(Connor Fields) Located about 190 miles from Las Vegas and 75 miles from Ely sits the Wayne E. Kirch Wildlife Management Area.

Here you can view wildlife, fish, camp, and enjoy some hot springs.

It's an amazing place to spend a couple days.

Today, I'll be meeting up with a few folks from the Nevada Department of Wildlife, whose job it is to look after this area.

I hope you're ready for some fun, because I know I am.

♪♪♪ I'm Connor Fields, and this is Outdoor Nevada.

♪♪♪ The Kirch Wildlife Management Area is approximately 14,815 acres and is a prime destination for nature enthusiasts and outdoor adventurers.

The area is known for its diverse wildlife and rich natural habitat, including wetland, marshes, and meadows.

The Nevada Department of Wildlife manages the WMA, and it provides critical habitat for numerous species, making it a hot spot for bird watching, particularly during the migrating seasons.

The area is also home to numerous mammals, reptiles, and amphibians, adding to its ecological significance and appeal to wildlife photographers and researchers.

In addition to its wildlife observation opportunities, the Kirch WMA offers a range of recreational activities.

Anglers frequent the area for its well-stocked reservoirs, including Adams-McGill, Cold Springs, Dacey, and Haymeadow, which are teeming with fish like rainbow trout and largemouth bass.

Hunting is another popular activity, with the WMA supporting populations of game species such as ducks, geese, and upland birds.

The area is equipped with amenities such as campgrounds, picnic areas, and boat launch sites, making it a convenient and attractive location for visitors looking to immerse themselves in Nevada's natural beauty.

Whether for a day trip or for an extended stay, Kirch WMA provides a serene and engaging outdoor experience.

Today, I'm meeting up with Brady from the Nevada Department of Wildlife to learn more about the area.

♪♪♪ Brady, thank you for meeting me.

I was driving down the highway in the arid desert.

I took a left.

15 minutes later, I am in a legit oasis.

It is incredible.

Can you tell me a little more about where we are?

(Brady Whipple) So, yeah, we're-- I mean, I don't think you're alone in that.

It's definitely unknown, kind of.

So we're in what's called the White River Valley.

We're like, halfway between, like, Vegas and Wendover, so 175-ish miles from both, in that top right corner of Nye County.

-Living in Las Vegas my whole life, I had no idea that this was here.

Is that a common thing, and how do you get the word out to people that this amazing thing is right here in our home state?

-No, for sure.

I would say you're not alone in that.

Like I said before, it's easy to miss, even from the highway.

You just drive by the highway.

Had you not looked over, you wouldn't have seen any water.

So definitely easy to miss.

I think NDOW does a pretty good job now at like social media posts and like their website and stuff to make that outreach.

We recognize that a lot of our constituents, our clientele, are becoming less consumptive users--less hunters, less anglers--more just, go enjoy wildlife, go enjoy the outdoors.

So we're trying to cater to that and stay relevant with that group of people.

-And when somebody comes here, what kind of activities can they do?

-Definitely the fishing is great.

The hot spring, definitely check out the hot spring.

We get a decent amount of birders that come out and check it out.

The night sky.

-Sounds like there's something for everybody--if you're into fishing, if you're in the wildlife, if you're into birding, camping, you know, stars.

-I don't want to say we got it all, but... -Yeah, absolutely.

What kind of animals will you see out here?

-We've got everything from big game animals, we get mule deer, we get an occasional elk--I won't say you'll see an elk, but an occasional elk--plenty of antelope, plenty of mule deer, and then a ton of birds.

Being a wetlands, we have a ton of birds.

So that's kind of the draw for most people.

-I've got the whole day here.

What do you suggest I check out while I'm here?

-For sure you got to hit the hot springs up, do some fishing.

I always tell everybody that claims they never can catch fish, you'll catch a fish here.

So do some fishing, go swimming, and then, yeah, enjoy the camping and the night sky.

-That sounds like a wonderful day to me.

I'll go do that.

I appreciate you meeting me and telling me a little bit about the area, and I'm gonna check it out.

-Sounds good.

Thanks, Connor.

♪♪♪ -I've cast lines all throughout Nevada, traditional angling and fly fishing.

Today I'm going to try something new, kayak fishing.

And I am so excited.

But before I head out on the water, I'm going to get a lesson in safety and paddling technique from Nick, who works with the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

Nick, I am so excited.

