Lake Trout

[mitch]

I was wondering do people usually keep lake trout? I have never caught one, but I had a pretty big one follow me at the Two Harbors Breakwall and I was wondering what I would have done if I would have caught it. What sizes do people generally keep?

[Steve Foss]

On Lake Superior there are two general strains of lakers: Siscowet and lean (redfin). Very generally speaking, the siscowet strain is the deepwater type. They are the footballs and greasballs, with lots of oil and yellow flesh. The leans are, as you'd expect, most often a bit less like footballs, and their flesh is orange/red, with a lot less oil that siscowets.

For smoking, lots of folks prefer siscowet because of the oil. I don't like oily fish, smoked or not, so I prefer the leans.

Inland minnesota lakers are, I believe, all the lean/redfin varieties. The lakers you'll be catching off the wall will virtually all be leans, because the deepest water you can reach with a cast there is about 80 feet.

Lakers are members of the char family, and that family is the best group of trout on the table. A char or brookie or laker or dolly varden or splake (laker/brookie hybrid), all members of the char group, are fabulous, and kick butt on the other trouts such as rainbows and browns.

I'll keep a laker up to, say, 6 pounds. The bigger fish we simply fillet (skin left on but ribs removed) and broil on top of tin foil with oil and spices on top, skin side down. Or, put sliced onion and fresh sliced tomato with spices on top and wrap it all in foil on the grill. That's a huge winner. One spring we drizzled a topping of fresh sliced morel mushrooms sauteed in unsalted butter over the fillets after broiling. WOW!.

The smaller ones, say 3 pounds and smaller, I simply fillet like a walleye and fry up in oil and fryin' magic or shore lunch mix. I like that better than walleye, which are so bland they taste like whatever you put on them. Laker flesh has a distinct and delicate taste that comes through on its own if you don't overpower it. In fact, lakers are No. 1 or 2 on the top of my fish eating list (walleye is down there at No. 4 or 5).

[WxGuy]

Thanks stfcatfish, now I'm starving!

[mitch]

So you would release a big fish say 10lbs+ and just keep 5-6 pounders. Another question, what is a trophy size lake trout? I saw the state record is 40 some pounds.

[Steve Foss]

A trophy? That's a matter of personal opinion. I fish on water that holds 20plus pound fish. So for me, a 20 would be a trophy. If I was fishing water in Canada that holds 70 pound fish, it would take a 30 to make a trophy, and it wouldn't be a REAL trophy unless it was over 40.

Also, if I had the smoker ready for laker, I'd keep a bigger fish if it came from water with lots of bigger fish. On Burntside, my home lake, I've decided to throw back anything over five or six pounds. There are a probably several dozen lakers in the teens caught here in open and hard water, with rarely one over 20, but it takes a VERY long time to grow a big laker, and I'm inclined to put em back.

[mitch]

Thanks stfcatfish. Now if I catch one up at the Breakwall I'll know what to do with it.

[troutman]

I agree 100% with Steve on eating lakers.The smaller,inland variety are tops in my book too.I've eaten them from Seagull lake,up on the Gunflint and from Raleigh(sp?)lake in Canada where I was told,they feed almost exclusively on a freshwater shrimp of sorts.They were,without question,the best eating fish I've ever had.Another very simple way to prepare them is to fillet them,chunk them up,then throw them in boiling water till done.Serve like lobster with drawn butter...mmmmm,I'm making myself hungry.

[OUTDOORNUT]

I smoke any Lean/Red Fin over 8-10 lbs. I've never caught one over 8 on any inland lake yet, but I'd still smoke it. The 3-8 lbs fish either get the tin foil on the grill or rolled in Fry Magic in the pan.

Fats never see the fillet knife!!

[Neiko]

We justy cooked one up on the grill last weekend. It was delicious. My brother usually smokes them but I took the skin off and put it in a basket flipper and threw it on the grill. We coated each side with melted butter and cooked it on low. I was amazed how good it tasted. Now I am wondering why my brother smokes them. We are going to try some pan frying with shore lunch next.

[DuluthGuy]

Mitch - If you catch one of the millions of lakers on Superior - keep it!

There are a lot of great recipes for lakers of any size!

First you have to catch it - then land it!

B2

[matthothand]

...First, the customer has to take it out of the rigger.

[Steve Foss]

Neiko:

While I love smoked fish, I would have a hard time smoking laker, too. There are plenty of fish that are really bony, like whitefish and cisco, that taste wonderful smoked. No need to smoke a fish that tastes great unsmoked and isn't bony to boot. Of course, if a fellow has a smoker heating up and 20 pounds of fresh laker laying around, you gotta feed the smoker!