Ever heard of lizard-type creatures in BC lakes?

[billr]

About how large would you estimate the one that you saw was

[Richard]

The largest I have seen around the Harrison area is about 6" long... In fact there are lakes teeming with them.
R

[bigfoothunter]

Apr 17, 2014 11:10:03 GMT -5 billr said:

About how large would you estimate the one that you saw was

If the question is directed to me, I would guess it to have been more than 18" long. What was different about it than photos I had seen of them was we first thought we were seeing the tip of a snake's tail sticking out of the tall grass, but when I pulled the grass back to better see it, the tail was tapered more like a sharpened pencil rather than the long gradual narrowing found with snake bodies.

[billr]

Cool

[bigfoothunter]

Not sure that the proportions are right as I was seeing the salamander from above and just behind it as it scurried away and went under an exposed tree root system, but this is basically how I remember the shape of the head and tail in relation to the main body.

[westerncanadian]

The ones said to be found it Pitt, Chilliwack, Green Drop and Cultus Lakes were thought to be in the region of six to twelve feet in length. Hence the interest in them. Dan Gerak at the Pitt River Lodge saw two in 2002 near the narrows and they were very large.

[billr]

cryptomundo.com/cryptotourism/pitt-lake-salamanders/

books.google.ca/books?id=z9gMsCUtCZUC&pg=PA437&lpg=PA437&dq=pitt+lake+salamanders&source=bl&ots=JUQtftoi_W&sig=2v0L9Dzo9gi3ZHiQVWos83hwdNE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=PSXgU8HsG9DYigLDsIGYCA&ved=0CFsQ6AEwCg#v=onepage&q=pitt%20lake%20salamanders&f=false

frontiersofzoology.blogspot.ca/2011/05/pnw-giant-salamander.html

[sawone]

I wonder if the lake in our research area could also be home to these giant salamanders? It appears that they like the coldwater lakes, and that would fit ours, and the location is in the right general area. So now we're looking for big feet, little feet, and huge black salamanders, too! This is getting really interesting. ;-)

[billr]

Bill said he saw 1 up above Harrison Hot Springs, so who knows

[Cryptosaurian]

I have an idea: have a field investigation at Pitt Lake to see if we can still find any evidence of such creatures still living there.
I only need to remind my fellow BCSCC members about how they were close to saying Ogopogo's were extinct---then St. Cyry Cowley sighting occured, then was followed by Steciuks 2015 photograph and now my possible encounter recorded on Oct. 31st, 2015. So to me the thought of assuming a cryptid species is extinct just because we haven't heard any reports is a bit ridiculous. Maybe people are more interesting their little handheld gadgets than being outside LOL. But I feel we should at least consider what I've presented above. What are your guys' thoughts?

[naturegirl]

Jun 4, 2005 11:06:51 GMT -5 @bushman said:

The National Post, Friday, September 27, 2002

One man’s search for king-sized salamanders

By Mark Hume in Vancouver

A large, black “something” that was reported swimming in a lake near Vancouver has revived a hunt for a new species of giant salamander that has been long dismissed as myth.
“There is definitely something out there,” says Barrie Alden, an outdoors writer and broadcaster who for more than 20 years has been collecting anecdotal information about huge salamanders more than a meter long. At that length, they would be more than three times the size of the Pacific giant salamander — a rare, seldom encountered amphibian that can grow up to 42 centimeters.
“They are much larger than the Pacific giant salamander. They are huge,” Mr. Alden said.
“It’s still in the league of the Sasquatch as far as I’m concerned. But there are more sightings … when you put it all together, it tends to make you think they exist.
“I think there is enough sighting evidence now to think these creatures inhabit our deep, cold lakes.”
Mr. Alden has believed in what he calls “giant black salamanders” since 1978, when he interviewed Warren Scott, a prospector who had been exploring in the rugged wilderness northwest of Pitt Lake, just outside Vancouver in the Fraser Valley.
Mr. Alden repeated those stories and began lobbying for a research expedition to find “the dragons of the forest,” he was laughed at. Mr. Scott, meanwhile, had vanished, leaving him with no corroboration.
“I was ridiculed over that,” Mr. Alden said. And so he stopped talking about the giant black salamanders but continued collecting stories.
Over the years, he said, he has heard from loggers, commercial fishermen and others who have reported seeing “big lizards” in the Pitt Lake area, on the Fraser River and in nearby Harrison and Cultus Lakes.
The latest report came just last week when Danny Gerak, who runs the Pitt River Lodge, a sports fishing resort, encountered “something different” swimming on the lake.
“I was coming up the lake, cruising along, 8:30 in the morning, crystal clear, flat, calm,” he said. “About 300 yards out I saw something swimming. I said, “Holy cow, look at this thing, it’s a giant snake.’”
But as he drew closer, he realized it was not a snake and was unlike anything he’d seen before.
“I’ve seen otters, mergansers, minks, all kinds of ducks — this wasn’t anything like that,” he said.
“Its head was raised about eight inches above the surface and it had this black, undulating body. It was swimming like a snake, but with its head held up. It was solid black.”
Mr. Gerak’s boat drew within about 20 meters and then the creature lowered its head and swam out of sight. It did not surface again.
“I’ve seen garter snakes swim. It wasn’t like that at all. It was about three-and-half, to four feet long. Its head was the length and thickness of a beer can. I’ve been going up and down that lake for 30 years. This was definitely unusual.”

continued on page 2 ....

