Splake Identification Guide

Key identification features

• Tail is moderately forked — deeper than a brook trout's squared tail but less deeply forked than a lake trout's
• Body pattern blends pale, irregular spots typical of lake trout with faint marbling or vermiculations from brook trout
• Olive-gray to brown coloration, sometimes with a mottled or marbled look on the back
• Lower fins may show a hint of the white leading edge seen in brook trout, though usually less pronounced

Common look-alikes

• Lake trout: deeply forked tail and pale spots on a dark body, without any orange or red tint on the lower fins
• Brook trout: squared, not forked, tail, with bold red spots ringed in blue and a crisp white leading edge on the lower fins
• Tiger trout: a different hybrid combination showing a bolder, more continuous tiger-stripe pattern rather than lake trout-style pale spotting

Where you'll see one

Splake are a hatchery cross between lake trout and brook trout, produced to combine fast growth with hardiness, and are stocked in northern lakes across the Great Lakes region, New England, and Canada; they occasionally reproduce in the wild but are mostly maintained through stocking programs.