Nice Fish! Way to take advantage of the last day!

Where's the dolly. I see a coho and what looks to be a steelhead but no dolly. I may be mistaken though

That 2nd fish Is a Dolly. you can slightly make out the spots. I have recently caught some very bright Dollys in other river systems this year as well. Plus its head looks much different (to me), there's no dark upper section of the body like a steelhead and the white tips on the fins as well.

I was definitely second guessing myself. Steelhead also have white tips on fins t times but not as pronounced as this one as the head looks a little different from typical steelhead. What made me think steely was how bright it is and the lack of spots I usually see on dollys. Just might be the camera and angle

Yes, the second picture is of the Dolly. I too was surprised as to how bright the fish was when I got it to shore. If the camera angle was different, you would have seen the spots better. Believe me, I wish it was a steelhead.

Nice fish. Were you floating or twitching?

The second fish is a bull trout salvilinus confluentus. That particular specimen is a sea run bull trout (thats why its so chrome). I catch lots of sea run bulls up here, i sea them alot and know one when i see one. Nice catch mr. Wong.

I know bulls when I see them also. Have caught my fair share on the sky but at first I did not see the spotting pattern until I took a second closer look and its definitely a dolly. I was wasn't questioning the chrome but more the lack of spots similar to bulls but looking closer I now see them

There are no dollies on the entire snohomish system. 0. None. There are no anadramous dolly varden innany tributary that drains into the pacific ocean. All dolly varden in washingyon state are stricly fluvial and lacustrine populations with the nearest population bring located in a ross lake tributary.

That sir is incorrect and I will have to disagree. Wdfw states that
Bull trout/dolly varden can be kept over 20in now I do know that genetically their is a difference between them but essentially they inhabit the same streams and rivers that flow into the puget sound. Both bulls and dolly varden are adnormorous so both can be just as chrome.

There are 0 anadromous dolly varden (Salvilinus Malma) that reside in pacific drainages (anadromous being a key word here). My resource is wikipedia. Ive researched this. Im not drawing any conclusions based on what wdfw has to say. They aren't exactly the most competant group around.

I believe Jonb might be right on this one after a little researching. Around here when we catch "Dollies" its just a generic term which includes bulltrout, And it turns out that's what these fish in our rivers are. (and this is really just my new learned opinion lol)
If you want to research it more go for it. the fish are very similar char species. Get your research info from fish-bios, if you are reading articles from fisherman they're generally regurgitation information since they are not the scientists.

Actually I've done my research also and wikipedia isn't a reliable resource either. Anyone can edit it to say what they believe to be true. My opinion and is just that an opinion comes from fish biologist and the research they have done. I never go of fisherman as I have most are misinformed anyways. I do my own research and base my opinions or hard facts on those. Scientist have came to say most dollys in our streams are indeed bull trout but dolly varden do exist in smaller quantities and even they have admitted to the uncertainty of all of this.
Here is an article published wdfw that was held by true fish bios.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/00193/wdfw00193.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwiejtbfltbQAhVL6WMKHV6xB3IQFggoMAE&usg=AFQjCNFpny9soCWDC_kkOSaG5GosdhaGgw&sig2=4rjnG-QdXaAIWilZO_CuPg
Either way it doesn't matter much to me as I don't target char. Only target salmon or steelhead in the rivers and release everything else. Chwong both are nice specimens. Congrats!!

I call Dollys and Bulltrout "Dollies" anyways since they are so similar. and when caught they're released anyways. So does it really matter... lol
They're fun fish to catch though and very beautiful as well.

Guys - great discussion. I was actually torn as to what type of trout to report this as because in my research it stated it is very often hard to determine the difference between bulls and dollies by just their physical attributes. Even experts have a hard time differentiating them by physical appearance. But now you have peaked by interest as to if Dollies and Bulls both are in our river systems. I'm going to try and reach a WDFW fish biologist to get the answer. I'll report back if I get an answer.

I agree with fisherman92. To me it personally doesn't matter but they are fun to catch, hard fighters and beautiful to look at. I have a lot of respect for them and that is why I practice catch and release on the ones that I encounter.

I agree with fisherman92. To me it personally doesn't matter but they are fun to catch, hard fighters and beautiful to look at. I have a lot of respect for them and that is why I practice catch and release on the ones that I encounter.

The anadromous dolly doesnt exist in washington atate though. Not at all. 0 anadromous dollies. That is clearly an anadromous char. And therefor its a bull.

There are sea run Dollies in Washington. I have caught them in the salt along the shoreline, far from a river, in the past. As i understand it, Dolly Varden and Bull trout are the same species, Dollies are sea run, Bull trout live entirely in the river. They are char, not trout, as evidenced by their pale spots. If you think that big, bright Dollie grew up in the river, you are mistaken.