[naturegirl]

Jun 4, 2005 11:06:51 GMT -5 @bushman said:

The National Post, Friday, September 27, 2002

One man’s search for king-sized salamanders

By Mark Hume in Vancouver

A large, black “something” that was reported swimming in a lake near Vancouver has revived a hunt for a new species of giant salamander that has been long dismissed as myth.
“There is definitely something out there,” says Barrie Alden, an outdoors writer and broadcaster who for more than 20 years has been collecting anecdotal information about huge salamanders more than a meter long. At that length, they would be more than three times the size of the Pacific giant salamander — a rare, seldom encountered amphibian that can grow up to 42 centimeters.
“They are much larger than the Pacific giant salamander. They are huge,” Mr. Alden said.
“It’s still in the league of the Sasquatch as far as I’m concerned. But there are more sightings … when you put it all together, it tends to make you think they exist.
“I think there is enough sighting evidence now to think these creatures inhabit our deep, cold lakes.”
Mr. Alden has believed in what he calls “giant black salamanders” since 1978, when he interviewed Warren Scott, a prospector who had been exploring in the rugged wilderness northwest of Pitt Lake, just outside Vancouver in the Fraser Valley.
Mr. Alden repeated those stories and began lobbying for a research expedition to find “the dragons of the forest,” he was laughed at. Mr. Scott, meanwhile, had vanished, leaving him with no corroboration.
“I was ridiculed over that,” Mr. Alden said. And so he stopped talking about the giant black salamanders but continued collecting stories.
Over the years, he said, he has heard from loggers, commercial fishermen and others who have reported seeing “big lizards” in the Pitt Lake area, on the Fraser River and in nearby Harrison and Cultus Lakes.
The latest report came just last week when Danny Gerak, who runs the Pitt River Lodge, a sports fishing resort, encountered “something different” swimming on the lake.
“I was coming up the lake, cruising along, 8:30 in the morning, crystal clear, flat, calm,” he said. “About 300 yards out I saw something swimming. I said, “Holy cow, look at this thing, it’s a giant snake.’”
But as he drew closer, he realized it was not a snake and was unlike anything he’d seen before.
“I’ve seen otters, mergansers, minks, all kinds of ducks — this wasn’t anything like that,” he said.
“Its head was raised about eight inches above the surface and it had this black, undulating body. It was swimming like a snake, but with its head held up. It was solid black.”
Mr. Gerak’s boat drew within about 20 meters and then the creature lowered its head and swam out of sight. It did not surface again.
“I’ve seen garter snakes swim. It wasn’t like that at all. It was about three-and-half, to four feet long. Its head was the length and thickness of a beer can. I’ve been going up and down that lake for 30 years. This was definitely unusual.”

continued on page 2 ....

[naturegirl]

Jun 4, 2005 11:06:51 GMT -5 @bushman said:

The National Post, Friday, September 27, 2002

One man’s search for king-sized salamanders

By Mark Hume in Vancouver

A large, black “something” that was reported swimming in a lake near Vancouver has revived a hunt for a new species of giant salamander that has been long dismissed as myth.
“There is definitely something out there,” says Barrie Alden, an outdoors writer and broadcaster who for more than 20 years has been collecting anecdotal information about huge salamanders more than a meter long. At that length, they would be more than three times the size of the Pacific giant salamander — a rare, seldom encountered amphibian that can grow up to 42 centimeters.
“They are much larger than the Pacific giant salamander. They are huge,” Mr. Alden said.
“It’s still in the league of the Sasquatch as far as I’m concerned. But there are more sightings … when you put it all together, it tends to make you think they exist.
“I think there is enough sighting evidence now to think these creatures inhabit our deep, cold lakes.”
Mr. Alden has believed in what he calls “giant black salamanders” since 1978, when he interviewed Warren Scott, a prospector who had been exploring in the rugged wilderness northwest of Pitt Lake, just outside Vancouver in the Fraser Valley.
Mr. Alden repeated those stories and began lobbying for a research expedition to find “the dragons of the forest,” he was laughed at. Mr. Scott, meanwhile, had vanished, leaving him with no corroboration.
“I was ridiculed over that,” Mr. Alden said. And so he stopped talking about the giant black salamanders but continued collecting stories.
Over the years, he said, he has heard from loggers, commercial fishermen and others who have reported seeing “big lizards” in the Pitt Lake area, on the Fraser River and in nearby Harrison and Cultus Lakes.
The latest report came just last week when Danny Gerak, who runs the Pitt River Lodge, a sports fishing resort, encountered “something different” swimming on the lake.
“I was coming up the lake, cruising along, 8:30 in the morning, crystal clear, flat, calm,” he said. “About 300 yards out I saw something swimming. I said, “Holy cow, look at this thing, it’s a giant snake.’”
But as he drew closer, he realized it was not a snake and was unlike anything he’d seen before.
“I’ve seen otters, mergansers, minks, all kinds of ducks — this wasn’t anything like that,” he said.
“Its head was raised about eight inches above the surface and it had this black, undulating body. It was swimming like a snake, but with its head held up. It was solid black.”
Mr. Gerak’s boat drew within about 20 meters and then the creature lowered its head and swam out of sight. It did not surface again.
“I’ve seen garter snakes swim. It wasn’t like that at all. It was about three-and-half, to four feet long. Its head was the length and thickness of a beer can. I’ve been going up and down that lake for 30 years. This was definitely unusual.”

continued on page 2 ....

[naturegirl]

I am looking for episodes of Alden's Outdoors that were aired on Coquitlam Cable in the late 70's. In particular I am looking for episodes between 1977-1979. I read here in a post from several years ago by Bushman that he watched a studio copy of an episode. If anyone knows how to find studio copies of Alden's Outdoors or who to contact I would greatly appreciate the information.