Fly Fishing for Char: Why the Beauty of This Freshwater Fish Hooks Anglers

Arctic char in Alaska can get big. My biggest to date on a fly rod is thirty-four inches. But their size isn't what attracts me to them—it's their beauty.

Depending on the time of year, char can range in colors from blues to greens, pinks, oranges, yellows, and reds.

Springtime Char Have the Blues

In the spring and early summer, I've caught char sporting shades of blue that I've rarely seen in a freshwater fish. It always makes me take pause and shake my head when I catch a char that is blue with pink spots.

An Arctic char in shades of blue with pink dots about to be released into the river. — During the spring, the char aren't deep in their autumn reds and yellows. You will find them in shades of blue and green with pink dots. | photo by Ken Baldwin

Fall Brings the Heat Out

During the fall, the colors of the char heat up a couple of notches to an intensity that matches the autumn foliage. Catching a male char in full spawning colors leaves me in awe. It just doesn't seem real that colors this vivid and rich exist in nature.

The Wonders of Nature

More astonishing is how, when you lift the fish out of the water, it matches the fall colors of the trees and bushes surrounding the river. The same reds, yellows, and oranges you find in the leaves are matched in the char's coloring. This perplexes me. How something living in the water can so closely resemble the coloration of the forest outside the water? It's too perfect a match to be a random occurrence.

Trees in full autumn bloom along a country road. — The colors you find in the trees you also find in char. | photo by Ken Baldwin

If you are planning a trip to Alaska to fish for Arctic char, a 6 or 7-weight rod would be your best choice. If I know the river has a population of big char, I go with the 7-weight.

Streamers, Wooly Buggers, and Beads.

Bunny streamers and Wooly Buggers in bright colors of chartreuse, orange, and pink work well in the spring. Mid-summer through fall, natural sculpin colors and black tend to outfish the bright colors. Beads that look like salmon eggs always produce, but it's my least favorite way of catching char. I'd much prefer the feeling of a char slamming a streamer as I'm stripping it in.

Fly Fishing for Char Close to Home

A brook trout is a char and is more plentiful in the lower 48. They don't get as big, but they do make up for it in rich coloration. They have the same relationship with the autumn colors, and I'm just as enamored with the beauty of a small brookie as I am with a large Arctic char.

A native brook trout, which is a char, in full, beautiful, autumn colors. — A native brook trout, which is really a char, in a small West Virginia creek. | photo by Chase McCoy

Add the Char to Your List

If you can get up to Alaska to chase char and rainbow trout, that will be a trip of a lifetime, and I highly recommend it. But until then, there is plenty of water in the rest of the U.S. that holds the different char species. Do a little research and plan yourself a trip chasing char in the fall. KB

"The gods do not deduct from man’s allotted span the hours spent in fishing.” - Herbert Hoover