Merrill Creek Res lake trout question:

[AndyS]

If there is no natural reproduction of lake trout, then why is there a closed season for them in the fall ??????:confused:

[acabtp]

what makes them say that there is no natural reproduction in there? nobody catches shorts?

[catfishonthelake]

Andy, this could be a wild guess, but if they electroshock for egg collection, they don't want anyone taking fish that can provide sperm and eggs. I've wondered the same thing about musky. I'm fairly sure that musky go through the motions and don't actually spawn, but "Trophy Musky Lakes," (Echo, Mountain, Mercer and one other, I think) have a "catch and release" season from April through May. I thought it could be for collecting eggs, but I also could be really wrong.

[AndyS]

They get the lake trout eggs from Vermont.

[catfishonthelake]

Gotcha. Don't they electroshock the Valley though?

[AJFISH13]

I thought the reproduction was extremely minimal, not nonexistant?

[Super]

NJDoF&W gill-nets RV and MC every year and performs an electrochock survey some years. There's optimistic potential for the lakers in MC to spawn, so they don't want fishing to interfere.

I don’t believe that NJDoF&W ever got eggs from Vermont. They initially got eggs from the Marquette State Fish Hatchery in Michigan, then collected eggs from broodstock from RV and eventually went with the Story State Fish Hatchery in Story, Wyoming.

All the lake trout socked in Merrill Creek have a fin clipped before they’re stocked. This is how biologists can determine if there is any natural production. There's no documented natural reproduction in MC.

[AndyS]

There is a big $hit storm going on up at MC. Alot of finger pointing and head scratching, along with a huge movement to get rid of the lakers, the laker stocking and the lake trout program as a whole.
Super, check your records, Pat said they get all their lake trout eggs from out of state.

[Super]

There is a big $hit storm going on up at MC. Alot of finger pointing and head scratching, along with a huge movement to get rid of the lakers, the laker stocking and the lake trout program as a whole.
Super, check your records, Pat said they get all their lake trout eggs from out of state.

Right...The eggs come from the Story State Fish Hatchery in Story, Wyoming. That's what I wrote.

Back in the 1980's we got eggs from RV, but the hatch rate was low and not cost effective.

[VdubFishinJC]

So they dont get the eggs from "Vermont"?

[shucker]

Nope just cheese and maple syrup from vermont:D

[Falcon]

Andy, The problem I see is that they eat everything in site...take away from the rest...
When Merrill Creek opened up there were Rainbow trout to 6 lbs that were unreal to fish for... and the Small Bass fishery was bar none...Now after the stocking Lakers and then Browns the foliage base went down hill fast...they stock herring to keep fish alive....

Best lake in the State I hope they can bring it back....

[AndyS]

Problem being is the herring go deep in the winter, right into the mouths of the waiting lake trout, done deal.

Now you got 20 lb. lake trout swimming around MC, till the herring are all gone.

[Lard Almighty]

From "Freshwater Gamefish of North America" by Dick Sternberg:

"[Lake trout] spawn in fall at water temperatures of 48 to 55 F, usually on rocky reefs less than 40 feet deep and sometimes on reefs only a foot deep. Occasionally, lake trout swim up rivers to spawn. They do not build a redd, but scatter the eggs over rocks. The eggs slip into crevices where they can incubate over the winter, safe from predators. After spawning, the adults disperse, sometimes moving as far as 100 miles from the spawning reef. A lake trout usually spawns on the same reef each year."

[Moz]

Nope just cheese and maple syrup from vermont:D

Ben & Jerry's too! Phish Food to stay on topic is a good flavor.

[Polelock]

I've never fished MC but if the lakers stay on track like in RV, then there is gonna be a problem down the road...