I guess I'll jump in here too.

Presently, we're conducting a study on the anadromous bull trout (dolly) in the Snohomish basin. We've surgically implanted over 60 char with acoustic tags and have hydrophones that listen for the tags throughout the Snohomish River, a few in the Skagit River and in the marine nearshore from Kayak Point to Mukilteo. As Smalma pointed out, their migratory and life history strategies are very complex and with this study we're trying to tease out some specifics of where they go and when.

One the interesting things we've seen is 'basin hopping' between the Snohomish and Skagit Rivers. We've captured and tagged both adult and juvenile fish in the Snohomish River and have them wind up in the Skagit River (basin), where they probably spawned.

Fisherman have helped in this study by calling us or WDFW when a tagged fish is caught. If anyone catches a char with with either a light blue or medium green speghetti tag behind its dorsal fin, please record the number on the tag, measure the fish, and give us or WDFW a call (our ph# is on the blue tags).

The study is sponsored by the Corps of Engineers who have the responsibility to maintain navigation channels by maintenance dredging. Since the anadromous form of char spends quite a bit of time in lower rivers and nearshore marine areas, and since the fish is listed under ESA, the Corps is required to document that that their activities do not interfere with the fishes movements.