stocked splake reproducing with natural specks

[Guest specky for breky]

i heard a rumour that a team from minnesota and ontario confirmed that the stocked splake in lauries one have been spawning with the natural specks, creating a speckled trout backcross...apparently its the first case in ontario....has anyone else heard such stories??....also...this lead me to think that the big, dark, orange bellied, egg carrying specks i catch in lauries 2 are natural....i was there last week and i noticed all the little 3 inch specks i caught had clipped fins and the big ones which look complete;ly different had undisturbed fins.....so i guess there has to be a pretty decent natural population left because they only clip fins to monitor existing natural populations right?

[Lyle Reiner 174]

I was in little hawkeye yesterday, and all the 12 to 15 " specs I pulled out were full of eggs

I can't see them not spawning.

[brookiebuster 117]

Dont specks spawn in the fall?

[Guest Smack Um]

Dont specks spawn in the fall?

Yeah so I don't see them mixing either.

Patrick

[Guest Wes]

This from Wikipedia...

Although the hybrid is genetically stable and is, theoretically, capable of reproducing, splake reproduction is extremely rare, for behavioural reasons, outside the hatchery environment. The only known natural reproduction has occurred in 5 lakes in Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada and, in each case, only a handful of progeny were produced.

Mykiss, any truth this this?

I was always lead to believe that Splake are sterile and incapable of reproduction.

[pastor norm 125]

If you might remember the controversy about the World Record speck caught by Dr. Cook.

Seems some of the specks in the Nipigon have lake trout genes in them (like a splake

has both brook trout and laker genes). Some argue that this explains why the

world record speck was the size it was. Of course, noone could genetically test the

World record fish back in the day, so we have to lean on the photos and the

mount and the outward marks which indicate pure brookie genes.

The splake are crossed a certain way at the hatchery (laker eggs with male brookie milt).

I love this hybrid!

Remember, specks and lakers spawn in the fall, like all char.

[Guest Didgeridoo]

In the God's River system in northern Manitoba, natural lake trout enter the God's River via the mouth from God's Lake. In the upper reaches they spawn on the gravel beds as natural brook trout and in some years (weather and water dependent), natural occurring splake have been created. These fish have been caught living amongst the river dwelling brook trout. This occurrence is very rare but is possible.

I have not heard however of back-crossing splake successfully. I've also heard of naturally occurring splake in Northwestern Ontario, which could raise questions of the World Record Brook trout. However, brook trout of that size still roam their home waters and I was fortunate to lay eyes upon wild brookies in the God's upwards of 30-inches.

Definitely an interesting topic.

Nick

[pastor norm 125]

"Unlike most hybrids, splake are capable of reproducing. However, though they have reproduced in hatcheries, and have successfully back-crossed (splake breeding with one of the parent species) in hatcheries, there are no documented cases of splake actually reproducing in either fashion in the wild.

Regardless, even though splake are presumed sterile in the wild, they still make a spawning run. Spawning takes place in the fall, usually in October, when they migrate to shallow, rocky reefs that are often near the lakes tributaries."

/>http://www.dto.com/fwfishing/speciesProfile/333

Also, Michigan DFO some years ago considered cancelling splake stocking in the Great Lakes waters because of evidence of splake back-crossing with stocked coasters. It's created some noise among anglers who target the splake. I wonder if MNR has looked into this problem in the past, since protecting coasters is a high priority. Wild back-crossing must be enough of a fact to be a problem in some places. Got to be rare, however.

/>http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=89879

[Lyle Reiner 174]

Do stocked lake specks naturally re produce at all?

[sinker7 114]

Stocked specks are capable of reproducing and sometimes do so on a very limited basis in some lakes. Most lakes that are stocked with specks have habitat for sustaining specks but not sustaining natural reproduction (proper spawning habitat). Sometimes when you fish first ice on these lakes you will catch trout that are full of eggs and have not spawned.