The Brook Trout and Coaster information gathered here at Brook Trout Heaven, focus on Northwestern Ontario fly fishing and sport fishing in Lake Nipigon, Lake Superior and it's tributaries.
(all Brook Trout posted on this site were released)
why some streams continue to produce wandering brook trout, it will add an important piece to what has continued to be a complex puzzle. The information collected also will contribute to a larger comprehensive plan for Nipigon Bay and Lake Superior’s coaster brook trout populations to protect and enhance these fish over the long term.
Conclusions/Observations:
- Brook trout which moved between streams and Lake Superior varied in size from 4.3 in to 15 in.
- There was no significant difference between the size of brook trout which moved between stream and lake environments, and those fish that did not move.
- The vast majority of recorded movement occurred at dawn, dusk or night
- Movement was greatest during the months of August and September
Pat Furlong
COA Project Coordinator
Ministry of Natural Resources
807-343-4031
Marilee Chase
Upper Great Lakes Management Unit – Lake Superior
Ministry of Natural Resources
807-475-1371
Contact:
Biologists implant a PIT tag
in a Juvenile
surgical glue seals wound
sampling
This study provides clarification that small brook trout residing in streams may move into Lake Superior and become coasters. In addition this study illustrates the importance of including both stream and lake habitats in efforts to restore coaster brook trout populations.
Fisheries biologists have long wondered why brook trout living in some of Lake Superior’s tributaries routinely leave their native streams at an early age to wander the lake shore and grow to adults of trophy-sized proportions. Coaster brook trout, as these wandering brookies are called, were once widely dispersed across Lake Superior but now exist in significant numbers only in the Nipigon Bay area of the lake.
With Ontario government funding in support of the Canada-Ontario Agreement Respecting the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem (COA), fisheries biologists may finally unravel at least a portion of the mystery of the coasting behaviour of Lake Superior’s brook trout.
Brook trout movement between Lake Superior and Nipigon Bay tributary streams was studied using Passive Integrated Transponders (PIT tags) from 2004 to 2009. “The aim is to learn at what stage some young brook trout leave their native streams and what environmental conditions might trigger their emigration. A Lake Superior tributary of Nipigon Bay was chosen as the study location because of the potential for movement by large numbers of brook trout in and out of the stream.”
Biologists will collect data about the coaster brook trout by surgically implanting small, electronic tags into the body cavity of juvenile fish living in the study stream. Using a system similar to the bar code readers used in supermarkets, a reader located at the mouth of the study stream will record the data imprinted on a fish’s electronic tag enabling biologists to determine which fish pass through, and in what direction they are traveling.
The electronic tags, called PIT tags
(Passive Integrated Transponder), are about the size of a pellet one feeds guinea pigs.
The information collected by the reader will also enable biologists to determine what percentage of electronically tagged fish leave and/or re-enter the study stream and at what time of year, or under what conditions, they migrate. The tags will continue to provide biologists with information about the fishes’ in-and-out migration for many years to come.
While the information collected from the coaster brook trout study is not likely to resolve all of the questions surrounding
The P.I.T. Tagging Program (Passive Integrated Transponder)
Solving the Mystery
