Splake for Dinner Tonight???

Ever caught a splake? For that matter, have you ever heard of
a splake? Though the name sounds like something slurred by Sylvester the
cat, it is in fact a fish, a hybrid cross between a brook trout and lake
trout.

"Deerfield Lake is 'the splake lake,' as it is the only South Dakota water
where splake are stocked by the Department of Game, Fish and Parks," said
Game, Fish and Parks Fisheries Biologist Greg Simpson of Rapid City.
"Deerfield Lake is managed as the 'splake lake' for several reasons. First,
we don't want to contaminate Pactola with splake, as we already have lake
trout there. Second, we can use the faster growth potential of the splake to
help control the sucker population in Deerfield Lake. Lastly, they provide
anglers with a trophy fish opportunity in the lake."
 

The origin of splake comes from speckled trout (an old name for brook trout)
crossed with a lake trout. "It is the lake trout eggs from a large female
lake trout that are fertilized by brook trout sperm that makes the hybrid
cross," he said. "We align the cross this way because it is easier to get
many eggs from a large female lake trout than it is to try and collect the
needed numbers from many small brook trout." He added that splake typically
range in size from 10 to 18 inches and grow faster than either of its parent
species. They have been known to only take a couple years to attain lengths
of 18 inches after stocking.

Splake and brook trout have very similar coloration patterns, which makes
distinguishing between the two species difficult with an untrained eye. "A
way to identify a splake is that they tend to have a slight fork in the
tail," Simpson said, "which is a trait passed down from its lake trout
parent. Brook trout tend to have forkless or "square" tails." Biologists
also use counts of pyloric caeca (protrusions from the stomach lining) to
differentiate between brook, splake and lake trout.

GFP, Pierre, SD