Dolly Vardon?

[singleshot12]

Local rivers,streams,estuaries,and coastlines in Westen Washington are infested with Dollies. Their main diet is salmon/steelhead eggs and fry,with a lot of these eggs and smolts being endangered wild stock.
For some reason Dolly Vardon are listed as threatened and thus are protected??
Could someone PLEASE help me with a logical answer to this VERY  perplexing question?
 

[Houndhunter]

ive never fished a place that has been full of them, if there is such a place let me know ive been dying to catch a big one. I've caught one in the nooch, and had people i was with catch them out in yale and merwin lakes too. they seem to be pretty scarce, never knew they ventured out into salt water too

[ICEMAN]

singleshot12, that is a damned good question. Someone here should know...

[coastalghost]

http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/bulltrt/bulldoly.htm

Here is a link for ya: Should give you a synopsis of reasons for listing and the longterm plan for recovery.

[Armadillo]

My dads a fisheries biologist. He says they arent "infesting" the rivers. Theres a large population of them in the skagit and they can be found in many local rivers and estuaries but they arent having any damaging effect on the salmon population as of today although they are predatory fish and feed when hungry whether it be on cutthroat fry or salmon eggs, they have done so since the glaciers melted. They are mainly a cold water fish and are a very old species thus giving them a glacial relic status in the scientific community. They need cold water and studies have shown that there habitat will be affected due to melting glaciers and rising global temperatures and since there has been a recent surge on global warming awareness scientists are concerned about their long term survival.

[Red Dawg]

I have caught them in many different rivers, and yes they do get huge.

[WAcoueshunter]

They're a native species, and it's all part of the natural food chain.  The ESA doesn't ignore a species simply because it preys on another that also might happen to be protected.  Orcas eat salmon too.  Should we kill those?  Or how about eagles, osprey, herons, bears, sea ducks, sea run cutts, and basically every larger fish that lives in the ocean?

[jackelope]

dollies are sea-run bull trout. bull trout are the protected ones, but you can't tell the difference between a dolly and a bull.
saying they are infesting our rivers is probably a little strong.

[singleshot12]

Thanks, maybe saying they are infested was a little too strong,but in the skagit for example they are doing real good while the native steelhead and chinook are doing very poor. To close down the whole state of wash. to the retention of dollies still seems very extreme to me.
Not sure about how global warming is effecting them but i'm sure they are tougher than the salmon and will out live them.One thing i'm sure of is the gill nets still get the majority of the 5+ pound dollies which are the spawners.

[Dman]

 They are different species altogether, see link.
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:ArKKUBvcF0gJ:library.fws.gov/Pubs1/bulltrout.pdf+Dolly+Varden+vs.+Bull+Trout&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

 I have to differ with some opinion on population level. I won't say where, but an area on the Skagit system I fish regularly is "infested" with them, if infested means you can catch a mature Dolly at any given time and not much else. I have to believe since the salmon do spawn in this trib, they do impact the salmon on that stream, frankly I think DFW has always taken the path of least resistance on this topic by lumping the two together in the regs. If you look at pictures of both, they do look quite different and an experienced fisherman should be able to tell the difference, catch and realease of Bull trout and catch and keep for Dollie's should be permitted.

[singleshot12]

Thanks Dman,great pics.,and since you are out there on that river your answer is the most realistic so far.
There was a reason(not too long ago) there was a bounty on dolly's.
I've fished Dolly's in the rivers and salt for almost forty years and have NEVER seen as much dollies as i'm seeing now.
One more thought, I remember a few years back when Dolly's were listed as threatened and it was a major accomplishment for the enviro's. They were the only ones who were really happy about it.
Dolly Vardon are great fish and have their place in the food chain,but in areas where they are thriving and other salmon and trout species are suffering,it only makes sense to atleast have a season for Dolly's. The State,the economy,the fish,the sport fisherman would all benifit.

[WDFW-SUX]

Are Dolly Varden really endangered?

I saw a guy kill 6 of em last week................

There like rats in AK

[Alchase]

Here is a linky with some answers
http://wdfw.wa.gov/factshts/bultrout.htm

[boneaddict]

I think compared to Gill netting, and sea lions, what the Dollies do to the salmon runs is pretty inconsequential.  Sort of like herons or KingFishers or otters. 

[Intruder]

I think compared to Gill netting, and sea lions, what the Dollies do to the salmon runs is pretty inconsequential.  Sort of like herons or KingFishers or otters. 

I totally agree.  It's like hawks are to pheasant.  They take their fair share but compared to barn cats, skunks, foxes, and racoons they don't put a significant dent into the population.

I've caught some dandies on the Skagit years ago.  Talked to the biologist that used to work that area (Kurt Kramer, I think) and he claimed that the biggest fish ate suckers or whitefish (can't remember).  He claimed an 8lber would gobble up a 1/2lb. sucker.  I think they're a super cool fish... used to luv fishin for em.