![]() ![]() Nevada is a dry state, but many early residents of the state were enthused with the idea represented by the federal Bureau of Reclamation where the government would build dams and diversions to create irrigation projects to “reclaim” the desert. When the West was taken and settled, Pyramid Lake and its big trout (by legend up to 60 pounds) remained as well as did the endemic Cui-ui (Chasmistes cujus) sucker, which can range up to 7 pounds. In the ancient, almost-sea Lake Lahontan, a huge sub-species of the cutthroat trout evolved - the Lahontan Cutthroat. Today its largest remnant, Pyramid Lake, is still over 300 feet deep in places. The Great Basin itself is large area in Western North America defined by having no rivers that run to the ocean or connect with outside rivers. Thousands of years ago, the place it now occupies was the deepest part of Pleistocene Lake Lahontan (900 ft.) which covered much of western Nevada. ![]() It collects and keeps all the water of the Truckee River that isn’t diverted for agriculture. Pyramid is a big Great Basin lake on the edge of the desert. ![]() ![]() The New York Times just did an article on the growing comeback of these potentially and now actually, big trout. We finally saw the big Lahontan Cutthroat after a loud splash alerted us inside our truck while we parked on cliff almost a hundred feet above the Truckee River delta into the Lake. We just spent three days at this amazing place. This month Pyramid Lake was an undiscovered pool of beauty, at least to me and my spouse. Almost extinct strain of Lahontan Cutthroat Trout rebounds to grow 20 pound lunkers. ![]()
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