The Noatak, Kivalina, and Wulik Rivers are notable for trophy char production. That said, rivers in the western Arctic have achieved a reputation as trophy-sized Dolly Varden / Arctic char waters.
Distributionĭolly Varden are found throughout Alaska, except for sections of the interior against the Canadian border. Sea-run Dollies migrate to sea in the spring and return during summer as the salmon migrate upriver to spawn. Sea-run Dollies spawn multiple times in their lifetime, with spawning taking place from September into November, depending on location. Dollies exist in both resident and anadromous forms, with the resident fish being generally smaller. The southern form extends from Southeast Alaska to the south side of the Alaska Peninsula and includes fish in the Kodiak-Afognak archipelago. They are also found in the Susitna River watershed. The northern form can reach sizes in excess of 25 pounds and is distributed from the north side of the Alaska Peninsula north and east into northern Canada. The colors are so bright that some anglers refer to it as a "clown suit."ĭollies exist in two varieties in Alaska, but there is no practical way to distinguish between them in the field. Both fish go through color changes as spawning approaches, from a silver hue with dim spots to brighter colors, fins trimmed with white and black, orange bellies, and other colors. That sounds pretty clear in print, but in the field, it's often a different story. Some say that Arctic char have a bronze to yellowish body, whereas the Dolly is more of a darker greenish hue. For this reason, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game merges the bag limit as "Arctic char/Dolly Varden" without separating the two species.Īccording to some, the easiest way to tell a Dolly from an Arctic char is that the Arctic char has a deeply-forked tail and presents spots ranging from cream-colored to orange. That's because their similar coloration and their overlapping ranges have anglers mistaking one for the other.
It's impossible to talk about Dolly Varden without mentioning Arctic char. Alaska's Dolly Varden have a grayish-green upper body and are adorned with red to pinkish spots throughout. Dolly Varden get their name from a colorful character in the Charles Dicken's novel, "Barnaby Rudge." In the 1860s a green fabric with red dots became fashionable and was named after the character. Simply put, char have light spots on a dark body, and trout have dark spots on a lighter body. Char are distinguished from trout by the presentation of spots on their body. Alaska has four species of char lake trout, brook trout, Arctic char, and Dolly Varden.
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