dolly or bull? chester lake

[Jcpenny]

After a week out fishing kananaskis we decided to end the trip at chester lake and O'boy what a walk... But a couple bears and such and the fishing was on with the 18 casts we got in due to the wind we had monsters chasing and spitting the streamers. but one smaller one i landed and i cant figure if its a dolly or bull kinda looks like a baby bull 2 me, here is her pics and No black dorsal tiny white spots

[fish gunner]

My dollars on dolly . Very nice fish.

[The Fishin Magician]

Correct me if I'm wrong...aren't they the same fish just 2 different names? Like Walleye / Pickeral, Spring / Chinnok / King Salmon?

[residentguide]

This is a dolley. Only fish in there are cuts and dolley's. When I was a kid I caught quite a few in there. To my knowledge that is the only place in Alberta you can find them.

[residentguide]

Originally Posted by The Fishin Magician

Correct me if I'm wrong...aren't they the same fish just 2 different names? Like Walleye / Pickeral, Spring / Chinnok / King Salmon?

Not at all in Alberta. BC is different with this for the most part.

[Flieguy]

they're almost identical fish, usually takes a qualified biologist to tell them apart. Chester has dollies, so I'm guessing dolly

[goldscud]

Dollies were put in there after a research study...not naturally occurring Bull trout

[Pierre]

Jim Stelfox previous wrote the following on another forum a number of years ago.

Northern Dolly Varden were introduced to Chester Lake in 1974 and have since dispersed into Mud Lake, Burstall Creek and Smuts Creek. To my knowledge, this is the only place that Dolly Varden are present in Alberta.

Differentiating between Dolly Varden and bull trout isn't easy. Gordon Haas, one of the foremost experts on identification of these two species, sums it up best when he stated in his 2001 paper in the Bull Trout II Conference Proceedings that "correct identification of these two char species....is complex and requires identification ability and knowledge.

In general, the easiest way to usually differentiate between these two species is that bull trout have a flatter head and the maxilla extends further back of the eye. These are subjective features, necessitating the examination of a lot of fish of both species in order to have much confidence.

However, anglers need not be concerned about differentiating between these two species, because Dolly Varden can only be harvested from Chester Lake and its outlet stream and there are no bull trout in these waters. If you catch a Dolly Varden in Mud Lake, Burstall Creek or Smuts Creek, you have to release it, just as you would a bull trout.

[commieboy]

Originally Posted by residentguide

Not at all in Alberta. BC is different with this for the most part.

Shouldn't be any different in BC (although I'm not doubting you… just saying it shouldn't be) as Bulls are Salvelinus Confluentus and Dollys are are Salvelinus Malma. Two different species according to scientific nomenclature.

[robertw]

Originally Posted by The Fishin Magician

Correct me if I'm wrong...aren't they the same fish just 2 different names? Like Walleye / Pickeral, Spring / Chinnok / King Salmon?

I just spent a week in Saskatchewan, and this calling a walleye a pickerel drives me crazy.

Walley (Sander vitreus vitreus), and pickerel, more correctly chain pickerel (Esox niger),are completely different fish. Pickerel are a type of pike more similar to the northern pike,(Esox Lucius).

It seems to be a Saskatchewan thing where they incorrectly call a walleye a pickerel, but then again they wear gitch and gotch and bunny hugs.


http://www.differencebetween.net/obj...-and-pickerel/

[wags]

Originally Posted by robertw

I just spent a week in Saskatchewan, and this calling a walleye a pickerel drives me crazy.

Walley (Sander vitreus vitreus), and pickerel, more correctly chain pickerel (Esox niger),are completely different fish. Pickerel are a type of pike more similar to the northern pike,(Esox Lucius).

It seems to be a Saskatchewan thing where they incorrectly call a walleye a pickerel, but then again they wear gitch and gotch and bunny hugs.


http://www.differencebetween.net/obj...-and-pickerel/

pickerel
[pik-er-uh l, pik-ruh l] Spell Syllables
Examples Word Origin
noun, plural (especially collectively) pickerel (especially referring to two or more kinds or species) pickerels.
1.
any of several small species of pike, as Esox niger (chain pickerel) and E. americanus americanus (redfin pickerel) of eastern North America.
2.
the walleye or pikeperch, Stizostedion vitreum.
3.
British. a young pike.

It's a common term in Canada, not just Saskatchewan...BUT, if it's said in Saskatchewan, then it is. Nuf said. Where's my bunnyhug?

Cheers

[fishman]

I read a story a few years ago about this lake and they agree on what specie of char was stocked in the lake
One version was they r Quebec red char
And other version is they are Dolly's from the Yukon can't remember the river but a argument on that was were they come from are bulls not Dolly's
So who knows. Our alberta fisheries doesn't know
Kinda like the story on how the box got stocked and the fish were sterlhead or not

[robertw]

common term, but still wrong

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by fishman

I read a story a few years ago about this lake and they agree on what specie of char was stocked in the lake
One version was they r Quebec red char
And other version is they are Dolly's from the Yukon can't remember the river but a argument on that was were they come from are bulls not Dolly's
So who knows. Our alberta fisheries doesn't know
Kinda like the story on how the box got stocked and the fish were sterlhead or not

Page 284-286 in the Nelson & Paetz book - The Fishes of Alberta provides more info.
A quote from the book:

"There is some doubt about the exact origin of the stock put into Chester Lake. Eggs from two different studies were held in Calgary in 1973-74, one said to be from the Mackenzie (Inuvik stock) and the other from the Firth River (Yukon)......It is, of course, quite possible, if not probable, that the eggs used by both McCart and McDonald came from the same source (i.e., the Firth River, then shipped to Calgary via Inuvik"

[Jcpenny]

Do they still stock dollys in chester? Or only cuttys? they seem to be reproducing very well if not stocked

[ddddd05]

I have the encyclopedia of trout and it talks about 3 different types of fish
- Bull trout (Which a lot of people call Dollies in BC)
- Dolly Varden (Which run to ocean like a steel head does)
- Northern Dolly Varden ( Which are darker than the regular dollies)

It says they only way to tell a Dolly and Bull apart is the number of gill rakers. It also says there are no Dollies in the columbia river, those are all bulls.