There are no sea run dollies in any pacific drainage. 0. Anadromous dollies only exist in arctic drainages. The pacific drainage dollies do not migrate to sea, instead they are relegated to higher elevation lakes and alpine streams such as ross lake (and tribs) and the upper skagit. These are researchable facts. Not hearsay or opinion. What you caught in the salt was a sea run bull, not a dolly.

I have read over the Wikipedia entries for Dolly Varden and bull trout and do not see where it says there are no anadramous runs of Dollies in WA state. (JonB - PM me as I'd like to know where you are reading this). However, I guess technically you are likely correct since both of these char species do not migrate to saltwater as juveniles and back to freshwater solely as a part of their adult spawining cycle. Rather, a portion of the population drift to saltwater as larvae and return to freshwater to grow into adults and later spawn. Therefore, they can classified (partly) as amphidromous, and BOTH Dollies and Bull Trout can fall under that category since they do not make timed spawning runs. The rest of the population resides their entire life in freshwater and never migrates to saltwater. It is my understanding that you could see either of them that has been to saltwater and back, as amphidromous species not anadramous. There are multiple studies I can point you to if you are interested in knowing more about this, but that is the basics that I understand about these species. I am a current fisheries major at UW. Also, there are few minute physiologic differences that you can use to differentiate between bull trout and Dolly Varden. Bull trout typically have the flatter head with an upper jaw that extends passed the eye, while Dollies do not. Also, Dolly Varden should have less than 15 rays on their anal fin and bull trout should have more than that. Dr. Eric Taylor at University of B.C. is one of the leading researchers of these two species and their differences. His research is an excellent place to read more about them. Lastly, an interesting note is that it is believed that these two species did not originate from the same common ancestor. It is thought that the Dolly Varden came from the arctic char and the bull trout from the Japanese white spotted char. The previously posted link has lots of good info on these fish in WA state. Here is another link with easier to read abridged information and management within Washington: http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/00930/wdfw00930.pdf

I have read over the Wikipedia entries for Dolly Varden and bull trout and do not see where it says there are no anadramous runs of Dollies in WA state. (JonB - PM me as I'd like to know where you are reading this). However, I guess technically you are likely correct since both of these char species do not migrate to saltwater as juveniles and back to freshwater solely as a part of their adult spawining cycle. Rather, a portion of the population drift to saltwater as larvae and return to freshwater to grow into adults and later spawn. Therefore, they can classified (partly) as amphidromous, and BOTH Dollies and Bull Trout can fall under that category since they do not make timed spawning runs. The rest of the population resides their entire life in freshwater and never migrates to saltwater. It is my understanding that you could see either of them that has been to saltwater and back, as amphidromous species not anadramous. There are multiple studies I can point you to if you are interested in knowing more about this, but that is the basics that I understand about these species. I am a current fisheries major at UW. Also, there are few minute physiologic differences that you can use to differentiate between bull trout and Dolly Varden. Bull trout typically have the flatter head with an upper jaw that extends passed the eye, while Dollies do not. Also, Dolly Varden should have less than 15 rays on their anal fin and bull trout should have more than that. Dr. Eric Taylor at University of B.C. is one of the leading researchers of these two species and their differences. His research is an excellent place to read more about them. Lastly, an interesting note is that it is believed that these two species did not originate from the same common ancestor. It is thought that the Dolly Varden came from the arctic char and the bull trout from the Japanese white spotted char. The previously posted link has lots of good info on these fish in WA state. Here is another link with easier to read abridged information and management within Washington: http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/00930/wdfw00930.pdf

Here is a link to an excellent article on Dolly Varden and Bull trout in Washington.
http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/char/

I found it on wikipedia where it sais what im saying. Search dolly varden on wikipedia, look under the sub species section towards the bottom it mentions S.m. malma the alpine drainage version and S.m. lordi the southern pacific drainage dolly varden. Under the lifestyle section it continues to ecplain that S. M. Malma is mostly sea run while S.M.lordi (pacific dolly) is mostly fluvial and lacuatrine. Its right there.

Gentleman - I heard back from the WDFW Fish Biologist on my question about Dolly Varden Trout existing in our rivers. To keep it simple and short, the WDFW Fish Biologist states there is no evidence of Dolly Varden in our river systems. He stated they closely monitor and manage Bull Trout and they do not see Dolly Varden. Therefore, jonb is correct in what he has researched and stated. The WDFW Fish Biologist also stated that because the Bully Trout and Dolly Varden Trout are so closely related, they generically referred to them in the WDFW regulations pamphlet as the Bull Trout/Dolly Varden which is probably causing the most confusion to most of us.