Umm',..fishjunky,.. ya need to get yer facts straight on the Dollie / Bull-Trout not eating the smolt thing. Maybe the study you read was for somewhere else, but as far as the Skagit System goes they are "smolt eatin' fools!!" For a prime example you can witness first hand of what I'm saying; try goin up to the Cascade River when they're releasing smolt. Then tell us what you saw. They're like those raptors in Jurassic Park...hungry and smart hunters.

I've caught and released 100's of these hard fightin' char and I can tell ya they can certainly turn a mediocre day of fishing into a great one rather quickly.

-For Fall through Winter fishing; try eggs for gear guys, egg patterns or flesh flies for the fly guys.
-From Spring through Summer they are indeed keying in on fry and smolt and even white-fish (had one last year burp up a 4-5 inch whitey on me after hitting my spoon) Gear guys try spoons or spinners. Fly guys try smolt & streamer patterns.

Gettin near spawning time for them now on the Skagit System and they do move up into the upper stretches of the system,..thats where you'll find the largest concentration of them.