Skagit dollies and bull-trout

Dollies and bull trout are fun species to catch.

Thinking about the Skagit River in January for them.

Question: what's the average size, and what's the high-end size?

Please be careful when releasing them.

P.S. ....when thinking about the Huskies this year, remember: "hey, at least we got the Seahawks!"

Not such a great consolation after losing to the Cardinals...

How 'bout that Seattle Storm!! There's something to cheer about.

read between the lines,t/h/e/ s/e/a/h/a/w//k/s/ s/u/c/k/

Actually, I posted just BEFORE I heard how they did today......they lost?....to the freaking CARDINALS?....man, can our football guys do anything right...well, there's always next year!

I know, I'll go FISHING, instead!

Dale,

I don't care about football, so I'll direct a response to the major question.. :rolleyes:

Last year was my first on the Skagit, but I fished it 5-6 days a week in one area. I caught Dollies (Bulls, I believe in reality) from 14" up to 28" in length. All but 2 were released, and from the point where I tasted my first one , ALL have been released. I refuse to keep a fish that I can't eat, and over 20" or no, they all go back.

Great game fish, lousy table fare.

Mike

I thought this thread was about dollies in the skagit. Anyway, to answer your question, the dollies in the skagit range from 16 inches to 4 pounds, they are quite abundant and very agressive. I saw one caught that was pushing 6 or 7 pounds! good luck to you

Mike,

I agree! They have got to be the WORST tasting fish there is! They are a lot of fun to catch but I would much rather have a Silver or Steelhead on my line! The last few Dollies I caught on the Quinault (in the mid '80s) just sulked on the bottom. They were like bringing in an anchor. A heavy wriggling one at that!

The most interesting one was when I hooked into a smaller one of about 7" and then had a 6 pounder eat the 7 incher! I had no idea they were that agressive until that happened! I wish I had had a camera when I caught them. There was about 2" of the smaller ones head sticking out the mouth of the large one.

The reason the dolly's don't taste good is probably because you are keeping them right after they spawn (Dec,Jan) when they are just like a downriver steelhead, which don't taste very good either. I release all dolly's now because they are native, but ate one I caught in Oct years ago, which was good though still mild like a trout. By the way I saw a dolly caught by another fisherman in the upper Skagit last year that was 9lbs.

The one's I tasted were from trips on July 4th weekends.... blech!

in jan you can easily catch a few over 4#s in a day. last yr we caught several fish in the 7-9# range. they are feeding on rotton chum and silvers. i find most to hold TIGHT to shore in less than 6 ft of water. if you are targeting them try fishing eggs down to the white skein. it matches fish flesh really well. FISHON

Anything that has been feeding on dead chum carcasses is going to taste like crap.

To me, Dollies are "incidental" catches. Do enough spoon/spinner tossing for steelhead and Coho and your bound to catch a few. Oddly, with all the fishing I've been doing I haven't caught a Dolly in a couple weeks.

Did catch this big hooknose Coho last night. Hit like a freight-train, fought like a big Chum...long runs that were hard to bring him back in from...wound up chasing him down the beach for about 50 yds. 10 min. later he finally gave in to the pressure...



At 33" X 17.5" he's the biggest Coho I've ever caught, and just over 13 lbs. on the weight o' meter. Meat was a nice deep red...gonna be yummy!

Mike

Congrats, Nice Hook Nose!

What a beauty--way to go!

Thanks for screwing up my plans Mike. I was going to fish somewhere else for chums tomorrow. But now I'm wondering if I should go back to the Skagit to chase more silvers. :p

Cupo:

For the past week, and for each Coho I see roll I see a dozen Chum. They are thick in this river right now.

Ya can't keep 'em, but I'll be glad to show you where they are.

The wife and I went -0- for -0- in 2 hours fishing tonight, but we only fished the 100 yds. behind the house. LOTS of Coho...it's getting them to bite that is the issue.

Mike

Nice Coho! Mike!