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08-05-2011, 11:49 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 150
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Bull trout, dolly vardon
So are bull trout and dolly vardon the same fish or different species? I wasn't to sure if it was another " walleye pickerel " type situation where the bulls were commonly confused with a completely different species or if they were in fact the same species. Like pike and jack for example. 3 different websites told me 3 different things. Thought I'd refer to the experts haha.
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08-05-2011, 11:51 PM
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Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Central Alberta
Posts: 4,306
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bull trout have a bigger mouth
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08-05-2011, 11:58 PM
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 1,790
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fish Hunter7
bull trout have a bigger mouth
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But Dolly has bigger.................oh never mind.. 
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08-06-2011, 12:06 AM
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Banned
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 6,408
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SonnyJ
But Dolly has bigger.................oh never mind.. |
spots?
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08-06-2011, 12:21 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,349
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Dolly smaller head which is more rounded and body more which is more snake like.
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Respecting the land, water, fish, and wildlife is what makes true hunters and fishermen.
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08-06-2011, 12:30 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,349
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Sea-run Dolly from coastal BC.
Dollies (in BC) tend to stay grey/silver unlike the bull trout that sometimes like to take on the gold or green under color like below.
Northern DOllies (Chester Lake) and Dollies in the Pacific Northwest States however color up beautifully, I'll see if I can find a Photo.
Both have the pink spots.
July 2011
Bull Trout Alberta
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Respecting the land, water, fish, and wildlife is what makes true hunters and fishermen.
Road hunting is not hunting.
Last edited by DuckBrat; 08-06-2011 at 12:49 AM.
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08-06-2011, 12:35 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 150
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DuckBrat
Sea-run Dolly from coastal BC.
July 2011
Sorry not the best pic
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That is a nice looking fish. Out by prince George a couple years ago we were catching what my uncle was calling dolly vardon. And wasn't sure if in fact they were dollies or just small bulls. But that pic looks quite similar to what we were catching!! So to what you guys are saying they are two different fish?
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08-06-2011, 12:49 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,349
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As far as the fisheries biologist out of Kitimat is concerned true dollies are anadromous (Sea run) while anything else is a Bull trout. With that said though I have heard of other biologists who say you can find dollies inland. This debate has intrigued me for a long time as well. I say they are different fish.
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Respecting the land, water, fish, and wildlife is what makes true hunters and fishermen.
Road hunting is not hunting.
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08-06-2011, 07:03 AM
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Central Alberta
Posts: 1,796
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If the river is open to the ocean it is a Dolly. Otherwise, it's a bull.
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08-06-2011, 08:49 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Calgary
Posts: 1,541
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Easiest way to tell is a Dolly has a more rounded uniform head like a rainbow but the Bull has an elongated longer and flatter head. They are 2 totally different fish.
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08-06-2011, 09:01 AM
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Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Grimshaw
Posts: 160
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Same as a steelhead and a rainbow.
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08-06-2011, 10:21 AM
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Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Calgary
Posts: 1,541
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They are not the same
They are 2 different fish. Trust me I've caught lots of both on the same day in BC.
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08-06-2011, 02:23 PM
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Join Date: May 2011
Location: Airdrie
Posts: 573
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I've had several "assumingly" knowledgeable fish folk give me conflicting answers on this fish.
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08-06-2011, 02:26 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: May 2011
Location: down by the river
Posts: 11,428
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nope
Quote:
Originally Posted by s_erickson
Same as a steelhead and a rainbow.
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This is incorrect as steelhead and rainbow trout are the same species, whereas Dolly Varden and Bull Trout are separate species.
One is not an anadromous form of the other.
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08-06-2011, 02:29 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: May 2011
Location: down by the river
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tricky
Quote:
Originally Posted by tacklerunner
Easiest way to tell is a Dolly has a more rounded uniform head like a rainbow but the Bull has an elongated longer and flatter head. They are 2 totally different fish.
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This can be misleading as there is some sexual dimorphism in Bull Trout where females can have considerably smaller heads than males. Some of the big hens I've caught in lower Kananaskis did not have particularly large heads at all, and in a water body where both species occur this character would likely not suffice.
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08-06-2011, 02:41 PM
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Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Valemount BC
Posts: 499
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i do alot of trips to the bc side of the ab/bc border and in the lakes i fish i can tell the difference between a bull and a dolly before even getting it in the boat. The dollys are lime green color and the bulls are almost solid chrome. In the fall the dollys turn color and look almost like a spawning brookie to me
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08-06-2011, 02:41 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: May 2011
Location: down by the river
Posts: 11,428
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closure
Here is a fairly basic language article which provides all the info that is needed to understand the taxonomic history of the 2 species.
Sadly, there do not seem to be good field characters for the separation of these species. The best bet is using the 'large head' character and to a lesser extent, knowledge of the 2 species distribution or occurrence in the waters you are fishing.
BC reg's do not discriminate between these 2 species, so their proper identification can be left to the geneticists or a weekend of morphometrics.
Check out the article it's pretty good.
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wld/frpa/iwms/documents/Fish/f_bulltrout.pdf
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