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Legendary Species · Char

Arctic char

Salvelinus alpinus[1]

Like other char, Arctic char have light spots on a dark background, which sets char apart from other salmon and trout.[1]

  • 31waters list it
  • 8states and regions
  • 2agency sources
A smiling woman stands on a gravel river bar holding up a silvery Arctic char, with tundra hills behind her
An angler's first Arctic char on a fly, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge wilderness, Alaska (photographer Jeffrey Brooks, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Alaska), public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Identification

  • Like other char, Arctic char have light spots on a dark background, which sets char apart from other salmon and trout.[1]
    What the source says
    “Char are generally distinguished from other salmonid fishes by having light spots on a dark background”
  • Compared with Dolly Varden, Arctic char tend to have fewer, larger spots, a more deeply forked tail and a narrower tail wrist (caudal peduncle).[1]
    What the source says
    “Arctic char tend to have fewer and larger spots, a more deeply-forked tail, and a narrower caudal peduncle”
  • Spawning Arctic char are usually gold, orange, yellow or rose, and only rarely red.[1]
    What the source says
    “Spawning Arctic char are usually gold, orange, yellow or rose and only infrequently red”
  • Colour varies a lot, but char are generally green to brown above and lighter below.[2]
    What the source says
    “A char’s colour is highly variable, but generally green to brown above and lighter below”

Habitat and range

  • In Alaska, all known Arctic char populations appear to spend their whole lives in lakes and do not migrate.[1]
    What the source says
    “In Alaska, all known populations of Arctic char appear to spend their entire lives in lakes and do not migrate.”
  • In Newfoundland and Labrador, Arctic char may be sea-run (living in the sea and entering rivers to spawn) or landlocked.[2]
    What the source says
    “May be both anadromous (spending their lives in the sea and entering rivers to spawn) or landlocked.”
  • In Alaska, Arctic char are found in lakes in mountain areas including the Brooks Range, the Kigluaik Mountains and the Kuskokwim Mountains.[1]
    What the source says
    “Arctic char are found in lakes in the Brooks Range, the Kigluaik Mountains, the Kuskokwim Mountains”

Life history

  • In Alaska, Arctic char spawn in lakes in the fall, between August and October.[1]
    What the source says
    “Spawning takes place in lakes between the fall months of August and October.”
  • Young char feed on bottom invertebrates; older, larger char eat other fish such as landlocked smelt.[2]
    What the source says
    “Young char feed on bottom invertebrates, while older and larger char feed on other fish, like landlocked smelt.”

Status, protections and rules

Legal status and rules as the agency stated them on the date read. Rules change: check the current regulations for the water.

  • ADF&G considers Alaska's Arctic char populations relatively stable throughout their Alaskan range.[1]
    What the source says
    “Populations of Arctic char in Alaska are considered to be relatively stable throughout their range in Alaska”

Fishing for it: what the agencies say

What agencies and extension services say about catching it, with the source for each line.

  • ADF&G says the largest Arctic char in Alaska probably live in some of Bristol Bay's large lakes.[1]
    What the source says
    “The largest Arctic char in Alaska probably occur in some of Bristol Bay's large lakes”
  • In those lakes, ADF&G says good fishing can be had from late May through early July.[1]
    What the source says
    “where good fishing can be had from late May through early July”
General advice (ours, not an agency's)
  • Ask the nearest fly shop what the fish are feeding on this week before you choose flies.
  • Read the water page's gauge before you go: flow and water temperature change by the day.
  • Check the agency's rules for the water before you keep a fish.
Try the fly finderHatch & season chartsIdentify an insect or fly

Water temperature

Warm water stresses trout, char and salmon. These are the published temperature lines we show on every gauge, chosen state first: the state agency's own where it publishes one, otherwise federal guidance (said so). Each water page applies them to the gauge's live reading; the flow and temperature checker does the same for any gauge.

Whose temperature guidance applies in each state
StateWhose linesSources
AlaskaFederal guidance (the National Park Service); no Alaska line foundNational Park Service · U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Where to fish for arctic char

Our 31 water pages whose agency species list names arctic char (each list links to the agency page it comes from). A species missing from a list does not mean it is absent: many agencies publish no list for a water.

United States 10 waters

Norway 11 waters

Iceland 9 waters

Slovenia 1 water

Destination hubs

Hubs that list one of these waters, or that a water page is near: each has guides, shops, licences and trip planning for the area.

Sources

Every fact on this page is our paraphrase of the page cited beside it, read on the date shown. Rules and seasons change: check the agency's current regulations before you fish.

  1. Arctic Char Species Profile, Alaska Department of Fish and Game Alaska Department of Fish and Game, read Oct 24, 2026.
  2. Arctic Char - Forestry, Agriculture and Lands Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Department of Forestry, Agriculture and Lands, read Oct 24, 2026.

3 states and regions have a page of arctic char waters of its own (five or more waters).