A soft-spoken 13-year-old Kemmerer boy set the new tiger trout state record in late July when he landed a 12.77 pound fish from Viva Naughton Reservoir.

The Wyoming Game and Fish wrote that Jaxon Krall shattered the previous record of 11.93 pounds, which was also caught at Viva Naughton by Owen Schaad of Cheyenne in 2023.

Krall’s fish was 31.25 inches long and had a girth of 16.75 inches. He caught the fish from shore on a Thomas Buoyant lure.

“Geeze,” said Krall when he hooked and landed the fish. “I was fishing for anything that would bite, but I knew when I hooked it that it was big.”

Tiger trout are a sterile hybrid of a brook trout and brown trout. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has stocked Viva Naughton with tiger trout every year since 2014. Viva Naughton has a large Utah chub population, and Game and Fish hoped stocking tiger trout would help curb the numbers of Utah chub in the reservoir and provide diversity to the fishery. Rainbow trout are the primary species in the reservoir.

Robb Keith, Game and Fish fisheries supervisor in the Green River Region, said sampling data indicates tiger trout in Viva Naughton are primarily feeding on Utah chub.

“We stock small numbers of tiger trout to provide an opportunity for anglers to catch an exceptional fish from time to time,” Keith said.

Keith added he’s not surprised with the performance of tiger trout in Viva Naughton. The fish is an aggressive predator and it has ample food. Between the food supply and stocking efforts, Keith expects Viva Naughton to continue to grow “exceptional fish.”

Keith offers some tips for anglers who want to pursue tiger trout at Viva Naughton, and possibly the next state record.

“We see them predominantly close to shore down to 25 feet of water. They are found close to structures. They are eating shiners and Utah chubs, so anglers should choose lures, flies and baits that resemble these forage fish,” Keith said.

Casper Kids Show Off Business Skills for 2024 Lemonade Day

The Democratic National Convention in Chicago is now in full swing, but that’s not all that’s happening this week. Three states — Alaska, Florida and Wyoming — are holding their state primaries today, with voters poised to choose which candidates for national, statewide and local offices will advance to the general election.

Here are the races to watch for in the Aug. 20 state primaries. 

Alaska 

The last frontier’s single seat in the U.S. House of Representatives is up for grabs during the state primary, with incumbent Rep. Mary Peltola, the first Alaska Native person ever elected to Congress, defending her seat from nearly a dozen challengers. 

Peltola was first elected in a special election to fill Republican Congressman Don Young’s at-large seat after he died in March 2022. She beat out several rivals, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who received an endorsement from former President Donald Trump.

The most prominent Republicans running for the seat this year are Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom and business owner Nicholas Begich. There are also several independent candidates running for the seat.

Thanks to a 2020 ballot measure, Alaska holds a nonpartisan primary election, meaning all candidates appear on the same ballot regardless of party affiliation, and the four candidates with the most votes will advance to the general election.

The state also employs ranked-choice voting, meaning that if no candidate receives a majority of votes, the candidate with the fewest first-place votes is eliminated along with their first-preference votes. The counting then restarts and moves the second-preference votes to the first-preference, and this process repeats until one candidate secures a majority. 

More: What is ranked-choice voting? Here’s which states will use it in the 2024 election.

Florida 

The Sunshine State has several high-profile races coming up, with local and national implications for residents across Florida. Incumbent Republican Rick Scott is defending his Senate seat this year from two challengers within his own party: John Columbus, an actor, and attorney Keith Gross, who was kicked off the 2008 ballot in Georgia after a judge determined he was not eligible to represent the Atlanta-area state legislative seat for which he was running. 

More: ‘Unstoppable’: Sen. Rick Scott discuss bid for Republican conference leader, Donald Trump

Former U.S. Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is the Democratic frontrunner for the Senate seat. She was elected in 2018 and served one term in the House of Representatives as the first Ecuadorian American and South American-born woman elected to Congress. She faces business owners Stanley Campbell, Rod Joseph, and former state legislator Brian Rush in the Democratic primary.

