Alaska Arctic Char

[Hunt41]

My son is stationed at Fort Wainwright and he is returning to Alaska from Iraq in June. He wants us to go Arctic Char fishing up the Dalton Highway in mid July. Any help would be much appreciated. He leaves Alaska in September, so he wants to get this marked off his Alaska bucket list.

 

[Gunnersdad49]

Spinners and spoons. pinks, reds, oranges. look at the viberax by blue fox. Usually silver blades. Bright orange egg patterns or streamers if fly fishing.

Find deep holes near fast water.

 

[AKDoc]

A father and son fishing trip is about as good as it gets...and you guys are going to do it in Alaska! Memories for a life-time dad! It is my favorite.

The difference between Arctic Char and Dolly Varden is kind of interesting and a little confusing. It's my understanding (I could very much be in error) that Arctic Char live out their lives in lakes, while Dollies run the rivers. If your son is really set on getting an Arctic Char, then he should check-out that differential. If it's not that important to him, then just get out there and have fun. If you're spin-casting, then a five of diamonds seems to be pretty darn good. If later season fly-fishing, then a Dolly Lama (flesh color) is the bomb.

Below are a couple pictures of Dollies about a hundred miles up a remote river in Western Alaska that we floated to the coast. The first one was caught in July (which we ate and it was excellent!), while the other was caught the first few days of September around the same point in the same river.

 

[Ndbowhunter]

Doc, you ever heard of someone getting parasitic worm from dollies?

caught some up river from the Kelly/Noatak confluence and ate them poke bowl style.

bout 6 weeks later I shit out a roundworm in the frank church on an elk mission. Can’t think of any other likely culprit.

 

[Hunt41]

Thanks guys! We will be driving up the Dalton Highway. Do all the rivers have Dolly Varden in them.
We fished a few small stream south of the Arctic Circle a couple years ago and only caught Grayling.

During the last trip to Alaska I noticed that some streams run muddy and others run clear. We didn’t catch anything in the muddy ones. Do we avoid the muddy ones? Or was this just coincidence?

 

[Hunt41]

This year we are planning on fishing north of Coldfoot. Does this sound correct?

 

[Salmonchaser]

North of Cold Foot sounds correct. Magnificent country. I’ve been guiding out in Bristol Bay for 20 years, fished all the fabled rainbow streams and think Char are greatly underrated. They are also voracious feeders and willing to bite just about anything.
ive also found they can be put down pretty quickly. Fish a stream three or four days straight and you’ll see them get picky. On the other hand I’ve had clients break off a big char a couple times and finally land the fish and I get all my flies back. Sounds like your plan is to access off the road system, you may be surprised by how much improved the fishing gets after a short hike.
Worms, I just won’t let my clients eat raw fish from Bristol Bay. I’m not sure the worms are present early, Kings and Sockeye, but they certainly are by mid August in the Silvers. Cook it you’ll be fine.
I haven’t fished up there for a long time, but it’s where I started. Dad moved us up in 59, it was still Ladd Air Base then. Think it became Wainwright in 60. Anyway glad you’re going up, have a great trip and thank your son for me.

 

[lif]

Doc, you ever heard of someone getting parasitic worm from dollies?

caught some up river from the Kelly/Noatak confluence and ate them poke bowl style.

bout 6 weeks later I shit out a roundworm in the frank church on an elk mission. Can’t think of any other likely culprit.

Raw Freshwater fish = guaranteed parasites. That is pretty much always a no no.

 

[Hunt41]

Thanks guys. Are rubber waders OK? How difficult is hiking away from the road?

 

[Salmonchaser]

Tundra hiking is unique in and of itself, difficulty will just depend on where you are. If I’m guiding guys from the 2nd Ranger battalion, I allow about 30 minutes to the mile to meet the float plane on time for our ride home. Rangers typically can do that w/o bitching too much, gives time to air out, secure gear and talk about the great fish.
middle aged relatively fit, 40-65; guys who own running shoes and have seen the inside of a gym I figure 45 to 50 minutes to the mile. Again not trying to prove anything with our pace, just a comfortable walk. Nothing worse then stuffing three guys, who could all afford to loose a little weight, into a 206 or 185.
If you’re old enough to have kids and grand kids and don’t walk your own dog I allow about an hour per mile. In 20 years I’ve only seen two guys who had trouble with a mile in the tundra.
my guess is you’re going to be able to find plenty of streams with reasonable hikes of a mile or so.
couple of Rangers last summer, fishing for char. Two from the sand box two from Granada and Panama. All served in Second Rangers. Love guiding these guys.

 

[Salmonchaser]

Get yourself some breathable waders.

 

[6mm Remington]

Salmon Chaser's a good guy. I think it would be worth looking at what kind of cost it would be to go with them or with another good outfit called Ovis Outfitters. I think they can both turn you onto some excellent fishing and I feel the extra cost would be worth it. Plus you would have some great meals fixed for you.

David.

 

[Hunt41]

Awesome info. Thanks guys.

 

[Ndbowhunter]

Raw Freshwater fish = guaranteed parasites. That is pretty much always a no no.

I don’t know if that’s factually correct. Can’t argue the point considering the circumstances tho. Sticking to ahi from now on just to be safe.

Salmon, cod, halibut, lingcod, rockfish are all full of worms.

 

[AKDoc]

I don’t know if that’s factually correct. Can’t argue the point considering the circumstances tho. Sticking to ahi from now on just to be safe.

Salmon, cod, halibut, lingcod, rockfish are all full of worms.

I don't personally know someone who acquired worms specifically from Dollies, but it sure is possible/probable when eating them raw...my friends and I don't. As much as I like poke when I'm in Hawaii, I don't make it on the river (although I admire your sense of adventure!). We pan-fry the one or two fish we keep on a trip, and it is excellent eating...the Dollie sure was good.

If you look at the rather extensive article below, you'll see that Dollies are very vulnerable to a variety of parasites (see towards the end of the article, "Ecosystems Role")...it's a pretty extensive list. Not sure how it compares to sockeye, coho, etc.

Salvelinus malma | INFORMATION | Animal Diversity Web

animaldiversity.org

 

[Ndbowhunter]

Thanks!

 

[Hunt41]

Any lakes worth trying specifically for Arctic Char along or near the Dalton Highway? I know this is a very specific question. If someone would rather PM me. That would be great. As always, I am will to help anybody out if they are interested in my exciting area of northwest Pennsylvania!!

 

[Salmonchaser]

I’ve had days that I’ve filleted over a 100 Salmon, kings and Sockeye. 60 is probably an average from about 26 June to 10 September. Don’t recall ever seeing a wormy King, I have seen some wormy sockeye and it’s pretty common with silvers. Often the silvers have nodules on them indicating worms, those obviously get released. I don’t kill chum or pinks.
gotta imagine the rainbows, char and Grayling get infected.
Don’t forget about gardia as well. Been there done that. As easy as release a fish, rinse your hands and put in a fresh chew. Bam!
I will read the article this evening.

 

[Salmonchaser]

Back to the OP. you guys should be able to get a boat from the base. If you don’t find char I bet you find some great pike.

 

[Hunt41]

I know that he mentioned the possibility of getting a boat on base when we talked about pike fishing two years ago. But we have pike and muskellunge here at home. So that doesn’t check off a bucket list item. That is his goal with this. He specifically mentioned Arctic Char to me when we talked about the trip.