Lahontan Cutthroat Trout are the largest species of cutthroat in the world. Anglers every year see fish cross the 20 pound mark with 10-15 pound fish being a reality more frequently. Extensive stocking efforts have been made in the past decades to make Pyramid Lake the amazing fishery we know and love today.

In the late 1800’s western expansion saw the extinction of the Lahontan Cutthroat in most of their native range. Estimated numbers as high as 1,000,000 pounds of cutthroat were shipped annually to mining camps and frontier towns across the west between 1860 and 1920, all from the waters of Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe.  In 1905, Derby Dam was constructed on the Truckee River, an attempt to revert water to nearby agriculture. With the only spawning tributary cutoff from the Lake, this resulted in a drop in lake levels by 75 feet that year.  In 1938, Nevada FWP (Fish, Wildlife, and Parks) witnessed the final spawn of the prehistoric Lahontan Cutthroat; it was reported that there were over 200 fish averaging 20 pounds. This was the final straw; exploitation and poor water management saw the end of the mythic Lahontan Cutthroat Trout in Pyramid Lake by 1943. Or so they thought…

Reintroduction efforts were made by the Paiute Tribe starting in the early 1970’s, stocking Summit Lake Strain Lahontan Cutthroat or, as we call them, Summits.  These fish come from a nearby lake with a remaining population of their own strain of Lahontan.  While likely bigger than most cutthroat in the world, these fish were not growing to the historical size and their life span was significantly shorter.  By 1990, a Summit of 8 pounds was worth bragging about.