© 2002 Michael Furtman

Hidden Treasures – How Some Coaster Brook Trout 

Populations Survived

By Michael Furtman

Sometimes is doesn’t pay to be both dumb and beautiful – unless you also are lucky.

Take the coaster brook trout, a Lake Superior-dwelling version of that lovely little ruby-spotted fish many of us know from our region’s small streams. This race of brook trout (it is not known yet whether they constitute a separate subspecies) has a life history similar to anadromous salmon or steelhead. That is, they spawn in tributary streams where the young remain for a period of time, before out-migrating to Lake Superior, where adults spend their lives. 

In the last installment of this series (see Superior Vision, Summer 2001; Stolen Jewels...or click HERE), we saw how habitat damage done by early lumbering operations helped decimate this species. We also learned how over-exploitation by sport anglers had virtually eliminated the coaster brook trout from most of its Lake Superior range before the turn of the 20^th century. 

Growing big by brook trout standards (the world record came from Ontario’s Nipigon River, a monster of 14 pounds, eight ounces caught in July of 1916), and blessed with the beauty of all brook trout, the coaster shares with its smaller stream-bound relatives their fatal flaw: they are easy to catch. Brook trout seem to grow up eating just about everything that drifts past their nose. And for a long time, those things had hooks in them. Long before the notion of catch and release, coaster brook trout were stacked up like cordwood by anglers. 

Their demise can be easily imagined just by reading this telling account written by A.N. Winchell in 1879 for the Geologic and Natural History Survey of Minnesota: 

"The brook trout is an object of wanton destruction in northeastern Minnesota . . .  One stream after another is visited. A camp is pitched beside each where it empties into the lake. Then for several days, perhaps a week, the river banks are lined with the creeping, stealthy forms of the fishermen throwing every temptation the ingenuity of man can devise before the eyes of the wary trout. By diligently and patiently continuing at their posts through every hour from daylight until evening, it is surprising if any fish are spared in the stream." 

Fishery managers today are beginning the first steps to restoring this species under the provisions of the Brook Trout Rehabilitation Plan for Lake Superior (which we will look at in the next installment). But it logical to ask if there are any places where these fish have survived. 

Fortunately, even today, there are remote areas of the lake. And fortunately, even today, some coaster brook trout populations survive. Few of these could be considered robust populations, but there are some places where the fish are doing more than just holding on. 

In the U.S., the only real stronghold of wild coasters are in the waters surrounding Isle Royale National Park. Remote by any stretch of the imagination, the difficultly in reaching this island preserved at least three coaster brook trout populations – those that spawn in the Big and Little Siskiwit Rivers, and a shoal spawning population near Tobin Harbor. Others may exist. The Park instituted a one fish over 18 inch limit in 1993, which should go a long way to preserving the numbers of these lovely, but easily caught, trout. 

But the real stronghold of coaster brook trout is Ontario. Blessed with numerous streams (some 58 are considered potential or actual coaster brook trout habitat), a coastline that for many miles is not accessible by road, and a relatively low human population compared to the U.S., coasters here have gone about their business of living and reproducing with just enough “de facto” protection to hold on to viable populations. Populations are known to exist in the Current, Nipigon, Jackpine, Cypress, Gravel and Little Gravel rivers. It is interesting to note that all of these streams – with the exception of the Current – flow into Nipigon Bay. 

The fact that coasters survived here isn’t because of any nobility of Ontario fish managers or anglers. In fact, like their counterparts elsewhere, they did their best to get rid of coasters. Ontario pretty much ignored these fish until very recently. Limits were high, and catch and release was low, and very little effort was spent researching them. Only the exceptional quality of Ontario’s habitat, and relatively low human predation, allowed the coaster to survive. 

In a recent article in Fly Rod and Reel, Rob Swainson of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) said that when he was first appointed to the Nipigon District, he asked to see the coaster brook trout data. 

"I was shocked," he said. "Our department had been working on walleyes--walleyes this and walleyes that. We'd written off coasters." 

If the scientists believed that coasters were essentially extinct, it was news to anglers, who still reported catching these trout in fair numbers, especially in what is probably the world’s premiere brook trout river – the brawling Nipigon. But even though anglers knew what biologists didn’t – that coasters still ran the rivers – the majority of the fish caught by fishermen were conked on the head and eaten. That is, except by a growing group of angler conservationists who were committed to preserving coasters. 

These anglers were frustrated by the MNR’s lack of leadership on coaster preservation, but when Swainson arrived in 1988, the time was ripe for policy changes. Led by Swainson, and supported by these anglers, the MNR attempted to implement size and bag limit restrictions on the Nipigon River in 1989. They were fought by the Ontario Federation of Hunters and Anglers, but managed to get a two fish per day over 18” limit, and no-fishing zones in important spawning areas. Swainson and the angler conservationists were also successful in convincing Ontario Power to implement coaster-friendly flow regimes to the Nipigon River. 

Since then, the limit on the Nipigon has been reduced to one fish per day over 20 inches, and winter fishing has been closed. But outside the Nipigon, the MNR still allows five coaster per day to be killed in streams, and three per day in the open waters of Lake Superior. 

"No-kill is the ticket," Swainson told Fly Rod and Reel, "but I can't sell it." 

Although no-kill would truly be the best route, the populations of coaster brook trout in the Nipigon Bay area seem to be responding well to the reduced bag limits. Fishing has improved, as has the size of the fish caught, one of which recently topped 11 pounds. 

This is important to more than just the anglers. Big fish are mature fish, are more successful spawners, and produce more eggs. And the bigger they are, the better they can compete for spawning areas with the non-native fall spawning salmonids we’ve introduced to the lake, such as chinook salmon. 

The future of these remnant coasters populations? 

It seems fairly rosy. 

Even though more people have bigger, better boats capable of crossing the big lake, reaching Isle Royale National Park by boat is still no cake-walk. Fishing pressure there for coasters will likely remain low, and the bag limit is strict. Although it lacks the big rivers of the Ontario shores, Isle Royale’s streams and shoals should see coaster thrive. 

With a cadre of dedicated angler conservationists watch-dogging both the habitat and the MNR, with leaders like Swainson, with excellent habitat, and with the beginnings of 21^st century angling regulations in place, Ontario’s coasters should also thrive. 

As they’ve flourished in the Nipigon, they’ve seemed to have helped all neighboring rivers as well – perhaps by recolonizing old haunts. While most salmonids return to their natal stream to spawn, as populations grow, a certain number pioneer into other streams. 

And increasing numbers of Ontario and Isle Royale coasters also provide lessons – and a source of egg stock – for other fishery managers around the lake as they attempt to resurrect this species. 

Coaster brook trout. Dumb? Maybe. 

Beautiful? That’s for sure. 

And perhaps just plain lucky too. For if it weren’t for the fact that Isle Royale is isolated, and Ontario’s Nipigon River is so huge and the province’s other streams so remote, these coaster brook trout populations might just as easily be in the same class as those in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan: mere memories and rumors.