How do fish end up in natural, landlocked lakes?

Answer 1

God put them there

Answer 2

Part of this answer has come from a discussion between a moderator and Don Schreiner from the Department of Natural Resources:

The moderator says, "Alex from Minnesota wants to know, "How do fish get into lakes if there are no rivers around?"
Don Schreiner's reply: " That's a really good question. Before humans showed up fish in this part of the world inhabitated lakes soon after the glaciers left. During this period many of the water bodies that are now land locked had connections.
In present times, fish are transported by humans through stocking and to some extent by birds that transport fertilized eggs in their feathers when they move between water bodies. "

http://www.bellmuseum.org/distancelearning/chat_schreiner.html

Fish can be transported into landlocked lakes not just by birds as mentioned but also by animals carrying fish or fish eggs on them.
Another way is through flood waters. If an area is under sever flooding, fish can end up migrating from one area to another.
The most popular reason for fish getting into landlocked lakes is through the stodking program set up by the various fisheries in the local governments.

Answer 3

Rivers flood and the river water (and related contents) gets displaced into nearby lakes. Glaciers could have transported some fish eggs, which makes as much sense as the eggs surviving a bird's digestive system and being pooped into a lake.

Answer 4

They were not necessarily always landlocked lakes. Global, and local, sea levels fluctuate through time, over thousands to millions of years. At times in the past, they have been over 100m higher. Further, geography changes with erosion, in fill, uplifting and subsiding land. Rivers change course, etc etc.

Answer 5

There have been many well documented but unexplained occurrences of the sky litterally raining frogs, snakes, or fish. It's usually thousands or even millions of one species lasting just a few seconds or minutes. I'm not aware of it has ever literally "rained cat and dogs", though.

One possible cause of this phenomenon is giant tornados or water spouts sucking animals from the ground or sea into the cloud and dropping them many miles away.

A slightly less likely cause is aliens restocking their pond---planet Earth.

Answer 6

Many, many lakes are stocked by the Fish and Game Commission.

Answer 7

not all lakes are glacial in beginning place. i could have a not basic time seeing Lake Titicaca, the super Salt Lake, or Lake Victoria as being ice-lined. Even the glacial lakes in many cases have an inlet or outlet or the two. those function corridors for the fish.

Answer 8

Animals may carry them, but more likely they are stocked by man. Just like any other invasive species, fish would have no competition or predators in a lake with no other fish in it, so they flourish.

Answer 9

Birds, and other animals that eat fish and swollow the eggs and yes deposit them there in the lakes.

Answer 10

Birds primarily if not stocked by man.