Tuesday September 6, 2022
Jackson Hole News & Guide —
Members of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s Jackson Region recently stocked 750 Snake River cutthroat trout back into Mystery Lake in the Teton Wilderness.
The 5-inch fish were packed into the remote lake on horseback, which is approximately five miles north of Brooks Lake near Togwotee Pass, according to a Wyoming Game and Fish news release.
“The stocking of the fish is the final step in restoring the lake to its native Snake River cutthroat trout,” said Mark Gocke, Game and Fish public information specialist.
The restoration project began in 2016 with the removal of all non-native fish, primarily rainbow trout. The lake is in the upper Cub Creek drainage, a tributary to the South Fork of the Buffalo Fork.
“Non-native trout are the greatest threat to the persistence of native cutthroat trout,” Gocke wrote. Rainbow trout, a close relative, compete with, but also readily hybridize with cutthroat trout.