Fishon -
The latest information indicates that the native char found in the Skagit downstream of the dams and the Sauk are bull trout but it is OK with me to call them "Dollies" when fishing them.

They are included in the ESA listing of bull trout that covered all of the Puget Sound/Olympic peninsula area. Because the State had established that the Skagit/Sauk population was doing ok (healthy) at the time of the listing the USFWS procedures OKed the continued the regulations that allowed the "take" of them. Thus it remains legal to fish for them. Except for the Snohmish/Skykomish the rest of the listed area targeting them is prohibited.

Generally the larger "Dollies" caught in the early winter are pretty poor table fare as they are spawned out (fall spawner) and have lost much of their fats. As they recover (fatten up) they improve as table fare with some folks liking them and others not.

The "Dollies" are part of the biological system that the rest of the salmon and steelhead exist and as such are an important part of the selection process that makes those Skagit fish what they are.

A Skagit fish of 24 inches would likely be between 5 and 9 years old and may have spawned 2 to 5 times. The fish in the basin commonly live to about age 10 with the rare fish living maybe 12 or more years.

The current rate at which folks are keeping fish doesn't seem to be causing problems with the population. The increasing growth in population numbers that began in the early 1990s is continuing. Whether to keep a fish (whether a wild salmon, bull trout, cutthroat or where allowed steelehad) or not is of course up to the individual angler's ethics.

Tight lines
Smalma