Lake Trout Identification Guide
Identify this deep, cold-water char by its heavily forked tail and pale spots scattered over a dark body.
Read the full Lake Trout encyclopedia entry →
Key identification features
- Robust, elongated body ranging from dark gray-green to olive or nearly black
- Numerous pale cream to whitish spots scattered over the body, head, and fins, with no red or orange spotting
- Deeply forked tail fin, more deeply notched than in brook or brown trout
- Fins often show a faint white leading edge, though less bold than in brook trout
- Can grow very large, with adults commonly exceeding 50 cm and some reaching well over a meter
Common look-alikes
- Brook trout: shares char ancestry but has red spots with pale blue halos and a much less forked, nearly square tail
- Splake (lake trout x brook trout hybrid): shows an intermediate tail shape and a mix of pale and pinkish spotting from both parent species
- Brown trout: has round black and red spots on a golden-brown body rather than uniform pale spots on dark gray
Where you'll see one
Inhabits deep, cold, well-oxygenated lakes across northern North America, typically staying in deep water during warmer months and moving shallower in spring and fall.
Frequently asked questions
How do I tell a lake trout from a brook trout?
Lake trout have only pale cream spots and a deeply forked tail, while brook trout have red spots haloed in blue and a much less forked, nearly square tail.
How do I recognize a splake versus a pure lake trout?
Splake show a tail fork that is intermediate in depth and a mix of pale and pinkish spotting, blending traits of both lake trout and brook trout parents.
Lake Trout identified by the community
Recent Lake Trout catches identified with Fish Identifier.
