Commercial Salmon Trolling Forum

A recent post alerting the troll fleet to the positive changes occurring in Pelican related to our industry sparked my memory of a few happenings that occurred at Rosie's Bar and Grill. There is a special place in this universe for Rose Miller, owner and operator of an iconic bar that is by no means...

This is good news to hear for the fleet and most certainly for Pelican. Karen at Liasanski Cafe spoke to me recently of all the hard work folks are doing to bring back the fleet and keep the emphasis of the towns economy focused that direction. Brings back fond memories of pitching off their in the ...

A small Dremel Tool with a few spare cutting wheels is handy for this and other tight tasks while away from the dock. Not too much of a power drain on the inverter.
Salty, this finally explains the roostertail of sparks we see streaking outward from your troll cockpit while on the drag!

I realize this post of mine may not be in the best or preferred forum. I feel those who commented before and after have excellent points that could use maximum exposure. I especially like the photos uploaded of the braided rope ladder in the above post. There is Troller Talk and an thread about Garr...

I am glad this thread has come alive again as it is worthy to explore things that we can do to increase our chance of survival and also reduce the risk to those who come to rescue us. I am a single hand fisherman who has family and friends that really want me to return alive (most of the time). I ha...

* When you don't catch on that your gear is not coming in as it should, only to notice at some point (i.e. light years) you have not engaged your gurdy. * When you collect your friends mail who is out of town on an extended fishing trip and you immediately (and excitedly) grab for the newest Boats a...

Okay, time to fess up fleet - not all of us are young, agile whipper-snappers. You know you're old and circling the drain when..... * Your teen-aged deckhand son has a puzzled look on his face while holding a zip lock baggy he pulled from the "junk" drawer that has a flattened Preparation ...

How true Salty. Soon after purchasing our boat I had Precision Boatworks with Mike Litman's expert advice bench build a Hospital Grade Cowl Muffler and pipe system. Bolted right in and was able to install myself. Outside on deck, there is almost zero noise coming out the stack. This makes it easy fo...

To comment on the original thread about Detroit's, I've mentioned some of this before in past postings. New technology that we see in today's modern diesels is remarkable. Just like depth sounders, GPS, radars, radios, computer nav software etc, we have see amazing advances that when researched and ...

I too appreciate the fact that we have fishers on this forum willing to do these spot checks, bringing attention to the managers if salmon is mislabeled (either intentionally or innocently) or if the quality of the product or how it is displayed/packaged is marginal for quality assurance. I do the s...

The knot may be similar to what I do when crimping sleeves. As per use, feed the leader through the sleeve, make a loop (for Gods sake don't ask how big of a loop or this thread will get buried in opinions - not saying any of us trollers have opinions - "cough... gag" :mrgreen: ) and threa...

Matt, I'd take Andrew's advice to heart and I applaud your forward thinking on what safety measures we need to have in place as single-hand fisherman such as myself. Sticker shock of quality safety gear can cause a person to hesitate on such purchases, my philosophy is like Andrew's spouse's - what ...

This may be a long shot question - Do you live in Sitka? If so, contact Dave Pizar at Media Rare here in town at 907-747-0686. He is not the type you call and troubleshoot over the phone. You can call to get directions to his place. Once there, if there's anyone in this town that can perform miracle...

For several years we were carried by Griffin MacLean and had great service, particularly with rep John Long. He is now with North Star Marine Insurance based in Seattle, contact him at 206-285-4655. We've been under their coverage w/o any headaches what so ever. I do not have crew and only power tro...

I can sure appreciate what yak2you2 has posted and the constructive replies. I think Capt. Midnite really illustrated the point about the 1988 price paid for the Kings vs fuel prices. Like many of us, I see a West Coast troll fleet that is sincerely busting their butt to produce a top of the line pr...

I just returned from a work related trip to San Diego with a stop over in Seattle on the return leg. A grocery store in the Gas Light district in San Diego had ample farmed Atlantic salmon both in fillet and steak form at a price that I recalled would be attractive to the consumer. It was labeled as...

Hi John, The set ups I've seen for beach logging had a stout (3/4" minimum or stouter) hawser line that was positioned about midway down the bowstem and ran down each side out aft to a bridle. The hawser line (seemed it was poly for spring, stretch and non-sinking advantages) was kept in proper...

In the early 70's I was in Illwaco, WA at the harbor with a friend and his family. We watched as a couple of silver haired fisherman very quietly untied a buddies troller. He was, according to them, a live-aboard, non-drinker, hard of hearing and slept like a rock. They carefully turned the troller ...

First off, a word to Tele. I bookmarked your Nerkasalmon site and a big "Thank You" for your writing prose and ability to truly describe our life - Absolutely great work and don't ever stop your gift with the pen, our fisheries and brains grow healthy with your words. Summer 2011 was indee...

I've been dipping my toe into our Sitka Sound chum fisheries and have a question regarding the sea drogues that some utilize to slow their boats down to optimal speed. Years back I purchased the largest blue drogue made by Nomar (maybe 3' to 4' diameter at the opening), in part for this fisheries bu...