Trout ID

[TrapJack]

Where do lake trout look like this???

[sawbill]

Arctic Char. Baffin Island

[TrapJack]

Arctic Char. Baffin Island

thank you, that's what i was seeing, but i've never fished them. but they say it's lakers. is the name interchangeable in some places? like partridge/grouse in ontario or pickerel/walleye?

[Hunter John]

I say Kluane wilderness lodge on Wellesley lake in the Yukon and those are indeed lake trout.

http://www.kluanelodge.com/default.htm

[TrapJack]

well i know we have red finned lake trout where i live, just not THAT red. certainly the markations on the rest of the body look like laker spots.

[TrapJack]

Couldn't find a better picture, but here is a good example of lake trout variation in my area, although none of the real red ones like i mentioned we do get... this was south of algonquin park.
they all came out the same hole in the same morning.

[sawbill]

Lake trout, gray trout, freshwater char.........salvelinus namaycush which is what we are familiar with.
Arctic Char.................salvelinus alpinus which as the name suggests in found only in the far north and exhibits the bright red colors during spawning season as shown in the video.
I've eaten both and the taste is absolutely identical.

Keep in mind, coloration is the last feature we should look at to determine species. I've seen lakers from silver, green, brown and black. Specks range in color from silvers, reds, oranges and yellows.

[MuskieBait]

North America Chars:

Lake Trout - dense, defined cream coloured spots and vermiculations on the head, gill plate and cheek, often with small spots following the rays on the inside of pectoral fin

Brook Trout - vermiculation on the top of the head, but no markings on gill plate or cheek, no spots on the pectoral fin

Dolly Varden - faint pink spots occasionally on the gill plate only, but mostly missing in large specimens or fish in spawning condition, no spots on the pectoral fin

Bull Trout - fine vermiculations on gill plate and cheek with sparse, small pink spots on rare specimens, no spots on the pectoral fin

Arctic Char - no spots or markings on the head, no spots on the pectoral fin

It is clearly a Lake Trout in the video.

Lake Trout can get vibrant red fins, especially fish near the arctic regions. A friend of mine lives in NWT and he has shown me pictures of Lake Trout with fins and belly just as red. The fish are not in spawning condition either. They can be found with that colour intensity all year.

[Symmetre]

Logo on the side of the boat at the 24 second mark says Kluane something or other, so its someplace in the Yukon. Hunter John nailed it.

Fish in the video is not an arctic char. Definitely a laker. Its common for them to get some belly color as they get close to spawning season. The ones you get at the Ganny are often yellow - gold on the belly, same idea just not as bright.

[Hunter John]

Kluane wilderness lodge in the Yukon.

http://www.kluanelodge.com/default.htm