Creatures vs. climate: The lake trout. Published on Sep 24, 2018  TVO

https://tvo.org/article/current-affairs/creatures-vs-climate-the-lake-trout

Warming temperatures are affecting thousands of lakes across the province and making life difficult for species that live beneath the waves — including the iconic lake trout, one of Ontario’s most popular sport fish.

“It’s water temperatures and oxygen that really limit lake trout,” says Sapna Sharma, associate professor of biology at York University and director of the Sharma Laboratory. “With climate change, water temperatures are generally becoming warmer and oxygen levels are becoming lower, and that can stress lake trout populations.”

According to a 2009 paper in Ecology authored by Sharma and two others, lake trout populations in more than 1,600 lakes in Ontario could be vulnerable by 2050, based on climate-change projections. By 2100, there could be as many as 9,700 vulnerable populations across Canada.

And warmer water isn’t the only issue that lake trout have to deal with — the effects of climate change have also made the province’s lakes more hospitable to smallmouth bass, which can out-eat the lake trout, leaving the struggling fish without enough food to survive.

Smallmouth bass are native to North America, but over the past 100 years, they’ve spread further north in Canada. While they lack the ability to jump from one lake to another, they can travel by river between bodies of water. “They’re moving northward at a pretty rapid rate,” Sharma says. “They’re voracious predators — they eat a lot of the minnows. They can eat a lot of things.”

One of the lake trout’s most important sources of food is the cisco, or lake herring, a coldwater species that’s also threatened by warming temperatures. Smallmouth bass consume cisco in large quantities, which means there are fewer available for lake trout to eat.

Lake trout are what researchers call a bellwether species �

Uppa wrote:

Two of the other sites on North Sylvia are dismal. The one on the South end I thought was pretty decent, however. 
 

100% agree. The pit at the south site was pretty cool eh?

No.

But you are on the correct side of 60.

I don't make fires too much hassle so good for me. Those fire pits take too much space!

The site does have a nice charm to it. I'll keep it in mind if I'm ever in the area. You seem to have taken some nice pics.

It's probably more of a 'to each their own' thing, but I really like camping in Hemlock groves and red pine stands. This site on North Sylvia is very open, pretty flat, nice swimming rock.. it's not a 10/10 but I really enjoyed my time there. Who knows though, if it was raining or cold maybe I'd feel different about the site. Benches don't matter when a helinox is involved - but they do make for good tables when present.
Some pics from my stay there:

Peek wrote:

ATVenture wrote:

I think I may start at Kiosk for sure. .

Bruh - you've got me doing mental gymnastics with a statement like that lol
 

I had such a hard time planning this trip it was unbelievable. I now have my permit in hand and am hitting the water very early tomorrow morning, I booked the following - Mag-Shah-Shipppagew-Burntroot-Catfish-Big Crow-Merchant-Burntroot-Nadine-Big Thunder-Whitebirch . 
Managed to arrange a shuttle to Kiosk which I am very happy about, we'll see how it goes. On this route I should hopefully be able to take advantage of some tail winds.

In pretty well all trout and char the females will have a shorter, rounder head and colours tend to be more drab.  Though it's probably least noticeable in lakers.  Personally, I wouldn't worry about it.  If you catch and keep that same fish in the spring - it won't have eggs, but it still won't be spawning come fall.  Good luck, I'll be chasing brookies some where in the park this weekend.