Fishing

Smith: A Lake Michigan lake trout produces a different kind of record

By RVL / July 20, 2025

Smith: A Lake Michigan lake trout produces a different kind of record

An angler caught a 39-year-old lake trout while fishing near Sheboygan on Lake Michigan. The fish is the oldest in the history of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service mass marking program.

Portrait of Paul A. SmithPaul A. Smith

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Marcus Stanford of Madison holds a lake trout he caught in June 2022 while fishing in Lake Michigan east of Sheboygan. A sea lamprey wound is visible on the fish next to Stanford's left forefinger.

Fish stories come in all sizes and shapes. Some are even non-fiction.

This week I’d like to share one, certified and true, that came to light this year.

It’s courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an angler and a Lake Michigan lake trout.

It will, I hope, increase awareness of a high-tech USFWS program that helps scientists monitor and manage the fishery as well help spread understanding of the long-term effort to rehabilitate lake trout in Lake Michigan.

The narrative has its start in 1984 when a lake trout hatched from an egg at the Iron River National Fish Hatchery in northern Wisconsin.

You may also like