Lake Trout
(Salvelinus namaycush)

When it comes to lake trout, they are the “Blue Whale” of the North American trout, in that they are the biggest trout. Lakers as they are sometimes called, grow very slowly and live a long time, upwards of 30 years plus, and have been known to be found in water as deep as 550 feet plus. When caught it feels like you have hooked a log. They tend to swim straight down, and fight with very little head shake.

APPEARANCE

Lakers are a silvery gray trout with dull pale worm like markings on its back, giving away to spots on it’s sides, with a white underbelly and has a deeply forked tail. It also lacks any of the black spots common with most trout. PREY

The young lakers feed on insects, plankton, and freshwater shrimp, where available. Sometimes staying on this diet through adulthood, they do not grow to a very big size but once they reach adulthood and switch to eating other fish they really pack on the weight.

PREDATORS

Some of the predators include; birds like loons and herons. As they get bigger and older they go deeper, and other fish try to chase them down for a quick meal, usually pike and other bigger trout.

HABITAT

Lakers like cold, clear and really deep lakes. In the summers they head for the deeps. In the fall they come up to shallower waters, still preferring the colder water. Water temp. can be as low as 35F and up to 50F.

SPAWN

Lakers spawn in late fall. Maturing at 6 to 7 years and depending on conditions, even as late as 8 years of age. The male and female fertilize the eggs in rocky areas of the lake, in depths from 8 to 95 feet of water. The eggs hatch in spring.



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