1. Creel Chronicles
Pyramid Lake
2012-13 Season kicks off Fisheries
The 2012-2013 fishing influx of water, we pre- tribution shows a ma-
season is off to a great dict that the fishing will jority of fish (48%) in the
Volume 2, Issue 2
start! There have been only get better. 17-20 inch range with a
a number of fish caught catch rate of 1.1 hours January 2013
Our creel station has
exceeding 12 pounds, per fish and the total
interviewed 1,133 an-
with the largest weigh- fish per angler was 4.8.
glers since opening day.
ing in at a whopping 24 As you know this num-
Of that number 650
pounds (a picture of that ber varies per fisher-
were boat fishers and Special points of interest:
fish is on page 3). man.
483 were shore fishers.
With reports of an abun- The average size of a Please have a safe and  Tips for a successful
dance of bait balls and keeper was 19.4 inches. fun day of fishing and Catch and Release .
with the early December The throwback size dis- please stop by our Creel
station to report  Answers to frequently
Dave Hamel 20 lbs. 32 inches 11/21/12 your fishing ef- asked questions re-
forts. We are garding the history of
open every Sun- the Pilot Peak strain
day 10 am– 5 of LCT. Pg. 3
pm.
12/8/12 Bobby Wheeler
13 lb 4 oz - 31 inches
12/9/12 Tony Ross—13 lb 2 oz—31 in
11/5/12
Jeff Morris
10 lb 12 oz.
11/1/12 Mark Ballard
11 lbs 8 oz- 29 inches
A big ‘Thank you’ to
10/14/12 11/4/12 Jose Silvera
Crosby Lodge’s
Mario Naverette
15 lbs. 7 oz.- 33 inches
20 lbs Facebook page,
‘pyramid lake fishers’
Brian Johnson 10/3/12
14 pounds
for the use of pictures.

2. Page 2 Creel Chronicles
2012 LCT lake plants
Pyramid Lake Fisheries started the rearing the hatchlings, which on av- now shut down for the season.
Lahontan cutthroat spawning season erage, grow approximately 1 inch a
The fish are acclimated 2 weeks then
in early April and in the span of 6 month in the hatcheries.
released to the lake. Plant sizes var-
weeks collected a total of 1,431,193
The first group of fish were moved ied from 4-7 inches and the total
eggs. 482,617 eggs went to Dunn
out of the hatchery and into the Lake plant number and survival rate is
Hatchery and Numana Hatchery took
Operations acclimation facility at the unavailable at this time. A group of
948,576 eggs in for incubation in
end of October and other groups 100,000 will be held at Lake Opera-
their facility.
were transferred through December. tions and will be coded-wire tagged
Both hatcheries spent the summer Numana and Dunn hatcheries are for identity and tracking growth.
Catch and Release
We would like to stress the impor- If you are using a glove, make sure it rubber or fine mesh reduce the
tance of proper Catch and Release is wet before handling the fish. amount of slime removed while han-
techniques for boat and shore an- dling the fish and improves survival.
Please keep your fish in the water as
glers. The current slot limit requires
much as possible, so keep photo Remember, when fish are handled
that trout under 17 inches (fork
shoots of your trophy short, if you and put in a cooler to be weighed at
length) and between 20-24 inches
plan on returning your fish to the wa- Crosby’s Lodge, this puts a tremen-
(fork length) be returned to the water.
ter. If the fish is deeply hooked, have dous amount of stress on the fish
Creel surveys indicate that from
a pair of hemostats or pliers handy to and also dramatically lowers the
1992-2011, for every fish kept,
extract your lure or fly. Nets with survival rate .
more than 10 fish are released.
When returning the fish to the water,
Regulations require that only bar-
Studies indicate an average of hold him by the wrist of the tail and
bless hooks are to be used and you
gently move him back and forth. If he
may be cited by Tribal rangers if the 58% mortality in cutthroat trout pushes and tries to get away this is a
barbs are not pinched down cor-
that are bleeding on release. good sign. Do not release until the
rectly. This reduces injury to the fish.
fish is able to push off on his own.
National Weather Service PL station
The National Weather Service sta- tures are all recorded daily and en- ing down fences, trailers and exten-
tion at the PL Fisheries office has tered into the National Weather Ser- sive roof damage on several build-
been in operation for 26 years. Prior vices WxCoder- III database. ings and homes.
to that, observations were done at
December’s big storm brought very Our current data shows the lake
the Warrior’s Point Park (1979-
high winds that broke the wind speed temperature at this time is 47.8° F
1986), Ranger Station (1977-1974),
sensor. The wind gust and precipitation
The Sutcliffe Inn (1972-1974) and
measured 50 miles per total to date for 2012
The E.H. Graves residence from
hour at the time it broke off! is 4.56 inches
1967-1972. Graves was a Captain
Thanks to the National (yearly average is 6
with the U.S. Coast Guard, he and
Weather Service for the inches). The aver-
his wife Wanda did the recordings.
quick response on getting age December 2012
Temperatures (high and lows), pre- that repaired. The winds high temperature is
cipitation measurements, current also caused a lot of dam- 49.2° and the aver-
lake conditions and lake tempera- age in the Nixon area blow- The PL weather station age low is 35°.

