Arctic Char
The painting above is of a Bristol Bay Arctic char’s brilliant fall spawning color by artist Becca Schlaff. The painting was based on a photo I took a few seasons ago of one of our angler’s trophies. In lieu of taxidermy many anglers are now preserving their piscatorial memories on canvas. Becca will commission original paintings in a variety of paint mediums to preserve that memory for generations to come. Check out more of her work at becca-schlaff.com
Original Photo
Here is some highlights from a newspaper article back in June 1936.
Fisherman in the Egegik district (Just south of Katmai) of the Alaska Peninsula are reported to have made good pay at catching Dolly Varden trout and turning these predatory fish in for the bounty during the past winter. Some made as much as $2,000 at the rate of 2 1/2 cents for each tail turned in. The results, it is believed, will mean an eventual increase in the red salmon run in this area.
$2000, that’s 80,000 char taken in one winter. What history has told us now is that many of the tails turned in were found to be from salmon, the species they were intending to protect. Also depleting trout and char populations in effort to increase salmon populations in actuality has a detrimental effect on the salmon.
Dave Gaw's big char (known as a Dolly Varden trout in times past) taken last summer near where 70 years ago this fish would bring a 2 1/2 cent bounty
Linda Demmer and Levi with a big char caught with a streamer on a full sinking line.
Whether fishing from a raft in fast water or stripping streamers deep in lake outlets you need a fly line that gets your fly where you need it. Rio’s full sinking lines are the best I’ve yet found and I’m convinced; increase your hookups when you need that fly to get DEEP. Real DEEP.
A series of sinking lines that feature an increase in density at the front to ensure the line sinks tip first – aiding in bite detection and in setting the hook. These lines are made on a supple core for memory free performance and have a super smooth, tungsten impregnated coating that makes distance casting easy. An essential line for the serious lake fly fisher.
Deep 6: WF4S to WF9S ~ 6-7 inches per second
This fly, as the name implies, has a bit of weight on the front. The big cone and articulation gives it a great deal of movement and it fishes extremely well out of a raft in faster water. Short casts coupled with strip-1 second pause-strip-1 second pause-strip, will pull big trout and char out from the banks and from in front of the rocks. This pattern can also be tied in olive, white and natural rabbit strip.
Hook: Gamakatsu C14s size 2. The fly is tied on any standard streamer hook with the hook bend cut off. Attach the cut front hook to the stinger hook with 30lb backing material.
Thread: Black 8/0
Tail: Black magnum rabbit strip with the tip of the tail tied to the hook. Grizzly hackle, 1 on each side.
Collar: Palmered black rabbit strip followed by black UV ice dub
Throat: Red flashabou
Head: 3/8 oz Nickel cross-eyed cone