Trout Unlimited members plant trout in Lost Lake ’Ķ  HOUGHTON ’Äì Since 1998, the Copper Country Chapter of Trout Unlimited has partnered with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources in planting Assinica Brook Trout in Lost Lake, one of the inland lakes included in the DNR’Äôs grant application to the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund for acquisition of 6,313 acres of undeveloped land at the Keweenaw Tip. CCCTU is supportive of the land purchase because of their love of the area and also their own investment of time and energy in planting and managing the trout at Lost Lake.   Bill Deephouse, CCCTU president, colored in this DNR map to show that the area proposed to the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund Board for the state land purchase at the Keweenaw Tip (yellow) would be contiguous with land already owned by the state (pink) if the grant is approved and landowner International Paper/Lake Superior Land Co. agrees to sell the 6,313 acres to The Nature Conservancy. TNC would hold the land until the state receives enough funding to buy it. CCCTU has partnered with the DNR in planting brook trout in Lost Lake (the upper of two small yellow boxes; the yellow box further south and east is Hoar Lake). (Map courtesy Bill Deephouse)   CCCTU President Bill Deephouse of Houghton said the group planted 600 fish in Lost Lake in the first year and 800 in the last two years.   Bill Deephouse, president of the Copper Country Chapter of Trout Unlimited  ’ÄúIt’Äôs one of the unique fishing opportunities up in the Keweenaw,’Äù Deephouse said. ’ÄúWe succeeded beyond our wildest expectations.’Äù    Trophy trout regulations for Lost Lake, as a Class D lake, allow one fish over 15 inches, he noted.   ’ÄúYour chances of landing a large brook trout are quite good,’Äù Deephouse added. ’ÄúThe survival rate is really high, and the growth rate is outstanding.’Äù   Deephouse said the Lost Lake brook trout project was ’Äúthe brainchild’Äù of CCCTU Board Member Bill Lehtinen, who first came up with the idea of asking the DNR to survey the lake to determine its suitability for trout ’Äì meaning it would need cold water and a certain amount of oxygen. Former CCCTU President Ray Weglarz wrote a letter to the DNR at that time (1998) requesting the survey.   Since conditions were found to be good for trout, the DNR provided the fish and asked for CCCTU’Äôs help with the planting. The difficult part was the remoteness of the lake. Fish had to be carried by hand for the last stretch of the journey through the woods ’Ķ      In this October 15, 1998 photo, planting crew members transfer the brook trout from the DNR containers to smaller ones that can be transported by CCCTU's Off-Road Vehicles through the woods to Lost Lake. Pictured are, from left, Valerie Miller, DNR fisheries technician; Vern Nurenberg, DNR fisheries biologist; Ed Pearce, DNR fisheries technician; and Bill Lehtinen, CCCTU board member.          Trout are transferred in buckets from the DNR containers to smaller containers that can be transported by ORVs through the woods.                         The fall fingerling Assinica Brook Trout for planting are 12.1 cm, or 4.8 inches long.                   "This was as far as we could go -- only about 300 yards from the lake," Deephouse said. "We each grabbed two buckets and struggled down through the woods to the shore of the lake."               Bill Lehtinen, CCCTU board member, plants the first Assinica Brook Trout in Lost Lake on Oct. 15, 1998.                           Valerie Miller, left, DNR fisheries technician, and Paul Sulisz of CCCTU plant brook trout in Lost Lake. (Oct. 15, 1998, photos by Bill Deephouse)         Click here for more photos of Lost Lake ...