Roger's Angling Pages
The Lake Trout Salmo trutta lacustris		Salmon family Salmonidae

Lake Trout have become domesticated in some Scottish, Alpine and Scandinavian lakes which have ice-cold and well-oxygenated water. Some anglers consider it a separate species, but in fact it is another form of the Sea Trout and the Brown Trout, although differing from them in coloration and body shape. The older fishes have a robust body with silvery sides and dark spots scattered over the head, dorsal or soft dorsal fin and extending below the lateral line. It inhabits very deep lakes, such as the Finnish Paijannen which is 104 m deep and where it lives solitarily or with other species of fish.

It breeds in autumn or at the beginning of winter on the gravelly, sandy beds of the lake's tributaries. Its offspring return to the lake after several years. In warm seasons it feeds on insect larvae and insects fallen into the water in winter it lives predominantly on fishes, the Three-spined Stickleback in the north and even on small Perch. The females become sexually mature after the fourth year of life and grow more quickly than the males. Catches of 20 lb are not unknown.

The Brown Trout, which at times penetrates lakes and reservoirs, is inclined to change into Lake Trout in terms of body shape and coloration. After emptying the Yugoslavian reservoir, Lokvarka, Brown Trout were discovered weighing up to 50 lb. They had arrived as small fishes down the tributaries and their body shape in old age was not significantly different from the Lake Trout that man had put there.

The Lake Trout is caught by surface fly fishing or by various artificial metal lures, The largest specimens are caught by lures trailed at some depth behind a boat.