I have never fished from a kayak before.

Can you tell me a little about what we're looking at here.

(Nick Duhe) Yeah, what you have here is a recreational kayak.

And it's gonna be a little bit different than the one you'll be fishing with, with Abbey.

Hers is a little longer and wider.

But all the rules, regulations, the safety stuff, it's all the same.

-You need it bigger and wider for reeling in those big fish, right?

-Exactly.

I hear there's some monsters out there.

So some of this required safety equipment you're gonna need, it varies and changes depending on the type of the time of the season.

So if it's cold, you're gonna need to, like, layer up in clothes.

You know, you wear something that's water wicking on the bottom, then something warm, and then a heavier jacket on top.

That way, if you get hot, you get too cold, whatever it is, you can layer that on and off, but it's always there with you.

You keep it in what we have, it's like a dry sack.

You put whatever you want in there, you roll it up, and then you clip it and-- -Stays dry.

- --stays dry, even if you fall in the water.

God forbid.

We don't want that to happen.

One of the requirements that you're going to have while out there is you always have to have a life jacket on.

The reason being is you never know what's gonna happen.

You have a great chance, a better chance I should say, you'd have a better chance of surviving an accidental fall in the water.

Even if it's near shore, far from shore, you don't know.

Having a life jacket on makes a huge difference.

-So I'm out there, I've got my safety equipment, something happens, and I fall in.

Is there a system or way to get back in, or do you just pull yourself up?

How do I get back in?

-On these, what you want to do is find which side is your better side.

For me, I need to enter this kayak from this side.

I need to have the bow facing to my right, because my left leg is more flexible, and I can get it to where I need it to go easier than my right.

What you do is you get next, get next to your kayak.

You take your paddle and use this for stability and ballast, sort of like this.

Put it one side out further than the other.

-About a 90-degree angle?

-Yeah, about a 90-degree angle, because you don't want to lose it.

You want to have it under control.

Now what you can do is-- here, let me move this jacket out of the way real quick.

What you can do is you can grab on to-- have your paddle secure, grab onto the side.

And you want to put your feet straight out behind you and kick into the boat, not up.

That's where a lot of people make the mistake is they do a kick and try to pull themselves straight up on the boat.

And what happens is the boat tips straight up, you wind up being in the same position.

-When you say "kick," do you mean, is it like the same way you're swimming?

-Same way, like a, like a strong, powerful swimming kick.

You grab this, pull yourself, and then grab the other side and get your life jacket and your chest into the boat.

-Just get some mass up there, and the more mass you get up there, the easier it is to get in?

-Yeah.

And if you're not-- if you don't feel stable at this point, don't rush it.

Sit there.

Relax.

Catch your breath.

Think about what you're going to do next.

And next what you'll do is just spin your leg up in, sit your seat in the bottom, and you're good.

-And you're on your way.

I really appreciate the safety lesson.

I feel I'm ready to go, and I'm excited to get out and catch some fish.

I'm gonna go catch up with Abbey.

-All right.

Good luck.

-Thank you.

Abbey is one of the angler education experts with the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

She's well-versed in all disciplines of angling.

What's going on, Abbey?

(Abbey Czarnecki) Hi.

Nice to see you.

-Good to see you.

I am so excited to do some kayak fishing.

Just learned a little bit about the safety process when you're out there on the kayak, but now I'm here, and these look completely different from what I learned on.

-So not totally different, but definitely has more built-in add-ons with straps for our tools, and that way we can be a little bit more hands-free with the pedals.

-And these look like they have a totally different seat.

-Yeah.

So these always come with a nicer seat so we can stay out on the water longer.

It also lifts you up off the water more and helps you see into the water.

-What are we going to be fishing for today?

-So out here is a little bit of everything.

We have everything from catfish on the bottom, and then in the middle column we have crappie and trout, and then bass will potentially be hitting the top.

-After reviewing the basics, we talked through the poles and the bait.

First thing about fishing from a kayak is being prepared.

You want to make sure you have everything you need before heading out onto the water.

Once we launched, it was a short paddle out onto the reservoir.

♪♪♪ It's amazing that this body of water is here, so peaceful, so calm.

It is absolutely beautiful.

♪♪♪ It wasn't too long before I got a bite.

♪♪♪ And after a few misses, I got one.

