The Veterans of Elk Lake

Since the nation is celebrating Veterans Day today, I thought I too would celebrate the veterans of Elk Lake – the Elk Lake lake trout.  Please don’t think I’m being flippant. I am very grateful to our men and women in service past and present who have served and are currently serving our nation.  A big resounding “Thank You” and “Bless You” and your families.  But let’s talk about the trout who seems to be the veteran species of Elk Lake.

I had no idea that Elk Lake has its own special trout until I read the article by Kentz (2016).  According to him, the lake trout in Elk are a bit different from trout in the rest of the Great Lakes.  It seems that most trout spawn on rocky reefs at about 20-30 feet deep.  However, our own trout spawn in much deeper water where there are no reefs.  In fact, they tend to live deeper than most trout at about 100 feet.  They also don’t seem to wander into Lake Skegemog. (For those who are not familiar with these lakes, Lake Skegemog is connected to Elk but is a much shallower lake.)

All this tracking of the Elk Lake lake trout is due to a $5,000.00 grant by the Elk-Skegemog Lakes Association.  They have funded a Michigan Department of Natural Resources biologist, Jory Jonas, and a graduate student who have tagged several hundred trout in the Lake. Seven of the trout also have acoustic tracking devices implanted.  They have also set up receivers around the lake which help track these fish.  You gotta love technology.

So how long ago did we know about these trout?  According to the ESLA online newsletter (2016) It was about five years ago when Jory was doing a large survey of fish in Elk Lake that he discovered this “remnant” trout as he calls it.  This is because, after having genetic analysis from these fish sent out for testing, the results showed that they were closer to the genotypes of trout from Lake Superior rather than the trout that have been planted in the Great Lakes and Elk Lake in the 1980’s.  In fact, the trout planted in Elk, have all disappeared, and the trout planted in the Great Lakes seems to not reproduce in the wild.  This is what makes the current study of the Elk Lake lake trout so vital.  It is the only trout in the lake that has reproduced successfully in the wild.  In fact, no trout has been planted in Elk for over 30 years. 

According to Jonas, possibly the Elk Lake lake trout has been isolated since the dam between Grand Traverse Bay and Elk Lake has been in service since  the 1860’s.  This dam has kept the “Remnant” trout isolated from other trout in Lake Michigan for over 100 years while it has also kept out or at least slowed down the onset of invasive species that seem to be inhibiting the trout in Lake Michigan such as the sea lamprey. 

So let’s celebrate our own veterans, the Elk Lake lake trout today.  I look forward to the ongoing study, especially since the trout seem to inhabit the central western side of the lake, which is where I live. Happy Veteran’s Day!

Elk-Skegemog Lakes Association. 2016. Online Newsletter. Retrieved on      Nov.11, 2016 from http://www.elk-skegemog.org/elk-lake-remnant-trout/

Kentz, Ken. 2016. DNR Lake Trout Study Update in Elk-Skegemog Lakes

Association Newsletter, October 2016.