man.

Please have a safe and

fun day of fishing and

please stop by our Creel

station to report

your fishing ef-

forts. We are

open every Sun-

day 10 am– 5

pm.

Creel Chronicles

2012-13 Season kicks off

Special points of interest:

Tips for a successful

Catch and Release .

Answers to frequently

asked questions re-

garding the history of

the Pilot Peak strain

of LCT. Pg. 3

Pyra mid Lake

F i sh e r i e s

January 2013

Volume 2, Issue 2

Dave Hamel 20 lbs. 32 inches 11/21/12

Brian Johnson 10/3/12

14 pounds

10/14/12

Mario Naverette

20 lbs

11/4/12 Jose Silvera

15 lbs. 7 oz.- 33 inches

11/1/12 Mark Ballard

11 lbs 8 oz- 29 inches

11/5/12 Jeff Morris

10 lb 12 oz.

12/9/12 Tony Ross—13 lb 2 oz—31 in

12/8/12 Bobby Wheeler

13 lb 4 oz - 31 inches

A big ‘Thank you’ to

Crosby Lodge’s

Facebook page,

‘pyramid lake fishers’

for the use of pictures.

If you are using a glove, make sure it

is wet before handling the fish.

Please keep your fish in the water as

much as possible, so keep photo

shoots of your trophy short, if you

plan on returning your fish to the wa-

ter. If the fish is deeply hooked, have

a pair of hemostats or pliers handy to

extract your lure or fly. Nets with

ing down fences, trailers and exten-

sive roof damage on several build-

ings and homes.

Our current data shows the lake

temperature at this time is 47.8° F

and precipitation

total to date for 2012

is 4.56 inches

(yearly average is 6

inches). The aver-

age December 2012

high temperature is

49.2° and the aver-

age low is 35°.

The National Weather Service sta-

tion at the PL Fisheries office has

been in operation for 26 years. Prior

to that, observations were done at

the Warrior’s Point Park (1979-

1986), Ranger Station (1977-1974),

The Sutcliffe Inn (1972-1974) and

The E.H. Graves residence from

1967-1972. Graves was a Captain

with the U.S. Coast Guard, he and

his wife Wanda did the recordings.

Temperatures (high and lows), pre-

cipitation measurements, current

lake conditions and lake tempera-

tures are all recorded daily and en-

tered into the National Weather Ser-

vices WxCoder- III database.

December’s big storm brought very

high winds that broke the wind speed

sensor. The wind gust

measured 50 miles per

hour at the time it broke off!

Thanks to the National

Weather Service for the

quick response on getting

that repaired. The winds

also caused a lot of dam-

age in the Nixon area blow-

rubber or fine mesh reduce the

amount of slime removed while han-

dling the fish and improves survival.

Remember, when fish are handled

and put in a cooler to be weighed at

Crosby’s Lodge, this puts a tremen-

dous amount of stress on the fish

and also dramatically lowers the

survival rate .

When returning the fish to the water,

hold him by the wrist of the tail and

gently move him back and forth. If he

pushes and tries to get away this is a

good sign. Do not release until the

fish is able to push off on his own.

We would like to stress the impor-

tance of proper Catch and Release

techniques for boat and shore an-

glers. The current slot limit requires

that trout under 17 inches (fork

length) and between 20-24 inches

(fork length) be returned to the water.

Creel surveys indicate that from

1992-2011, for every fish kept,

more than 10 fish are released.

Regulations require that only bar-

bless hooks are to be used and you

may be cited by Tribal rangers if the

barbs are not pinched down cor-

rectly. This reduces injury to the fish.

Pyramid Lake Fisheries started the

Lahontan cutthroat spawning season

in early April and in the span of 6

weeks collected a total of 1,431,193

eggs. 482,617 eggs went to Dunn

Hatchery and Numana Hatchery took

948,576 eggs in for incubation in

their facility.

Both hatcheries spent the summer

rearing the hatchlings, which on av-

erage, grow approximately 1 inch a

month in the hatcheries.

The first group of fish were moved

out of the hatchery and into the Lake

Operations acclimation facility at the

end of October and other groups

were transferred through December.

Numana and Dunn hatcheries are

now shut down for the season.

