Arctic char
Know your fish
Arctic char
Salvelinus alpinus
Typical size:40–75 cm, 1–6 kg
- Silver to deep red-orange belly; pink or red spots, never black
- White leading edges on the lower fins; forked tail
Looks like: Lake trout has cream spots and a deeper fork; bull trout shares the pale spots but lives in rivers.
0255075100125150
cm
OK to keep
- Territorial rules; many rivers have limits of 1 to 5
Must release
- Check the local regs; char grow slowly in the Arctic
Best months
June, July, August, September
Fishing licences across Canada
Rig to tie
- 1Fly line 6 wt floating or intermediate line
- 2Leader 9 ft tapered leader to 8 lb tippet
- 3Fly Clouser Minnow olive/white size 4–6, Rolled Muddler, or epoxy sand lance; barbless
- 4Spin alternative Ultralight rod, 6 lb mono straight through
- 5Lure 1/8 oz Gibbs Croc, size 1 Mepps, or 1/8 oz pink jig for coho
How to tie and fish it
Tie it:Loop-to-loop the leader to the fly line. Tie the fly with a non-slip loop knot.
Fish it:Walk the beach on the first half of the flood at dawn. Cast along the drop-off and strip fast with pauses. Fish move with the tide, so keep walking.