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