The fish are acclimated 2 weeks then

released to the lake. Plant sizes var-

ied from 4-7 inches and the total

plant number and survival rate is

unavailable at this time. A group of

100,000 will be held at Lake Opera-

tions and will be coded-wire tagged

for identity and tracking growth.

2012 LCT lake plants

National Weather Service PL station

Catch and Release

Creel Chronicles Page 2

Studies indicate an average of

58% mortality in cutthroat trout

that are bleeding on release.

The PL weather station

Page 3 Volume 2, Issue 2

Pilot Peak Strain LCT in Pyramid Lake

Lahontan National Fish Hatchery Complex (LNFHC)

Back in the late 1970’s a taxono-

mist named Bob Behnke collected

trout from a small stream in the Pi-

lot Mountains along the border of

Nevada and Utah. He studied the

physical traits of this population and

described them as being related to

the original Pyramid Lake stock in a

paper he published in 1978.

During the 1980’s a biologist with

the State of Utah by the name of

Bryce Nielson, working with a pri-

vate landowner, built ponds at the

end of the creek and moved fish

from this tiny creek into the ponds.

In 1995 the Lahontan NFHC, began

pursuing genetic analysis and brood-

stock development in the hopes of

utilizing this stock for recovery of the

lake form and to enhance rec-

reational fishing.

New genetic tools were becom-

ing available at this time that

would allow geneticist to extract

DNA from museum mounts. It

was years later before a geneti-

cist from UNR, Mary Peacock

PhD, was the first to success-

fully extract DNA from museum

specimens collected from 1872

-1911. Through her work we have

determined that the Pilot Peak strain

is indeed related to the Truckee

River basin populations.

In 2006, the LNFHC in partnership

with the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe

began stocking Pilot Peak LCT into

Pyramid Lake. Over 780,000 juvenile

Piolot Peak LCT have been stocked

in a variety of locations around Pyra-

mid Lake.

All of the Pilot Peak LCT stocked by

Lahontan NFHC are adipose fin

clipped, and over half are tagged

with dorsal floy tags. These floy tags

give each fish it’s own unique num-

ber. When an angler reports the tag

to biologists, valuable information on

how the fish is growing can be added

to the knowledge of this unique

strain of LCT. Preliminary results

from the floy tag data shows the Pilot

Peak LCT grow approximately 0.46

inches per month.

Ed Smith of Reno, NV caught this 24 pound, 36 inch Pilot Peak LCT in

Pyramid Lake in November 2012. The fish was stocked in 2007.

Background:

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Lahontan National Fish Hatchery Complex

710 Hwy 395

Gardnerville, NV 89410

775/265-2425

http://www.fws.gov/lahontannfhc/

This graph depicts preliminary results of Pilot Peak

LCT growth in Pyramid Lake from Floy tag data.

need to work together to protect our

environment from these hitchhikers.

Some common species are: Zebra

Mussels, New Zealand Mudsnails,

Hydrilla, Whirling disease. Please

visit the ANS Taskforce and the US

Coast Guard for a complete list and

more information.

Any introduction of any of these spe-

cies to our environment could be

detrimental to the health and well

being of our lake.

Let’s keep Pyramid Lake free of

these hitchhikers. We have not found

any of these threats in our waters but

we are monitoring and hope you will

follow these simple steps of preven-

tion.

Thank you and have a great day!

Aquatic Invasive Species Reminder

As always here is a reminder to al-

ways follow these simple procedures

each time you leave the water:

Remove any visible mud, plants

or animals before transporting

equipment.

Clean and dry anything that

came in contact with water

(boats, trailers, waders, clothes,

equipment, etc.).

Always empty and dry out live

wells after removing fish.

Never release plants, fish or

animals into any body of water

unless they came from that body

of water.

Be informed and take action. We all

Established in 1975, Pyra-

mid Lake Fisheries is dedi-

cated to the restoration

and preservation of the na-

tive Lahontan Cutthroat

Trout and the endangered

Cui-ui to Pyramid Lake and

the lower Truckee River.

We’re on the web:

pyramidlakefisheries.org

603 Sutcliffe Drive

Sutcliffe, Nevada 89510

Phone: 775-476-0500

Fax: 775-476-0558

e-mai:l smandell@plpt.nsn.us or

P yra mid Lake F i she r i e s

Above: A boat propeller infested

with adult Quagga mussels.

Below: Adult Quagga mussel.

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