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Lake Trout
Salvelinus namaycush
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TEXT BY GREG MCDERMID
Lake trout grow big. Huge, in fact. Famous northern
Canadian fly-in lakes like Great Bear and Great Slave
regularly produce specimens in excess of 50 pounds.
Beyond that however, the sporting qualities of this
giant char are largely unknown to the fly-fishing
community. The reason is simple: Lake trout live where
people don’t. And the waters where we do cross paths –
the Great Lakes, Flaming Gorge, and other deep-water
empoundments – are the southernmost outposts of the
species’ range. In order to find the habitat they
require, they are forced to lurk almost exclusively in
deep water below the thermocline. Many anglers would be
surprised to learn that in the clear, cool waters of
northern Canada and Alaska, lake trout live much closer
to the surface.
The huge, subarctic region know as the Boreal forest is
by far the largest biome in North America. Like a giant
sponge, this vast wilderness is a myriad of postglacial
lakes and waterways, containing a quarter of the world’s
fresh surface water by some estimates. Up there the lake
trout is the dominant aquatic predator, living anywhere
that provides clear, well-oxygenated water below about
53 degrees F.
Anglers lucky enough to travel this region will find
lakers to be the target of a surprising variety of
near-surface opportunities. In the shallow, gravelly
basins of the of the North West Territories, for
example, thousands of lake trout spend the middle part
of each summer fixated on massive caddis fly emergences.
Oblivious to the curses of the typical gear-toting lodge
goer, these fish--many in the double digits--spend long
arctic days casually gulping sedges on the surface,
their backs darkened by long hours in the sun.
And there’s more. In the cisco-laden waters of the
central arctic, lake trout crash schools of baitfish
against the surface of sheltered bays in a scene more
commonly associated with stripers off Cape Cod. Sliders
and poppers thrown into the melee are torpedoed by
cartwheeling strikes that quickly change your opinion of
these fish as lazy, sulking bottom dwellers. And what
northern angler has not had their three-pound Arctic
grayling mauled by a lake trout as long as their leg?
Lake trout grow big for two reasons: They eat fish, and
they live a long time. Despite the dry fly example
above, most adults turn quickly to a piscavorous diet
composed primarily of cisco, burbot, grayling, and
whitefish. Large lakes with an expansive forage base can
produce truly prodigious specimens; the largest on
record being a 102-pound beast taken by a commercial
fisherman from Lake Athabasca.
In addition to size, lake trout are physically
characterized from other char species by a deeply-forked
tail. Typical coloration is a silvery-gray body accented
by handsome white spots. The paired fins of many
individuals are a striking orange, particularly during
the fall spawning season.
Angling tactics are as varied as the waters in which
lake trout are found. The general problem for the fly
angler involves locating specimens within reach of their
gear. Lacking an airline ticket to the Northwest
Territories, southern flyrodders are usually forced to
restrict their efforts to early spring and late fall,
when cold water draws lakers out of the depths. During
these times, a patient angler working gravelly points
and shoals with sinking lines and large, marabou flies
might well be rewarded with the fish of a lifetime.
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