Suomeksi

Hunting and fishing in Finland

Lake trout

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Lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush)

Lake trout
Lake trout. Pic:
U.S. Fish and wildlife service.

Lake trout is North American fish and it has been put into Finnish waters a lot since 1950's. It is not confirmed, if lake trout had successfully been breeding in Finland. Lately lake trouts are been used as supplement to Lake Inari which is suffering from power plants' rationing of water.

Lake trout is mainly dark brown and yellowish coloured. Lake trout has small grey dots in tight on it's sides. On head and back those marks are longer stripes. Abdominal fins' are white on the front. It has dots also in back- and tail fins, that Finnish arctic charr doesn't have. Also lake trout's stomach is never red.

Fish of deep and cold waters

During spring lake trouts move in surface levels, but when water starts to get warmer, lake trouts are going deep waters, even to 50-80 m. Cold water is necessary for lake trout.

Use of nutriments

Lake trout's main food is fish. It uses middle of the lake's schoolfishes like whitefish, vendace and smelt. When smaller it eats also crustaceans of the deep and after born plankton.

Spawning

Based on foreign, non-Finnish research, lake trout spawn between August and Novenber on rocky or gravel bottoms in 2-30 m deep. It is been caught big ready-to-spawn lake trouts from Lake Inari, but successful breeding remain unconfirmed.

Catch, size and records

Lake trout has a very long life as a fish, even 40-year-olds have been caught. It also grows slowly. For example in Lake Inari usual size of lake trout is 0,7-2 kg, but over fish over 7 kg weight has been caught.

Lake trout catch has been recently 10 tn at the best from Lake Inari.

In 1976 12 kg lake trout was caught from the sea area in front of Raahe.

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