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Lake Trout - Utah's Largest Fish

Lake trout, also called mackinaw, grow pretty darn big. The world record was caught in 1991 in Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories. It went 66 pounds, 8 ounces. (A 102 pound laker was taken in a gillnet in Lake Athabasca, Saskatchewan, in 1961.)

The Utah record, caught in 1988, was 51 pounds, 8 ounces, 45 1/8 inches long, with a 31 3/4 inch girth, caught in Flaming Gorge.

Lake trout can be caught by trolling with large, shiny spoons or minnow-like plugs attached to wire-line rigs or downriggers, or by bottom bouncing jigs.

Lake trout are the largest of all trout, weighing up to 100 pounds. They grow very slowly, often not maturing until 8-10 years old. In the far north it may take 15 years for a laker to reach 2 pounds. Because of the late spawning age, heavy fishing pressure severely depletes lake trout populations. They are very long lived. Larger fish are 20-25 years old and some reach the age of 40.

The fish spawn at night, in the fall, over large cobble and boulder substrates.

Native to Alaska, Canada and the Great Lakes, they are most abundant in the Great Lakes, Hudson Bay, Alaska, Labrador, New Brunswick, Vermont and Maine. They have been widely introduced to cold waters throughout Canada and the United States.

Lakers have a raised tooth crest on the head of the vomer. The tail is forked. The least colorful of all trout, the body is generally blue-gray or bronze-green with pale spots on the side and back. During the fall spawning season fins near the tail become a pale orange.

They are unique among salmonoids because they are restricted to still waters of lakes and reservoirs. Lake trout require cold, clear, well oxygenated water, thus they are found almost exclusively in oligotrophic (poor in plant nutrients, minerals and organisms and rich in oxygen at all depths) lakes. In summer when colder, denser water sinks to bottom of lake they follow it down. Spring and fall they can be found at depths of 20 feet or less. They prefer water from 40 to 52 degrees  Siscowets (big,fat lake trout) are found at depths of 330 to 500 feet, sometimes as deep as 600 feet. In summer anglers seeking siscowets must use long lines and heavy lures to fish in the deep waters.

Young lake trout feed on freshwater shrimp, plankton, insects and other aquatic invertebrates. Larger ones feed on small fish like cisco, smelt, sculpins, kokanee, whitefish and tullibee.

There’s a rock band called Lake Trout.

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