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[mykisscrazy]

Rodney do you fish at Garry Point year round?
I'm surprised that you are still finding bull char this time of year. My experience with sea run char is up just north of prince Rupert. I would have excellent fishing for them from around May to early Oct in the estuaries. I did fish until early Nov and would only find late coho chum, starry flounder, the odd rock fish and that's about it. I would start fishing in early April. That early I would find the first of the smolts heading to sea (coho and steelhead) and the starry flounder. I would then hike up just above tide line - Steelhead, Dollies, and Cutties...I did not catch any larger salmonids in the estuary until just after the peak of the d/s fry and smolt migration.
Keep up your blog as I am quite interested when and if the bull char migrate out of the area.
On the same subject- I used to do some beach seining In the Lower Fraser - species biomass survey - April just before freshet and in Mid August. North Arm, South Arm, and up river above Rosedale bridge until we were not felt welcome by some and then moved down river from gill road to "pumphouse slough.

April - good numbers of Bull Trout at some of our sites - North and South Arm  and 0 upriver
August - 0 in North and South and a few upriver (and never very large)

Good to see what non retention does to a fishery

[Rodney]

I focus on fishing around this area between August and November. The distribution trend is fairly similar to what you have experienced. I've caught them between November and January too, just not as many. The fishing is probably slower but shouldn't be terrible, since food is still readily available (sculpin, etc). I'm also usually not in town during the months of December and January, which explains my lack of fishing effort in this area during that time.

My favorite time to fish for them is actually between April and June. I find that fish during this period are much stronger, fatter and meaner than fall fish. They feed on juvenile salmonids and follow them down from tributaries. This timing coincides with the return of eulachons. Quite often you can see huge splashes on the surface, making you wonder if a surface lure or fly can trigger a visual take. The problem with this period is the peak of freshet. Catching them on bait such as roe is pretty easy, but not exactly challenging and does not make sense for a catch and release fishery so we avoid doing so. The only times we did it was when I was collecting DNA samples for some studies. Even though water is dirty, we have gotten them on spinners. The first time I caught them on a spinner in May, I thought it was a early jack chinook salmon judging by its initial run.

In July and August, I almost never encounter them when spincasting the same lures for northern pikeminnow.

The species biomass survey by beach seining, was that with Mike Healey at UBC?

[mykisscrazy]

Thanks for the reply. All quite interesting.
I did work with Mike Healey at Westwater. When I was doing the Biomass Survey it was for Scott Hinch and John Richardson.
At one point we were going to do a telemetry study on either Pikeminnow or Largescale Suckers in the North and South Arm, but one thing led to another and it did not happen. Who knows what is down the road, but it would be interesting so see thier movement patterns over the year.

[Rodney]

At one point we were going to do a telemetry study on either Pikeminnow or Largescale Suckers in the North and South Arm, but one thing led to another and it did not happen. Who knows what is down the road, but it would be interesting so see thier movement patterns over the year.

If those studies go ahead and they need to be captured by line instead of net, please let me know.

The larger northern pikeminnow (16"+) down this way usually show themselves between early July and late September. I've only seen smaller ones between April and June. They disappear from October to March.

Largescale sucker, I've only seen a few incidental catches when people/kids fish for peamouth chub.

[clarki]

This beach fishery has admittedly caught my interest. After having spend the past 15 years on the beach catching cutthroat and coho, another productive beach fishery, for another species, in another season, has gotten my inquisitive juices flowing. It's doubtful that I will partake in the fishery however my armchair fisheries researcher's hat has come out. 

I looked at my well-read copy of "Fishes of Canada" by Frederick H. Wooding (1994) and read about dolly varden (Salvelinus malma) and bull trout (Salvelinus confluetus)

According to Wooding, bull trout are not sea run.  "Bull trout, unlike some populations of anadromous dolly varden, dwell only in fresh water throughout their known range" 

Of dolly varden, Wooding writes "Both freshwater and anadromous forms remain in freshwater for their first 3-4 years. Sometime during those years the anadromous southern Dolly Varden  make their first migration to the sea, reamining in coastal waters until the coming of winter. Then they find a stream leading to a lake where the overwinter. In the spring they return to the sea. This back and forth migration continues for the next 2-3 years untl they search out their natal river and return to spawn" As well, "Some dolly varden live permanently in inshore salt water" and "The sea run forms are generally small, weighting 1-3 pounds".   

Curious Rod, how Wooding's description of these fish is consistent, or not, with your experience and study.

[Rodney]

I'm not sure when the range of bull trout was revised last to have the costal region included, but it's probably after 1994. Both species coexist and share similar life histories along the coast. Hybridization has also been documented. This makes the already difficult differentiation between the two species even harder since hybrids exist.

I was taught that both species are amphidromous, which sums up the description of the life history that you have given. Pretty amazing species if one takes a moment to think about the life history. How many other species can adapt irregularly in both fresh and saltwater throughout their life?

How much I know is incomparable to a couple other members on here that are more intimately involved in the studies of these species actually. I'll send them an email and maybe they'll wade in the discussion.

Some of the unanswered questions that I have had while fishing for them down here include:

Are these fish truly going up river to salmonid natal streams so they can feed and spawn overwinter? We assume they are, but that only is a theory.

Why are the fish caught in September and part of October so skinny, while fish caught in late fall so much fatter? The time difference isn't that much. What are they feeding on in the area if they are the same fish that are gaining weight? If they are different fish, what explains the differences in weight between them?

[mykiss]

Hi guys, this is quite the interesting topic.

Well, it's definitely true that the two char species share many habitats and are sometimes found to hybridize. Along the coast, small river systems and even large rivers systems which may be far away but still connected to the sea, may often have dollies. As clarki has quoted, dollies are anadromous and freshwater species.

In more interior waterways is where bull trout are often found as they are predominately a *freshwater species*. However, in BC there are many areas of overlap and due to the glacial history, and head water transfers from the Columbia River, and the Fraser River, and the Fraser River with adjacent tributaries from the coast and interior regions we see these two species coexist. More information on BC's glacial history and the native fish species and distribution can be found in the below book and subsequent chapters:
McPhail, J.D., and Lindsey, C.C., (1986). Zoogeography of the freshwater fishes of Cascadia (the Columbia system and rivers north of the Stikine). The zoogeography of North American freshwater fishes. C. H. Hocutt, and Wiley, E.O. John Wiley & Sons, New York: 615-637.

I wrote bull trout are predominately a *freshwater species* because they have in fact been found to migrate into the sea. There's been some telemetry work done and some genetic work which suggests so. Also, such life history information have been updated in McPhail, J.D, (2007). The Freshwater Fishes of British Columbia. The University of Alberta Press.
As Rodney had quoted from the hybridization study, there lies an example of the two species living together and coping to survive.  There are a few published papers documenting the hybridization and co-existence of the two species in nature.  In fact, the paper found here: http://www.zoology.ubc.ca/~etaylor/taylorandcostello.pdf
can be found quite interesting as it talks about bull trout movement from tributaries to major river systems and back, as well as hybrids found in BC water systems.


As for Rodney's questions, yes those are interesting questions and I don't know the answers off the top of my head, but many people have their own theories and ideas of studies to try to answer such questions. It's just that it also needs some funding to do so ;-)

I hope that helps but it seems that it's getting late and I'm just rambling on.....