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Lake Trout
Salvelinus namaycush
Identification
tips for trouts and salmons
- Length:17 to 27 inches
- Weight:3 to 9 pounds
- Coloring:light spots on darker
background, light underside
- Common Names: Great Lakes trout, laker,
namaycush,togue, grey trout, mountain trout
- Found in Lakes:Michigan, Huron,
Ontario, Erie and Superior
- These swift, torpedo-shaped fish inhabit
the cold waters of an area extending from Wisconsin and Upper Michigan to the northernmost
reaches of the North American continent. For more than half a century, lake trout were the
most valuable commercial fish in the Upper Great Lakes. Then overfishing and the onslaught
of the sea lamprey from the late 1930s and into the 1950s effectively eliminated this fish
from Lake Michigan.
Thanks
to sea lamprey control and continuous stocking, lake trout now live seven or more years in
the lake, thriving on a diet of chubs and sculpins (their traditional prey), smelt and
alewives. As a result, the return of this preeminent native, along with the introduction
of Pacific salmon, has created a thriving world-class sport fishery in Lake Michigan.
Biologists hope that ongoing research and plantings of these fish on historic spawning
reefs will yet restore reproducing stocks of lake trout in Lake Michigan and enhance the
few surviving stocks in Lake Superior.
Lake trout are long-lived and do not reach
sexual maturity until 6-8 years of age. While the average lake trout in Lake Michigan
today weighs around seven pounds, some of the larger trophy fish are three feet long and
weigh as much as 25 pounds.
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copyright University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute
Brook Trout illustration copyright 1998 Gina
Mikel
Lake trout photograph (c) Shedd Aquarium
(e-mail)
Drawing from Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Last updated 05 February 2002 by Seaman |