Salmon trolling Scandinavia

[paul]

We use stainless steel wire 5/64 inches.
Pacific Net and Twine has a good website for ordering gear.
Kolstrand has a good website for gurdies if you don't like your jigging machines.

[Abundance]

I saw a boat just like that in Wrangell, I believe. I wondered what it was meant to be. They look like like stout, sturdy boats. One problem that you might find, however, is the high high stern. Trolling boats are built with the stern very low in the water, so the fisherman can reach down and grab the fish. Imagine having a very large salmon, fighting and running every direction it can, up to the back of the boat. You need to be close to the water, to dipnet or gaff it as soon as it hits the surface. Trying to pull any salmon over around seven pounds straight aboard by the line itself will result in a released salmon. It's the difference between fishing off a rowboat or a bridge. I bring this up because my boat wasn't designed for trolling either. I have a fifty foot ketch, with a very high stern. I had to build a trolling cockpit myself out of the last bit of money I had after buying the boat, so its not by any means perfect, but it does the job better than I could have hoped for. I know other such boats that have welded on a cockpit for people to fish off the back as well. I plan on building a better and lower and better planned one out of aluminum this winter.

[Scandinavia]

Looked into those two onlinestores. Very informative and interesting. Thanks Paul.

Point taken about the low stern. Thanks Garrett.
I was actually little bit concerned about that. When longlining it is somewhat easier in that sense that you can stop the vessel when there is fish on, which gives little more room and time to bring in the fish in a "controlled manner".
I really liked your trolling cockpit. Not only for the functionallity of it. (problem=>solution) Seems that fishing is the same all over the world;" I had to build a trolling cockpit myself out of the last bit of money I had" . I was smiling somewhat when I read that, just because it was so extremely similar with all the situations that has been for me over the years. And propably will be from time to time.

[Abundance]

It was definitely a matter of functionality. I knew what I needed, and that it had to be done. I know a highly educated and succesful electrical engineer who moved here from the desert. He is still in awe that we poor simple fisherman will have a working knowledge of everything from carpentry and refrigeration to finance to marketing and pretty much everything in between. We may not do it all well, but we do it well enough to survive and make it work until we can get something better. I suspect that fishermen in every part of the world value and use their self reliance. It would seem that we prefer that to money. We arent quitting and getting a real job anytime soon. If you want to troll, you can make it work. We always find a way to make it work.

[Scandinavia]

Well, some licensing issues came up. At this moment it seems that we will not get a commercial fishing license for the vessel. Let's see how we will solve this one.

Thanks for all the info so far.
I will post as soon as I have something to post in this topic.

Thanks

Joonas

[akfisher78]

Abundance that is a cool looking Ketch! Pretty good job of building that troll it also. I have seen another boat similar in south chatham from Kake called TORA I believe

[Abundance]

I have seen about a dozen sailboat trollers around, including the Tora and excluding myself. Its nice to have the all the living space and the possibility of travel without using diesel, but my lack of a fishhold and the general awkwardness of trying to make a the boat do things it was never meant to do is a bit of a trial. She was built for built for cruises up and down from Baha to Puget Sound, I believe. She has living area and dining capacity for nine people. The forward bathroom had its toilet stop functioning a few months ago, and the bow staterooms are impossible to keep heated, but otherwise the boats like home. I am sorry to hear about the licensing issues, Joonas. Are they not issuing licenses to anybody, or just a few?

[Scandinavia]

Well well. Fisheries administrators..
I have today received confirmation that the vessel will not be granted a fishing license. An appeal can be made, but will take a couple of years before it will be followed thru.
So, now I will have to look at something else. Any room for a well experienced fishing skipper in Alaska? I actually looked little bit into the rules about immigrating to the US, and it was kind of breath-taking.

I have spent some time on this forum reading thru posts, and I must say, I am impressed! I have not run into any fisheries community that seems so open-minded towards sharing knowledge and information.

And about the license issuing. No, the licenses are not issued freely. Basically one has to buy an existing fishing vessel or several fishing vesselsl with suitable license/licenses and then transfer the license to the new vessel. That's the basic drill, but then there is alot of other stuff also, but the main thing is that a vessel has to be withdrawn to replace it with another.

[tkbluefin]

You might want to call the Alaska Department of Fish and Game via Skype. Their number in Sitka is +1 907 747 6688
They are quite helpful. I would be very curious to know if/how an EU citizen could come to the US and fish
for a season. It would be a great way to "cross-pollinate" ideas. From a licensing perspective it would probably
easier to crew on a boat vs. captain it.

[Abundance]

I and probably many others would be glad to take you out for a trip, but I am sure that you are aware that there is a bit of red tape involved in getting a paying job over here. Many people do it though, I know a couple of Canadians who came across the border and started fishing. Most of our fish buyers are staffed by college students from around the world. You would have to understand that a hands wages on a salmon boat would barely cover your travel costs and would make it more of a vacation, not a replacement for a fishing season. Still, almost all of us would love to meet a salmon fisherman from the other side of the world.

[lone eagle]

I am sure many people do it...but not legally. As an immigrant i can tell you that there is no easy way to come here and work...as a legal....ask microsoft. But whatever just come as a tourist and get a job on a boat ...we always welcome good workers.

[StephenH]

I think that steelhead, our closest comparison to Atlantic salmon, rarely go down that deep. We usually fish the bottom contour in the winter, and sometimes in the summer, anywhere from ten fathoms to sixty or more, depending on whats producing. It seems to me that, from your quota and sport fisher catch rates, that Baltic salmon are roughly similar to our Chinook Salmon in population density. Are you allowed to fish the entire Baltic Sea? That's a big body of water. If its murky from all the rivers and slow drainage than flashers may be absolute fish killers. Flashers are definitely a trollers main tool. Depending on the species of salmon and the clarity of the water, one may place the lures anywhere from one fathom apart to five or six. The most lures that I have run at one time was 100 for pink and chum salmon, but that for fishing in schools that may number in the hundreds of thousands or even millions of fish. For hunting and scratching individual fish like Chinook or your salmon, running ten to twenty lures would be more reasonable. The snaps are very similar to those used in longlining, but much smaller, at least compared to Alaskan longline gear. The lines are far enough apart that they won't get tangled up in one another, but if the tide catches you wrong it can definitely happen. Fishermen you habitually fish deep, like me, use sixty plus pound weights on the forward reel and slightly lighter weights on the aft reel. That keeps the lines even farther apart under the water. If you fish shallow, using lighter weights of twenty to thirty pounds is both cheaper and easier on the reels over time. We fish two lines a side in the southern half of southeast Alaska. Other places can fish more. I don't know how they keep from getting tangled up myself either. The floatbags are somewhat specific in design, but can be replicated with a simple buoy on a snap until something better can be found.

Good info to know about and yes agree with your point that If its murky from all the rivers and slow drainage than flashers may be absolute fish killers