Paul Ostrander with a Kenai River Dolly Varden. (Photo by Dave Atcheson)

Paul Ostrander with a Kenai River Dolly Varden. (Photo by Dave Atcheson)

Tight Lines: Dolly Varden or Arctic char, that is the question

“I cast out and try to be patient, waiting for my fly to sink. On my first cast I’m too patient and snag. On the next I begin my retrieve earlier, an excruciatingly slow retrieve, just a twitch of the line here and there to keep my fly undulating above the weed beds. It’s not long this time before a sharp tug interrupts me, my line snaps to attention, and a beautiful Dolly Varden breaks the calm surface of the lake not 10 feet away. And this one, for the lakes is big — one of those rare 20-inchers, dressed to the nines in its spawning regalia, pirouetting wildly around the canoe …”

 

This is an excerpt from an early article I did on lake fishing in the Swan Lakes/Swanson River recreation area near Sterling. Since then, my friend, retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologist Jack Dean, has castigated me many times for misidentifying Arctic char (not only here but in my book “Fishing Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula”) as Dolly Varden.

While it may be common for me to plead ignorance, in this case I might have good reason. Likely separated by an ancient common ancestor, these closely related look-alikes have even been mistaken, time and again, by fisheries biologists. Dean sites as an example the longstanding misidentification of anadromous fish in northwestern Alaska as Arctic char, only to later be reclassified as “Northern Dolly Varden.” And here, in the Southcentral Alaska, the tendency has been for biologists to call all char except lake trout, Dolly Varden. It’s no wonder we regular fishers are confused.

Whether Dolly Varden, Arctic char, or lake trout, these subspecies are all part of the genus called char. We all know, however, that they are different fish. Worldwide, and in Alaska, Arctic char populations stretch farther north than any other freshwater fish. Dean, who has likely done more local research on these fish than anyone, tells me that they very seldom overlap with populations of Dollies and that any char caught within the Swanson River drainage is likely an Arctic char. “The chances,” he says, “are at least 50-to-one that this is the case.”

Along with the Swanson River lakes, the other occurrence of Arctic char on the Kenai Peninsula is Cooper Lake. This limited distribution, says Dean, is difficult to explain. In the Swanson watershed this population may have originated from ocean-going, or anadromous, Arctic char that made their way into the lakes after the last glacier melt-off, some13,000 years ago. Another theory suggests that they may have even been present long before this, surviving in ice-dammed lakes. More difficult to explain, is the Cooper Lake Arctic char. Dean’s best guess is that they may have arrived toward the end of the last glacial period, via the Resurrection River, from the Seward side, and somehow made their way through a shallow mountain pass.

In his studies Dean has found two color phases, along with a “dwarf” Arctic char in Cooper Lake and in the Swanson River drainage various sizes and a wide color range, along with what he calls his “yellow mystery fish.” This fish is, of course, yellow. It also has decidedly different fins and spots than other char he has encountered.

More practical knowledge for sport fishers, especially those of us who enjoy seeing different fish and adding them to the list of species we’ve caught, is that these fish prefer cold water. Fifty-five degrees or colder, Dean informs me. That makes them easier to catch early or late in the season. During midsummer anglers will want to get deep, 25 feet or more, requiring a lot of weight even for spincasters and a heavy sinking line and weighted flies for fly fishers.

Their preferred foods, says Dean, include snails, sticklebacks and sculpins. Our local Arctic char do not reach particularly large size. The largest taken in studies tipped the scales at just over 4.5 pounds, with most averaging about a pound.

Mat-Su Valley lakes, on the other hand, many of which also have significant populations of Arctic char, see fish of much more substantial size, with the largest exceeding 12 pounds. While Arctic char, especially in the darker color phase, are difficult to differentiate from Dollies, with practice, Dean maintains, it can be done. Arctic char, he explains, have fewer but larger spots, a moderately forked tail, and a narrow caudal peduncle, which for the nonscientists among us is the narrow area between the fish’s tail and body.

It’s easy to see Dean’s great love for the outdoors and his appreciation of these fish, which he calls “the canary in the coal mine.” They are often the first populations to succumb to predation from introduced species or to show the effects of climate change. That’s why, he contends, it’s so important for us to continue studying them.

“There’s so much we don’t know,” he says, a childlike enthusiasm and wonder suddenly overcoming his weathered face. “We need someone young to come in and take over these studies. There’s just so much we don’t know.”

 

Dave Atcheson is the author of the guidebook “Fishing Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula,” and National Geographic’s “Hidden Alaska, Bristol Bay and Beyond.” His latest book, “Dead Reckoning, Navigating a Life on the Last Frontier, Courting Tragedy on its High Seas” is now available in hardcover, online, and as an audiobook. For more info: www.daveatcheson.com.

■ ■ ■

Tight Lines publishes on the third Thursday of the month from September through April, and weekly from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Have a fish story, a photo or favorite recipe to share? Email tightlines@peninsulaclarion.com.

An Arctic char caught through the ice. (Photo courtesy Dave Wartinbee)

An Arctic char caught through the ice. (Photo courtesy Dave Wartinbee)

More in News

A towering Lutz spruce, center, in the Chugach National Forest is about to be hoisted by a crane Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, for transport to the West Lawn of Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to be the 2015 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Forest Service)
Tongass National Forest selected to provide 2024 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree

Eight to 10 candidate trees will be evaluated, with winner taking “whistlestop tour” to D.C.

A slash pile containing non-organic construction debris is seen at the Snug Harbor Slash Disposal site on Sept. 22, 2020, in Cooper Landing, Alaska. (Photo courtesy Kenai Peninsula Borough Land Management)
Assembly OKs concrete lease in Cooper Landing

The vote came amid widespread community opposition to the agreement

Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
Children hunt for Easter eggs during the Easter Eggstravaganza at Nikiski Community Recreation Center on Saturday.
Easter eggs, bunnies arrive on the Kenai Peninsula

There are plenty of opportunities to grab a photo with the Easter bunny or seek out some eggs

Flier for Bear Awareness and Electric Fencing Workshops. (Provided by Defenders of Wildlife)
Local workshops to focus on managing bear attractants, electric fencing

The series will run Monday through Friday, April 1-5, in Hope, Seward, Kenai, Soldotna and Homer

A person walks up the steps of the Alaska Capitol, Jan. 16, 2023, in Juneau, Alaska. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer, File)
Some KPBSD schools could benefit from internet bill passed by House

If House Bill 193 becomes law, an additional six KPBSD schools would be eligible for the state’s grant program

Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion
A veterinarian with Greater Good Charities escorts dog Maggie into a free spay/neuter clinic at the Moose Pass Fire Station on Thursday.
Moose Pass rallies behind free spay and neuter clinic

The clinic was put on by Greater Good Charities Good Fix program

Signage marks the entrance to Nikiski Middle/High School on Monday, May 16, 2022, in Nikiski, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski student arrested after school shooting threats

The juvenile student faces charges of terroristic threatening

Armageddon waits to be shown at the Kenai Peninsula District 4-H Agriculture Expo on Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Bjorkman farm tax relief bill clears Senate

The bill is now up for consideration in the House

Most Read