Arctic char

Quick facts

How to identify it

A slender, small-headed char with very fine scales and a distinctly forked tail. The back is dark green, blue-grey or brown, the flanks carry pink, red or cream spots — never black ones — and the belly runs from silvery white to vivid orange-red in spawning fish, especially males, whose lower fins and belly can glow scarlet. As in all chars the pectoral, pelvic and anal fins have white leading edges. The brook trout is told apart by its marbled back and square tail, the brown trout by its dark spots, larger scales and fins without white edges. Char are enormously variable: the same lake can hold a large silvery form and a dark, dwarfed one.

Where it lives

Arctic char need cold, clean, oxygen-rich water below about 15 °C. In Europe's Alps, Scotland, Ireland and Scandinavia they live as landlocked relicts in deep, clear, nutrient-poor lakes and reservoirs, spending summer in and below the thermocline at 20–60 m or more and rising into the shallows only in spring, autumn and at night. In Norway, Iceland and northern Russia sea-run char migrate between the sea and cold rivers and lakes, and resident river fish hold in pools and glides. Char feed on zooplankton, midge larvae, snails, insects and, when they grow large, small fish such as minnows and whitefish, often in loose schools over the deep basin.

Season and behaviour

Most European char spawn from October to December, some populations in winter or even spring, on gravel in deep water or at the mouths of inflowing streams. In alpine lakes the best fishing is right after ice-out in April and May, when char feed close to shore, and again in September and October as they gather before spawning; through summer they hold deep and are found with a sounder. In the far north the season is the short summer from late June to August, when sea-run char enter the rivers bright and hungry. Char feed by day in the cold depths, but the dawn and dusk hours bring them highest in the water column, and calm, overcast weather beats bright sun.

Fishing methods

Deep vertical fishing from a boat is the classic alpine method: a paternoster rig carrying three to five tiny nymphs or bright flies above a lead weight — the Hegene rig of German-speaking anglers — lowered to fish located on the echo sounder and jigged gently at the exact depth. Slow trolling with small spoons and plugs on a leaded line or downrigger covers open water when char are scattered. In spring and autumn shore anglers reach them with ultralight spinning — 3–10 g spoons, small spinners and micro soft plastics — cast over drop-offs and stream mouths, and a float or light ledger rig baited with worms or maggots works where bait is allowed. In northern rivers the fly rod rules: weighted nymphs, small streamers and bright wet flies swung through pools. Char have soft mouths, so strike gently and use a fine 0.16–0.20 mm leader.

Baits and lures

Tiny is the rule: char feed on zooplankton and midge larvae much of the year, so nymphs and wet flies on size 12–18 hooks in red, orange, black and pearl are the mainstay of the Hegene rig, often tipped with a maggot. For spinning and trolling, slim spoons and small plugs in silver, copper, red-and-white or fluorescent orange imitate the minnows and small whitefish that big char hunt. Natural baits — maggots, worms, fish strips and salmon eggs where allowed — score for shore anglers, and a bright, gaudy fly or lure often beats a natural one in deep water.

Tips from the bank

1. 01Find the thermocline on the sounder in summer — char stack just below it, often 20–40 m down.
2. 02Fish the first weeks after ice-out from the shore; it is the only time deep-lake char are reliably in casting range.
3. 03Use the lightest weight that keeps the Hegene vertical, and lift and drop it slowly — most takes are just extra weight.
4. 04Strike gently and keep steady pressure; char have soft mouths and a hook pulls out easily.
5. 05In the far north, fish the tidal reaches and river mouths on a rising tide when sea-run char are entering.
6. 06Bright red and orange outfish natural colours in deep, dim water — carry both.
7. 07Keep the fish in the water for the photo and release deep-lake char quickly; they suffer from pressure changes and warm surface water.

Where to catch Arctic char

No public water page lists this species yet. Search for it in the app to find waters near you.

Related species

• Brook trout
  Salvelinus fontinalis

  The jewel-coloured char of icy headwaters and mountain lakes.

• Brown trout
  Salmo trutta

  The wary, spotted native of cold rivers and deep lakes.

• European whitefish
  Coregonus lavaretus

  The silver plankton feeder of deep, cold, clear lakes.

• Atlantic salmon
  Salmo salar

  The king of fish — ocean-run silver returning to its home river.

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