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Lake Trout(Salvelinus namaycush) |
The lake trout is actually a char, not a true trout. Lake trout have a typical trout-shaped body. The body markings are light and pale-like appearing on a dark background. Lake trout have a deeply forked tail and the fins have a white leading edge but absent is the black accent that is found on brook trout. In certain waters the fins and stomach become a bright orange to red-orange.
These fish prefer deep colder water and can live upward to 30 or 40 years in age, while attaining weights of up to 50 pounds. Feeding for these monsters is typically a diet of fish, insects, crustaceans and plankton.
Lake trout do not spawn in streams like the other members of the trout family. They do not build a nest either. They deposit the eggs on clean gravel beds in the lake bottoms at depths from 20 to 200 feet deep; they remain there for the winter and hatch in early spring. The introduction of the zebra mussel and the round gobies have had a hard impact on the lake trouts ability to reproduce naturally.
