Wisconsin Biologists Catch Old Trout During Assessment

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’s Brad Ray holds the lake trout that they’ve been referring to as “Old Fish.”
Photo courtesy of Brad Ray/Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources via WPR

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – State biologists say a lake trout caught this month was the oldest they’ve found in northern Wisconsin in recent history.

Wisconsin Public Radio reports that the fish caught near the Apostle Islands of Lake Superior is at least 46 years old, or nearly 100 in human years.

Brad Ray is a senior fisheries biologist at Lake Superior. He says the fish was tagged as part of the Department of Natural Resources’ fall trout assessment. Ray says the fish has been tagged eight times in the past four decades. He states the trout was 35.5 inches long.

Officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service say the oldest lake trout ever recorded was 70 years old.