Lake trout

Identification and life history

Salvelinus namaycush is a char with light spots on a dark gray to black background, a white belly, a deeply forked tail and white leading edges on the lower fins (Michigan DNR). It matures late, at six or seven years in Michigan and Vermont and later in the far north, and spawns over rocky shoals in fall, mostly at night, without digging a redd, returning to the same spawning areas each year. ADF&G says Alaska lake trout can live longer than 50 years, though typical maximum ages are around 20, and Michigan gives a lifespan that may pass 25. ADF&G also notes that low production makes them vulnerable to overfishing, since big, old fish take years to replace.

Native in the north, invasive in the West

Lake trout are native from Alaska and northern Canada south to New England and the Great Lakes basin, with a few native populations in Montana lakes such as Waterton and St. Mary (USGS). In the Great Lakes, Michigan DNR says overfishing and the sea lamprey severely reduced them between 1935 and 1965, and that lamprey control and stocking are bringing them back. In the West the picture reverses: USGS links introduced lake trout to the loss of native cutthroat in Lake Tahoe, to the near-elimination of cutthroat and bull trout in Flathead Lake and Lake Pend Oreille, and to an illegal introduction in Yellowstone Lake that the National Park Service has fought with gillnets.

Cold water and depth

Michigan DNR gives a preferred range of 40 to 55°F, and Vermont says lake trout prefer water below 60°F and need high oxygen. That sets the calendar: in fall, winter and spring Michigan finds them in 10 to 30 feet of water, and as the shallows warm they follow the cold down to 100 to 200 feet or more. In New York, NYSDEC names Cayuga and Seneca as the Finger Lakes for large lake trout and Keuka for numbers.

How they are caught

Trolling is the main method: Michigan DNR describes spoons, flashers and flies, or cowbells and minnows, often near bottom, and NYSDEC adds downriggers, divers and the Finger Lakes tradition of copper line. Vertical jigging has grown popular on the Finger Lakes, using half-ounce to one-ounce jigging spoons and lead jigs with white or chartreuse plastics, a depth finder and careful boat control. Vermont says most of its lake trout effort happens through the ice, and Michigan anglers jig spoons tipped with cut bait in Great Lakes bays in winter.

The mistakes that cost fish

Fishing the summer shallows: by midsummer Michigan's lakers are often 100 feet down or more. Jigging blind, when NYSDEC's method depends on finding fish or bait on the depth finder and holding the boat over them. And keeping every big fish: ADF&G notes that the large, old fish carry much of a population's biomass and take years to replace.

Temperature range

Tackle setups

Playbook by water temperature

The legal season is a separate question

Month by month

Best waters for lake trout

57 waters we report on where this species is one of the main fish, each with a daily report.

Common questions