[fishing reel] I will say, wrangling the fish and managing gear to get the bass out of the water is not easy in a kayak.

It is definitely something you have to get used to.

The last thing I wanted was to "end up in the drink."

Thankfully, Abbey paddled over to give me a hand.

It was a nice-sized bass, 3 to 4 pounds.

It is such a great feeling to actually catch something.

I savored the moment.

Then it was a smooth release back into the water.

This is such a chill way to fish.

Spending time on the water is a great escape, and being here makes it all the better.

It's such an amazing place.

I could definitely spend a few days just doing this, but there is much more to see and do.

Next up is an underwater adventure.

♪♪♪ After a day full of fishing, wildlife viewing, and exploring this incredible area, there is no better place to unwind than right here in the hot springs.

We say "hot springs," but it's really a mid- to high-80s, and it feels amazing.

While here, I'm going to meet up with Mark, a fish biologist with the Nevada Department of Wildlife, to learn more about this area and meet some of the locals.

Mark, what kind of fish do we have here in the hot springs?

(Mark Beckstrand) In this hot springs, they are the White River springfish.

They're part of a pool fish family, and there are subspecies starting all the way up in Preston, about 50 miles north of here, all the way down to Moapa.

There are some isolated springs, just like this one, that have different subspecies of the White River springfish.

-So there's subspecies, so it's the same species, but a little bit different?

Can you explain that to me?

-Sure.

We are in the White River Valley up here, which is a tributary to the Colorado River.

And thousands of years ago, there was water flow from Preston all the way down to the Colorado River.

And as the climate dried and warmed, all these springs became really isolated, and the fish kind of became their own group because they were only tied to those particular springs.

There's springs in Preston, here at Kirch Wildlife Management Area, and then down in Pahranagat Valley in Alamo, and then down in Moapa.

And one more species of springfish over the mountain range here to the west, in Railroad Valley, we have the Railroad Valley springfish, which are very similar, but still a little little bit different.

-Are they all pretty similar in size?

-Yeah, similar in size.

They look very similar morphologically, and they all live in pretty much this type of habitat-- warm springs, thermal springs, various temperatures, but all pretty warm.

-They know how to do it, just to hang out in this beautiful water.

-Yeah.

Yeah, this is-- -Smart fish.

--one of the best places.

Yeah.

The majority of native fish in Nevada are endemic to the state, which means that they are found nowhere else, except here in Nevada, which makes it an exciting job.

-Absolutely.

I think that it gives me pride to know that there's endemic fish in a state that is not all desert, but it's associated with the desert often.

But there's a lot of endemic fish, I think is really special.

So as a fish biologist working here, specifically, what are some of the challenges that you face?

-Here remoteness is a big one.

We're really far from, pretty much anywhere.

And then managing the fish, one of my biggest issues is watching out for invasive species.

Just downstream here, there's a culvert, and the water goes into a ditch down to the other reservoirs, and in that ditch is largemouth bass.

Luckily, we have a fish barrier right there below the culvert, but the bass are right up there, and that's always a concern of mine, that bass will get up here into the spring and they would, they would just feed on all these little springfish.

-Bass food.

-Yeah, perfect bait for bass.

So that's going to be one of the things we do is to look for, make sure there aren't any bass up here in the spring.

-What's your favorite thing about working here?

-Geez, that's a tough question, because I enjoy the remoteness of the area.

-So the most challenging thing is also your most favorite thing?

-Yeah.

I love being here in the middle of nowhere.

Luckily, the department gives me a truck to come out and do all this stuff.

But I get to come to these really cool habitats for fish.

Not many people get to do something like that.

That's pretty much one of my favorite things about this job is coming out to all these really cool places that I've never really visited before.

I mean, I grew up here in Nevada, and it wasn't until my summer job that I finally actually saw these, these spots.

I really had no idea.

-Right here, as I sit here, the longer we've stayed, the more fish have come up to me.

And I'm even feeling some of them come and kind of touch me a little bit.

It almost feels like they're nibbling on me just a bit.

It doesn't hurt, but I can feel it, just a slight little, Hello.

-Yeah.

-How you doing?

What are they doing?

-They are eating the dead skin off of your body.

-Huh!

-In fact, not these particular fish, but there are spas that will-- that you can go sit in the water and they'll come and you let them nibble at your skin and take all the dead skin off.

But that's pretty much what they're doing.

