Todd -
Nice fish - As FishNDoc points out the weight (condition) of our native char varies greatly depending on the time of year (recent spawn outs are very snaky while those that have been pigging out can be real footballs). I would say on the average they would be similar to steelhead though more rounder in shape but the girth measurement would pick that up.

On the Skagit system have seen 10# fish as short as 28 inches - winter of 2001/2002 when they had access to incredible numbers of humpy eggs as well as decaying chum carcesses. Have also seen 32 inch fish that would not weight 10# - just spawned. I would say typically a 30 incher would be about 10# give or take a pound or so though most anlgers tend to over-estimate their weight.

For those that may be interested the state record anadromous bull trout weighted 10.94 pounds and was 31.5 inchs long (Skagit system), the state record bull from Tieton river (and adfluvial fish) weight 22# 8oz and was 35 inches. the world record from lake Pend Oreille weighted 32# and was 40.5 inches long (another adfluvial fish which tend to be heavier at a given length).

TC -
Congrads to your son for a very nice fish - fish larger than the current anadromous record are caught annually out of the Skagit. The bio was correct in that the only true Dolly Varden found in Western Washington have been in small headwater tribs - place like Canyon Creek North Fork Nooksack, Sol Duc above Sol Duc and tirbs to the Skagit above Ross Lake. Genetic testing of the Skagit char downstream of the dams have all been bull trout. The 3 forms are just different life histories - resident fish - small fish that live their entire lives in headwater areas and rarely get to be more than 10 or 12 inches long and maturing at about 8 inches, fluvial fish that drop downstream and rear in the large main stem areas of larger rivers (upper Skagit) and mature at 15/16 inches long at age 4 though they can live to ages of 10 years or more and get quite large. Anadromous fish that drop downstream to Puget Sound at age 2 (6 inches) mature at age 4 and about 18 inches. There is also a 4 life history-adfluvial found in the resevoirs (Baker, Ross).

Tight lines
S malma