I haven't had the chance to fish Deer Lake since the discovery of largemouth bass, and I do believe that the largemouth bass are eating the rainbow trout in the lake. I have caught a lot of rainbow trout at Deer Lake back in the late 90's. As a matter of fact, my very first cast ever in Deer Lake in the early 90's, I caught a rainbow trout with a lure. In the 90's, I've seen hundreds of rainbow trout congregated in the small creek beside the boat rental area - probably due to more oxygen and cleaner water - I wish I had a video camera back then!
I went to Deer Lake about 3 weeks ago, and I saw 2 1lb trout swimming together with my polarized sunglasses, so there are trout. I also saw a nice sized crayfish and I saw a river otter. At first, I witnessed a splash and I thought it was a carp, then I saw the creature craw onto a rock and back to the shore, and it was a small river otter.
Deer Lake is very heavy on the weeds and algae because of fertilizers drain into the lake. I remember back in the 90's, the water at Deer Lake was a light brown colour. Those were the days with the best fishing and the least amount of weeds and algae.