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[jettabambino]

can someone tell me how to get there from the arthur lang bridge....

[nosey]

Nice fish, however if it takes a  DNA sample to tell the difference between a dolly and a bull trout is their an actual difference or is it just biological gobblygook created by some scientist trying to impress us with their intellegence and jusrify actually drawing a wage for being a cesspool of useless information?

[UMAKKO]

Most of the ones you catch down here are bull trout. Out of all the fish that I've collected fin samples from for DNA analysis, not a single one was dolly varden, all of them were bull trout.

So, does that mean that the anadromous fish are all bull trout and dolly varden (if any) are all resident in the Fraser system?

[JackFunk]

"DNA sample to tell the difference between a dolly and a bull trout is their an actual difference or is it just biological gobblygook created by some scientist trying to impress us with their intellegence and jusrify actually drawing a wage for being a cesspool of useless information?"

Whoa man, DNA researching is hardly 'gobblygook'. What did some scientist kick sand on your blanket?

and btw if you are going to hurl around silly insults, at least spell your missive correctly... lol at 'intellegence' and 'jusrify'...

[frenchy]

DNA is just another way to identify differences between species. It is perhaps easier to use this marker than a morphological marker to distinguish Dolly and Bull trout, but it is not because you have to use DNA to distinguish them that Dolly and Bull trout are not different species displaying different life history trait (difference in behavior, reproduction...)(So far I am not able to distinguish between the different salmon species, does this mean that there are not 5 species of pacific salmon...). This kind of species pairs are very useful to understand how two species may diverge from a common ancestor (because they diverge from this common ancestor very recently) and so to try to understand a bit better the world where we live. You may think it is useless, but I do not think so.
I am always surprised by the fact that people think that "scientist (are) trying to impress us with their intelligence". When a mechanic told me that he has to change a "gobblygook" on my car, I do not necesarilly understand what it means, but I do not think he is trying to impress me... He just knows his job and I know nothing about it. If I worked all days in a garage I would probably be able to understand him, and it would probably be the same for him, if he worked all days in a lab, he would probably be able to understand my job.

As a fisherman, I think Dolly/Bull trout are beautiful fish and it is not a problem for me if I am not able to distinguish between the two .

[Rodney]

They are beautiful fish. I love targeting them in May and June as they have been feeding on fry that travel all the way down from the rivers. These bull trout are the strongest ones I've ever encountered. In fact, last night Itosh and I were discussing the possibility of getting them on the fly if the water is clearer. In the past I've caught them on light spinning setup, and the initial runs always seem to be salmon-like. This one was caught on a spinning rod that was built with a 4wt blank, and a spinning rod spooled with 6lb test. It took awhile to bring in.

The samples I collected for DNA analysis were for a study that I was involved with at the time, not for the sake of identifying the fish whenever I catch one. I don't see why anyone would take offense that there are people working to produce accurate information. You're welcome to call them dollies, in fact I do that from time to time.

Biologists work to identify and distinguish the two species so they can mark out the correct population range for management purposes. The populations of dolly varden and bull trout overlap quite a bit and the two species do interbreed quite frequently, making identification by look very difficult. The evolutionary journey of the two species that has been mapped out by these studies is very interesting if you are into fish biology. It's a classic example of post-glacial speciation.

UMAKKO, they are anadromous but the life history is slightly different to what you would see in pacific salmon. They are generally opportunists, and travel to wherever they can find food. This time of the year they follow the fry down the river into the estuary. During fall and winter, they travel back up stream and feed on salmon eggs and flesh of dead spawners later on. You can read more by going into the articles section and click on the first one, "Appreciating Winter Bull Trout".

[UMAKKO]

No, Rodney, I am not asking in that meaning.  Because all of fish you checked in the Fraser near estuary were bull trout, and they are usually in chrome color, I thought they were spending some time in sea water (anadromous-migratory).   

And I wondered if it means that no catchable dolly varden come down to near estuary or sea in the Fraser and they are staying in the upper reach of the river if any of dolly varden is around.

Just I wanted to know where to go to catch dolly varden in the lower mainland.

 

[Rodney]

Although all the fish from my samples were bull trout, it certainly does not mean all the fish around here are bull trout, some may very well be dolly varden, and some maybe hybrids. Both species habitat ranges overlap quite a bit, so you'll encounter both. I wouldn't go out and specifically target dolly varden, since you would not be able to distinguish them visually as mentioned earlier.