The movement of tagged lake trout in Lake Superior, 1950-52

A total of 733 native lake trout was tagged at two widely separated localities in Lake Superior; subsequent recaptures numbered 155 fish (21.1 percent) during the year following marking. In October 1950, 116 large lake trout (average total length, 27.3 inches) were tagged near Keweenaw Point, Michigan. Fifteen (12.9 percent) were recovered during the first year at points as far west as the Gooseberry River, Minnesota (190 miles), north to the Slate Islands, Ontario (95 miles), and east to Grand Marais, Michigan (100 miles). Nine fish (7.8 percent) were recovered during the second year after marking. Returns from 617 tagged lake trout of smaller size (average length 18.2 inches) released in the Apostle Island region of Wisconsin during the period June 12 to August 6, 1951, numbered 140 (22.7 percent) during the first year. Of these fish, 90 percent were recaptured within a radius of 50 miles of the points of release. Seventy-six percent were caught in Wisconsin, 14 percent in Minnesota, and 9 percent in Michigan waters. The fish retaken in Michigan had moved 120 to 255 miles between the time of release and recapture, traveling as far wast as Grand Marais. Lake trout recaptured at distances of more than 50 miles from the tagging locality were of larger average size than marked fish caught within this radius.
The four types of tages used in the marking of lake trout in the Apostle Island region, together with the number tagged and percentage recovered during the first year were as follows: 103 aluminum lower-jaw tags (used only on fish less than 17 inches in length when marked)-10.7 percent; 200 monel upper-jaw tags-14 percent; 162 streamer tags-19.8 percent; and 152 Peterson tags-45.4 percent. Obviously lake trout marked with the Peterson tag, with the discs and ends of the pin projecting from each side near the point of maximum girth, were more vulnerable to the fishery than were fish marked with other tags. The recoveries of marked fish show that Lake Superior lake trout-particularly fish of large size-may move many miles and freely cross political boundaries; and that the rate of harvest is moderately high for a fish with a life history as long as that of the lake trout.