The tale of a Bear Lake Laker

[ntrl_brn_rebel]

This is an awesome story! We are always asked how old the fish are in Bear Lake, also why we release all Lake Trout...here is a cool story- this little red tag tells quite a story we caught this fish last week and he measured out at 29" and weighed 14lbs...this fish was tagged in 1993, (21 years ago) at the time of the tag the fish was 24", a lake trout 24" in length is very likely over 10 years old, putting this fish most likely well over 30 YEARS OLD!!

Very cool, and please think about catch and release fishing involving lake trout...these are not just average fish, no matter the lake your at!

Big thanks to my buddy Scott Tolentino, (bearlakefishguy) on digging up the information, always love when I get to call him with tag info!
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[SkunkedAgain]

Wow I'm surprised that only grew 5" in over 20 years. Good story to pass on. Thanks J
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[Tarponjim]

Good story. This story is played out at other western lakes with tagged fish as well, like some in Colorado. Ancient fish that are "only" 15 or 20 pounds. They don't all grow huge, and those that do take decades. There is not another one waiting in the wings to replace it in a year or two.

Sadly, tagging stopped a long time ago at Flaming Gorge when the biologists declared them a "vicious predator" and removed the slot limit.
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[Old_Coot]

Thanks for sharing. Any chance you have some pictures of the whole fish end-to-end?
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[gmwahl]

Cool story Travis! Man, now I'm gonna feel some guilty feelings while I'm eating my grilled lake trout fillets[]

I always wondered how long these buggers lived in our lake. Did it look healthy and fat or did it look skinny and beat up? Just trying to figure out if they age crappy like we do and if its possible to tell an OLD fish by the way it looks (besides the size).
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[ntrl_brn_rebel]

Mike-

The fish looked extremely healthy, just like an average lake trout out of the lake....
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[gmwahl]

Thanks for the info, I'll just assume all the bigger ones are old then.
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[buckhunterhart]

I can't wait to get out on Bear Lake with Bear Lake Fishing Charters next Monday. The weather looks promising and I hope the fish come to play. Can't wait to release a few of these fish (after a quick photo op of course).
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[wormandbobber]

Lake trout are indeed unique fish....here is some pretty interesting information on lake trout in Fish Lake:
"Growth rates among individual fish were highly variable (Figure 3). Age 9 lake trout, stocked in 1991 and recaptured in 2000, ranged in size from 15 to 33 inches. Mean growth rates for various size groups ranged from 1.4 to 2.8 inches per year. The highest growth rates occurring in fish from 25 to 30 inches (Table 5 and Figure 4). Growth slowed after fish reached 35 inches. Returns of marked fish established that some lake trout were sexually mature as early as age 5 and at lengths as small as 15 inches. However, most individuals did not spawn until age 6 or 7 at an average size of 19 to 20 inches. By age 9 a few exceptional fish reached 30 inches in length, while the majority of marked lake trout were still less than 20 inches.
Data from the three most recent surveys (1998, 2000, and 2002) were combined into one graphic to depict the size structure of the current population (Figure 5). In general, the distribution was bimodal. Small individuals were most abundant with a slight increase in the frequency of larger individuals. Relatively few fish were captured between 22 and 29 inches.
Smaller lake trout exhibited much lower condition than larger lake trout (Figure 6), with the highest condition occurring in lake trout > 30 inches."

The most interesting thing about this information, to me, is that--despite the age of the biggest fish--the biggest fish's size is a product of fast growth and not age....which is normally the same for most situations. True, the biggest lake trout at Fish Lake are old, but not all the old fish are big. The biggest lakers in Fish Lake grew big in a relatively short time period because of their diet switch.

I believe this is a mistake that many fishermen make in regards to big fish....many fishermen mistakenly believe that big fish are big because they are old; however, this is not always and generally true. Big fish are a product of fast growth and not their age. With that being said, lake trout are a bit--but not a total--exception to the rule. Big lake trout are certainly old, but not all old lake trout are big!
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