Pyramid 12-3-10

[jayclarkflyfishing]

Fished at the N Nets yesterday.Nice day with light winds and smallish waves.Went 5 for 5 with the largest going 23".Caught one tagged Pilot Peak strain LCT that was around 14".Very silvery fish with no spots and was a hard fighter for an LCT.Fish caught on a mix of popcorn beetles and black buggers.Was great to get out of the snow for a few hours!!

Jay

[Ned Morris]

and some good fish too. Sure it was fun! Curious on the tags of the Pilot Peak strains if you could shed some light how it works. Could never understand the logic of planting what is thought to be the last remnant population of adfluvial LCT strain from what is thought to be from the Truckee Basin (Independence Lake LCT are all but gone now) into Pyramid Lake that has been for decades occupied with nothing but LahontanXRainbow hybrids. Anyone else out there can help me understand this or I am I missing something here?

[caltagm]

Not sure I understand your question but I can assure you that the Independence Lake LCT are far from gone. This year's spawning run on Upper Independence Creek included the greatest number of fish in 50 years. They are recovering spectacularly well and the prognosis is for even better spawning runs in the future.

[jayclarkflyfishing]

As far as I can tell the Pilot Peak fish are possible the exact same fish that was extirpated from Pyramid in the 1940's. If these fish are able to grow as large as they once did then why not try to reintroduce them?The Summit Lake strain that are in the lake now are nice fish and a close relative to the Pilot Peak strain but they are shorter lived and don't grow as large.
The Independence Lake fish are doing pretty well and like Caltagm said they had a very positive spawn this year.

Anyways, it was a fun day and the fish were decent too!

Jay

[Ned Morris]

That is great news on Indenpendence! Last reports I heard the Independence Lake fish were on the brink being they are greatly outnumbered by Rainbows and Brooks and last I heard the population was down to like a couple dozen spawning pairs in the early 1990's. With all the Rainbows in there I thought there doom was sealed as interbreeding with introduced rainbows has been the largest contributing factor to their demise. Curious what the numbers are now and if you could share that info because the LCT in Independence Lake started going downhill in the 1960's which is 50 year time frame you reference on current status. Oh...to clarify my question: How do you keep the strain of pure LCT (i.e. Pilot Peak LCT) that is currently being planted in Pyramid from becoming introgressed with the existing LCT x Rainbow Hybrids (old Heenan Lake Broodstock) that has occupied Pyramid Lake since being introduced in the 1950's?


Not sure I understand your question but I can assure you that the Independence Lake LCT are far from gone. This year's spawning run on Upper Independence Creek included the greatest number of fish in 50 years. They are recovering spectacularly well and the prognosis is for even better spawning runs in the future.

[Ned Morris]

I am not questioning the validity of the Pilot Peak fish being tagged and planted in Pyramid. Why not plant them in Pyramid? Well, what I am stating is that the fish that inhabit Pyramid Lake are from the broodstock Heenan Lake fish that originated from Blue Lakes and are highly introgressed with Rainbow Trout. Although very striking in LCT appearance, most all of the fish found in Pyramid are LCT X Rainbow hybrids. My question is how do you keep the Summit Lake fish (which is actually another non-Truckee Basin fish but a pure form of LCT) and now the Pilot Peak Fish (although unknown origin/Utah show all the characteristics of the original Lacustrine Truckee Basin LCT) from interbreeding? Seems to make as much sense as planting those fish in Tahoe to become fodder for Lake Trout. I was just wondering if someone can tell me how you keep these strains of fish from interbreeding as it makes absolutely now sense to me and a waste of a truly valuable resource.


As far as I can tell the Pilot Peak fish are possible the exact same fish that was extirpated from Pyramid in the 1940's. If these fish are able to grow as large as they once did then why not try to reintroduce them?The Summit Lake strain that are in the lake now are nice fish and a close relative to the Pilot Peak strain but they are shorter lived and don't grow as large.
The Independence Lake fish are doing pretty well and like Caltagm said they had a very positive spawn this year.

Anyways, it was a fun day and the fish were decent too!

Jay

[Ed Wahl]

I am not questioning the validity of the Pilot Peak fish being tagged and planted in Pyramid. Why not plant them in Pyramid? Well, what I am stating is that the fish that inhabit Pyramid Lake are from the broodstock Heenan Lake fish that originated from Blue Lakes and are highly introgressed with Rainbow Trout. Although very striking in LCT appearance, most all of the fish found in Pyramid are LCT X Rainbow hybrids. My question is how do you keep the Summit Lake fish (which is actually another non-Truckee Basin fish but a pure form of LCT) and now the Pilot Peak Fish (although unknown origin/Utah show all the characteristics of the original Lacustrine Truckee Basin LCT) from interbreeding? Seems to make as much sense as planting those fish in Tahoe to become fodder for Lake Trout. I was just wondering if someone can tell me how you keep these strains of fish from interbreeding as it makes absolutely now sense to me and a waste of a truly valuable resource.

I believe the Pilot Peak strain was determined to be a pure Pyramid strain from a long ago stocking.

They( Piaute tribe) have complete control over breeding as there is no or virtually no natural spawning at Pyramid.

Ed

[caltagm]

Ed is right. Nearly 100% of the spawning at Pyramid takes place at the hatchery. There is no significant population of rainbows in Pyramid. They do not survive well in the high alkalinity. The Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe raises, spawns and releases Summit strain LCT. The USF&W raises and stocks Pilot Peak LCT into Pyramid as well. There is no way to absolutely say that Pilot Peak fish are the same strain that were extirpated from Pyramid Lake last century however the indication is that they are the closest relatives to the original Pyramid strain that we are likely to find and therefore the most likely to result in the size and lifespan historically found in Pyramid Lake.

[Ned Morris]

Read my last post I never stated Rainbows persist in Pyramid just LCT x Rainbow Hybrids. How the Paiute Tribe and the USFWS keep the Summit Lake Strain and Pilot Peak Strains from crossing each other still a mystery but I will assume they do their best. Always a risk when there is no native spawning habitat and hatcheries involved sustaining the fishery.

[Ed Wahl]

I would hope (yeah, I know) that the Pilot Peak cutts are marked, making ID easy at the hatchery.

Staying optimistic, even when history proves that it's stupid.

Ed