One of former President Trump’s most outspoken allies is also fighting to keep his seat in the House of Representatives. Rep. Matt Gaetz, who introduced and passed a measure to oust former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, is running for his fifth term to represent Florida’s 1st Congressional District. He will face off against Republican challenger Aaron Dimmock, whose campaign has been backed by McCarthy and his political network. Whoever wins the Republican primary will face off against Democrat Jennifer Valimont, who is running unopposed in her party primary. 

In Florida’s 8th Congressional District, the only House race in the state without an incumbent candidate, outgoing Republican Rep. Bill Posey endorsed Mike Haridopolos, the former president of the Florida state Senate. Haridopolos will face business owner John Hearton in the Republican primary. Attorney Sandy Kennedy and business owner Daniel McDow will be facing off in the Democratic primary election. 

Wyoming

Voters in the Cowboy State will decide the political future of deep-red Wyoming and its increasingly split Republican party on Tuesday, with all of the state’s house seats and half of its senate seats up for grabs. Two camps within Wyoming’s Republican party, the further-right Freedom Caucus and the more moderate, establishment Wyoming Caucus will fight for control of the state legislature.

In the state’s capital, Cheyenne, and its surrounding districts hold several of the state’s hottest races.

State Rep. Dan Zwonitzer, with nearly two decades of experience under his belt, is hoping to fend off a spirited challenge from political newcomer and Freedom Caucus-endorsed Ann Lucas in House District 43. Nearby in House District 7, Kathy Russell, the Wyoming GOP executive director, will try to topple the more moderate representative Bob Nicholas. Senate District 6, just north of Cheyenne, features a heated, six-way race for control of outgoing senator Anthony Bouchard’s seat.

In a district race located at the foot of the Big Horn mountains in northern Wyoming, state representatives Barry Crago and Mark Jennings will square off against each other for a state senate seat. Crago is a rising star in the Wyoming Caucus-aligned camp, while Jennings has long been a further-right figure in Wyoming politics, helping found the State Freedom Caucus in 2015, a precursor to the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.

Out in Western Wyoming, current Speaker of the House Albert Sommers is looking to take control of the vacancy in Senate District 14. Sommers faces further challenges from retired Naval Officer Bill Winney and local rancher and school bus driver Laura Taliaferro Pearson.

On the federal level, Republican U.S. Senator John Barrasso and Representative Harriett Hageman face challengers, but both are expected to cruise to victory.

Campaign finance reports released recently show out-of-state political action committees are spending tens of thousands of dollars in Wyoming races.

That’s in addition to spending by two in-state PACs representing both factions of the Wyoming Republican Party, the Freedom Caucus and Wyoming Caucus, which also raised thousands.

The Make Liberty Win PAC based in Virginia spent just over $370,000 to support some candidates and attack others. The PAC has said it’s “dedicated to electing 250 liberty-defending state legislators.”

The money was used for texts, phone calls and mailers to Wyoming voters.

Many of those mailers contained misinformation, like listing the wrong dates for early voting and an incorrect photo of a state legislator. That was discovered through a WyoFile investigation.

Make Liberty Win spent almost $7,500 supporting Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams (R-Cody) with texts and phone calls to voters. She’s been endorsed by the far-right Wyoming House Freedom Caucus.

At the same time, they spent nearly $9,200 opposing current House Speaker Albert Sommers (R-Pinedale) using the same methods.

Sommers has been a frequent critic of the Freedom Caucus.

The Virginia-based Make Liberty Win is primarily funded by a libertarian student activist organization in Texas called Young Americans for Liberty.

Another financial report published this week shows the Western Way Action PAC out of Denver has spent $47,800 in the Cowboy State. Its website says it “supports conservative leaders and commonsense policies that create economic development opportunities, promote free-market principles and drive real solutions.”

That money was used for mailers to support some incumbent candidates in races for the Board of Carbon County Commissioners.

However, at least one candidate posted on social media last week that the mailers were sent without their knowledge or permission.

That candidate, Sue Ellis Jones, said on Facebook, “it is sad that the tactics of national politics has [sic] come to the local grassroots level. A last minute campaign push is not fair to the other candidates in the race.”

Wyoming’s primary elections are Aug. 20.

This reporting was made possible by a grant from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, supporting state government coverage in the state. Wyoming Public Media and Jackson Hole Community Radio are partnering to cover state issues both on air and online.