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Lake trout age?

2K views 12 replies 8 participants last post by  Far Beyond Driven 
#1 ·
How old would a 30 to 34 inch fish be from Lake Michigan, superior, Higgins or Gull Lake? Just curious and am trying to figure out possible stocking year class.
 
#2 ·
It could really vary even among lakers that size from the same lake, much less when you list those 4 lakes. Lake trout growth is really variable

If it had a fin clip, that could help narrow it down.

But I would guess between 10 and 20 years old, with 12-15 being average
 
#6 ·
That's going to be harder to figure out. Much easier for the great lakes because they've clipped all the lake trout stocked in the great lakes, for the most part, and you can look them up in the glfc stocking database -http://www.glfc.org/fishstocking/exactsearch.htm


Michigan's is a little more complicated to look stuff up, and they haven't clipped all the stocked fish. Go here -
http://www.michigandnr.com/fishstock/

search for lake trout stocked in Gull Lake and look thru the records. You'll need to search both Barry and Kalamazoo counties because there were stockings in both counties and that is how the database is structured - gotta look by county and then filter by water body

doesn't look like there were any ventral clips, just adipose or pectoral

there's also a mix of juvenile and fully adult fish stocked, so it'd be anybody's guess what the year-class is for the adult fish
 
#8 ·
Can't tell you exactly how old but based on the size I would say roughly 15 years old. They grow slowly and it does take several years to reach that size. Make sure you trim the fat if your gonna eat it. It's probably full of toxins.
 
#9 ·
Trimmed the fat and the rest tends to cook away when I smoke them. I wonder if the fish aren't some of the adult Lewis stock since they look a little different than the Superior stock I have caught from Higgins Lake over the years.. They fight a little different also but that could be due to the water temp, Gull Lake is quite a bit warmer than Higgins.

Thanks for the info, I figured around 15 years or so but it is nice to hear from others that they think the same.
 
#12 ·
"The general rule for lake michigan is a pound per year. IE-15lbs= 15 years old. Again this is just a quick estimate and I dont know how accurate it would be on other lakes."

Nick - 1 lb a year would be for a fast growing Lake Trout. More like 3/4 lb a year will get you in the ball park
 
#13 ·
Got two tagged ones in the last few years that I turned in: a 16.2# that was 20.5 years old and planted in Milwaukee, and a 9# that was 11 years old and planted on the mid lake reef. Caught that one in February in the St. Joe River trolling plugs and had to look up if it was legal to keep as I wasn't planning on catching a laker way upstream.
 
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