-I'm getting a spa treatment.

-Yeah, absolutely.

-Normally you got to pay extra for this.

Is there a way that we could take a closer look at these fish?

-Absolutely.

We just grab our mask and snorkels, and we could just hop in and start swimming upstream.

And we'll check them out, see just how many are living in this spring.

-I'm gonna go snorkeling in a spring in Nevada, and I'm gonna add that to sentences that I never thought I would say.

-Right.

-I'm excited.

Let's do it.

♪♪♪ All right, Mark.

I am so excited.

When we go under, what are we looking for?

-So we're gonna be looking for the native springfish, and they're very distinct.

You're not gonna have a hard time picking them out.

They're a bit green with a kind of yellow stripes, and you'll even see some black ones.

Here we're-- look around.

The main springhead is just right here behind us.

It's a big hole in the ground, about 30 feet deep, 20 feet deep.

So as you're going down, just make note of that's pretty much the only fish you're gonna see in here are the springfish.

The mosquito fish are usually up here on the surface.

The springfish are usually down along the bottom.

-When we get to that hole where the spring is, can I swim down under there?

-Absolutely.

If you can get down and handle the deep water, absolutely.

It's totally big enough.

It's not a cave, it's more of a hole.

-All right.

I'm excited.

-All Right.

-Let's do it.

♪♪♪ -I've snorkled before, but this, this was a trip.

It is otherworldly.

And to think just outside of this spring, not more than 100 feet, is desert.

Crazy.

The other thing, you can feel the pressure and the force of the spring water pushing out from the aquifer below us.

It's amazing.

♪♪♪ -I see everything from small ones all the way up to some real sizable ones.

-Yeah.

These particular springfish are some of the biggest of the species.

I think it's also because of the size of our habitat here that they have room to grow.

-Do the bigger ones like to live right around here, near the spring?

-I don't think it's necessarily they're tied to the springhead.

This just happens to be where they're feeding, because you'll see size like this all over the area here.

-I love it.

Well, I'm gonna see how far down I can get and see if I can get to the bottom.

-Sounds good.

♪♪♪ -It's deep down there!

-Deeper than it looks, huh?

-You could keep going.

If you kept following that, what would-- what would you find?

-You would head on down into the underground aquifer.

The water would get hotter and hotter, and you could probably go for hundreds and hundreds of feet before you even reached any kind of bottom.

-I'll take your word for it.

I couldn't help myself.

I had to go back and take another look.

It is just so crazy to me that all this water is being pumped out from the earth.

There's no man made valves or pipes.

It's purely nature's plumbing.

So cool!

[bubbles] -I could spend all day snorkeling around these springs and watching all the local inhabitants.

It's incredible to see so many fish that exist only in Nevada and only in this spring system.

Just think about that for a second.

These fish you're looking at only exist right here in Nevada.

Incredible.

This place is amazing.

It's unbelievable out here.

-My favorite place.

-How can people protect this area and make sure that they conserve it?

-Well, one of the biggest things is, since we're so remote out here, is to pack out everything that you bring in.

There's no real trash pickup out here.

So picking up after yourself is one of the key things.

And another thing is with these warm springs, one of my biggest fears is introduction of invasive species.

And one of our biggest invasives are aquarium fish.

And you get people that don't want to flush their fish down the toilet, and they get tired of them and they're like, well, there's this nice hot springs up outside of Alamo that we'll just go throw them there, and they can live happily.

But then they'll, they'll end up destroying the habitat.

-It's good for that fish, but bad for all the other fish.

-Yeah, for the actual fish that live in this area, that are from this area.

-Yeah.

-That's-- those are two of the biggest things.

And always come prepared because we are remote.

Prepare for weather, water, food, stuff like that.

-Sunscreen.

All the essentials.

-Sunscreen, for sure.

-I appreciate you showing me around.

What do you say we get out there and find more fish?

-Sounds great.

♪♪♪ -And I have to give a huge thank you to everyone with the Nevada Department of Wildlife for all that they do.

This adventure would not have been possible without them.

♪♪♪ The Kirch Wildlife Management Area is a true oasis in the desert.

Whether you're into bird viewing, wildlife viewing, fishing, or even swimming amongst the fish, there is something here for everybody, and you will not be disappointed.

Till next time, I'm Connor Fields, and this is Outdoor Nevada.

♪♪♪