Little trout anyone?

[ctom]

An acquaintence of mine spent the day on Lake Superior with another acquaintence of mine trolling for Lake Trout. In addition to this one, they also netted one over 29 pounds, many between 15 and 20 pounds. And here I sit only able to look at the damn pictures.

44 inches, 42 pounds

[Jerry V]

That's just too cool Tom, thanks for sharing.

Please tell me that that dude makes some of his own tackle... and if not why not?  What do we have to do to get him sporting a Do-It logo in a pic like that?  That fish is the size of an average 2 year old child. I love it, nice work.

[ctom]

The guys that took this and the other fish released all that they caught....just so ya'll know.

The fish shown is a Red Fin sub-species. Superior is also home to the Sissowet Lake Trout. They grow bigger, but are deeper water denizens that spawn on submerged shelve up to 600 feet deep. They're also greasy fish. Red Fins are excellent table fare.

My largest was 49 inches and taken by casting spoons off the breakwater in Two Harbors. I had no net that morning and a creel census counter for the DNR helped me get the fish to the wall's edge where he ran a tape to measure the length and the girth, which was 39". The fish came from 80 feet of water but was still full of it. Since I couldn't even see the 1/2 ounce Krokodile lure I was using in the gullet of that thing I just cut the line and watched her swim away. The season on lakers on Superior ends the last day of September each year so they can get their spawning done in October and November without being bothered by hooks while up shallow and when they are vulnerable. My big girl came on September 29th. She was very full of spawn, possibly one third of her weight.

That DNR worker had a chart used to determine weight by length during different period thru the year. His best guess was between 45 and 49 pounds. The one in the picture here is said to be 42. Had the same fish been caught a month and a half from now it would have easily been in the 50 pound range. The largest laker I have kept was a 29 pounder that got its gills all tore up during the fight....gonna die anyway so it found itself on our table a number of times and each time the eating was out of this world.

I don't care what kind of fish has been caught that has been said to fight, these lake trout are nothing but steam rollers with fins and will trash tackle in a heart beat. I love them in all aspects.

[WALLEYE WACKER]

ctom That sure looks like a lot of fun! I have only gone on the big water a couple times  and only caught coho's. On the only other trip to Canada I caught a small lake trout trolling a spoon. make's me wish I was with them.  mike

[Botanophilia]

I've caught one laker in my life, and that was around 22".  Even at that relatively small size it was a great fighter.  I wish they were doing better in Lake Michigan, but the population is declining.

[ctom]

The water in Lake Michgan gets too warm for good laker compatability. Ya, I know...they.ve been there for years, but we are seeing aveage air temps slipping upward each year and that change alone will have the lakers doing a downward trend.

[hollywood]

That's cool! 

Out here in Oregon we have several lakes with giant lake trout.  I need to actually get out and try it, I spend to much time chasing salmon and steelhead.  These same lakes also have brown trout over 25 lbs!  Pretty cool place to live. 

[ctom]

Nick, Bonatophilia, lives in a giant Brown Trout mecca along the shores of Lake Michigan. The grandson has a college basketball game over in Milwaukee this fall, sometime in November, so I'm taking a rod and plan to buy a license so I can cast for a few hours in the harbor area.

[Botanophilia]

Yep, the Lake Michigan browns are big and getting bigger.  2 new records were caught within a few years of each other; last one in 2010. The record is up to 41lbs 8oz. Only 5 1/2 lbs smaller than the record laker from Superior.  And only 3 pounds lighter than the record Chinook.  Browns are big and beautiful and a pretty good fight.  My first fish was a pretty good size brown, high 20" range and nearly 20 lbs if I remember correctly.  I'll have to ask dad if there's a picture, I don't know how old I was.  5 or 6 maybe. 

WI DNR is moving to a Legacy/Modern Day records system.  Inland and Outlying Lake Trout will be open for new records; outlying needs to be 35 lbs 4 oz and inland is 26 lb 7 oz.  I would hazard a guess that the new modern day records will come from the same lakes as the legacy records: Superior and Big Green.  Largemouth and smallmouth bass, muskie, tiger muskie, and pike are all open for new records starting next year too.  Will be interesting!

[ctom]

Do you know if they are doing line-class records too?

[Botanophilia]

I didn't see anything about line class records.  We have alternate method records (spear, bow, crossbow) and I had a chuckle at the fact that there's a record goldfish pulled out of Green Bay.
Here's the link to the info for WI records for those interested. http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/fishing/recordfish/index.html