3. Volume 2, Issue 2 Page 3
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Pilot Peak Strain LCT in Pyramid Lake
Lahontan National Fish Hatchery Complex (LNFHC)
-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-
Ed Smith of Reno, NV caught this 24 pound, 36 inch Pilot Peak LCT in ber. When an angler reports the tag
Pyramid Lake in November 2012. The fish was stocked in 2007. to biologists, valuable information on
how the fish is growing can be added
to the knowledge of this unique
Background:
strain of LCT. Preliminary results
Back in the late 1970’s a taxono- In 1995 the Lahontan NFHC, began
from the floy tag data shows the Pilot
mist named Bob Behnke collected pursuing genetic analysis and brood-
Peak LCT grow approximately 0.46
trout from a small stream in the Pi- stock development in the hopes of
inches per month.
lot Mountains along the border of utilizing this stock for recovery of the
Nevada and Utah. He studied the lake form and to enhance rec-
physical traits of this population and reational fishing.
described them as being related to
New genetic tools were becom-
the original Pyramid Lake stock in a
ing available at this time that
paper he published in 1978.
would allow geneticist to extract
During the 1980’s a biologist with DNA from museum mounts. It
the State of Utah by the name of was years later before a geneti-
Bryce Nielson, working with a pri- cist from UNR, Mary Peacock
vate landowner, built ponds at the PhD, was the first to success-
end of the creek and moved fish fully extract DNA from museum
from this tiny creek into the ponds. specimens collected from 1872 This graph depicts preliminary results of Pilot Peak
LCT growth in Pyramid Lake from Floy tag data.
Lahontan National Fish Hatchery Complex
710 Hwy 395
Gardnerville, NV 89410
775/265-2425
http://www.fws.gov/lahontannfhc/

4. Pyramid Lake Fisheries
603 Sutcliffe Drive
Sutcliffe, Nevada 89510 Established in 1975, Pyra-
Phone: 775-476-0500 mid Lake Fisheries is dedi-
Fax: 775-476-0558
e-mai:l smandell@plpt.nsn.us or 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:
Like our facebook page and
pyramidlakefisheries.org
share your fishing pictures.
Aquatic Invasive Species Reminder
As always here is a reminder to al- need to work together to protect our
ways follow these simple procedures environment from these hitchhikers.
each time you leave the water: Some common species are: Zebra
Mussels, New Zealand Mudsnails,
 Remove any visible mud, plants
Hydrilla, Whirling disease. Please
or animals before transporting
visit the ANS Taskforce and the US
equipment.
Coast Guard for a complete list and
 Clean and dry anything that more information.
came in contact with water Any introduction of any of these spe-
(boats, trailers, waders, clothes, cies to our environment could be
equipment, etc.). detrimental to the health and well Above: A boat propeller infested
 Always empty and dry out live being of our lake. with adult Quagga mussels.
wells after removing fish. Let’s keep Pyramid Lake free of Below: Adult Quagga mussel.
 Never release plants, fish or these hitchhikers. We have not found
animals into any body of water any of these threats in our waters but
unless they came from that body we are monitoring and hope you will
of water. follow these simple steps of preven-
tion.
Be informed and take action. We all
Thank you and have a great day!