Lahontan cutthroat trout are synonymous with Pyramid Lake in Nevada, the slightly salty body of freshwater that was home to the world-record cutthroat (a 41-pound fish caught in 1925), and more recently, plenty of fish tipping the scales past 20 pounds.
But Pyramid Lake is only part of this fish’s native range. Historically, they were present in Lake Tahoe and the Truckee River, which connects Tahoe and Pyramid. Lahontan cutthroat were so large and plentiful in this area that John C. Fremont called them “salmon trout” and dubbed the Truckee the “Salmon Trout River.”
While Lahontans have done well in Pyramid, and have even been observed spawning in the Truckee in recent years, they still haven’t been established throughout the rest of the drainage. That is, until last week, when the Washoe Tribe and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stocked thousands of these fish in Lake Tahoe, the first collaboration between the two agencies.
“Before contact with European settlers, Lake Tahoe was the main home for Lahontan cutthroat trout,” Kristina Burnette, environmental manager for the Washoe Tribe, told Petra Molina of the Tahoe Daily Tribune. “It is the only native trout species in Lake Tahoe, and when they were largely wiped out after contact, it had a significant impact. Recovery of Lahontan cutthroat trout is important because they were a stable food source when our people came to the basin during the summer months.”
Lahontan cutthroat are the only native trout species in Lake Tahoe, and this stocking of fish represents the first of what will likely be many future attempts to restore these fish to their historical native range. 2,000 of these fish were placed in the lake.