Splake...Or Brookie?

[Corso]

Hello Fellow Fisherpeeps...Went fishing the last week..took my friend and his two boys...the oldest one landed a 20" splake....three hours later i landed a 22" splake...just one thing they stock these things....his had a clipped fin and silvery...mine did not and was bright red on belly and fins? Same species?? 

[dogfish]

Tails will tell
Splake have a forked tail
Brookies are almost Square 8)

[LoveIce]

yes and I have never saw blue spots on a splake eather

[raleigh]

A splake is a cross between a female lake trout and a male brook trout. I caught one last spring that was 9 1/4 pounds and 27 1/2 inches long. They stock them in some of the high mountain lakes in Colorado to get rid of the Colorado White Sucker. The one i had caught looked like a lake trout with a little bit of a red belly. It's fins looked just like a brook trout. I just got him back from the taxidermist last week. They have not stocked the lake with splake that i caught him at for at least 7 years. Two days later went back and caught a 6 pounder.

[_FLAG_]

Dogfish is right the only way to be sure is the tail..

[deadsmelthead]

This is what I understand about splake, they can look favorably to either species.. Some can look identical to a brook trout and some can look identical to a lake trout, I thought I heard this being talked about before on the dec website a few years ago.. The only reason I remember is because they made a stipulation in the Brook Trout record slot that if a possible record Brook Trout was caught in a body of water that splake are know to inhabit the fish is void because of the possibility it could be a splake and not a Brook Trout...

[Colorado_Ice]

Pictures always seem to help me. I'm a visual type.


Brook Trout

Splake- Hybrid

Splake I caught
Grand Lake, Colorado

Lake Trout

Brook Trout have white spots (worm-shaped on top) on a dark background with tri-colored outlined fins (orange, black and white).

Splake are a hybrid species of lake and brook trout with the best features of both fish. They can be difficult to distinguish as they hold characteristics from both parents. Splake have tri-colored pelvic fins like brook trout and their tails are slightly forked. Splake are found in high mountains lakes and have been used since the 1980s to thin out stunted brook trout populations.

Lake Trout, also known as Mackinaw, are the largest trout in North America. Mackinaws have white spots on a dark background with a deep fork in their tail.

From the Colorado Division of Wildlife Site.
http://wildlife.state.co.us/fishing/Fish_Identification/index.asp

[Colorado_Ice]

This is the fish that raleigh caught. The one he mentioned above.

Just helping him out 'til he gets up to speed on posting his pictures.



9 1/4 lbs. and 27 1/2"

[raleigh]

Thanks colorado ice, i tried it and i am still getting the same results. Am i typing the www.whatever part in in my profile or on iceshanty some where ? Thanks again !!!

[Colorado_Ice]

Right here in the box where you type the text. Just put image tags right before and right after the URL like this:

Code: [Select]

[img]http://www.mywebsite.com/mypictures/BigFish.jpg[/img]or what ever.

Use the entire URL, the http:// part is needed.

[trapperdirk]

 Well what I have read and been told because of the hybrid Splake and the F1 backcrosses with brookies and lakers only tests done by our [ROM],  Royal Ontario Museum will considered before any new world record will be considered .
  The record which was caught in the Nipigon river in 1929 by DR.W. Cook at 14 pounds something will stand till another comes along .
  There have been splake entered that resembled brookies to a T but once the tests were done they were found to be splake .
   So as some have stated , you cannot always tell by eye . But if splake weren't stocked there. It is likely an indicator of brookies but there is a lake now they are testing where they have found lakers and brookies mixing naturally but they still are a splake .

[raleigh]

   this another pic of the splake i caught last spring.

[Colorado_Ice]

trapperdirk,

Thanks for the information. I've been researching splake some more since this thread started.

raleigh told me that his taxidermist had to call in 2 biologists from the Colorado Division of Wildlife here to determine what his fish was. They said splake after examining it.

[raleigh]

The first biologest said is was a brook trout, The second said it was a splake, But they finaly decided it was a splake. Thats how close the two fish look alike. Hell to different answers from two different biologest at the Colorado (dow).

[missfishylicious]

the first guy must be an idiot I dan see mistakeing it for a lake trout by the tail but a brookie

I'll send you a im on picture posting that might help

[raleigh]

Corso i think she was talking about the bioloegest that was trying to figure out if my fish was a splake or brookie.

[trapperdirk]

 You know Raleigh this is a great fish you have pictured here . His square tail woulda fooled most of us .
    Miss fishy don't call anybody an idiot on this girl because I consider my self an expert on brookies and splake .
   This fish has got me fooled as many of these  crossbreeds have. By his tail he looks like a speck[ brookie] to me ,,,,,,but  he isnt,,,,,,,but hes  a great fish just the same .