Opinions Wanted: best place to hand troll
This will be my first season hand trolling. I'm looking for opinions from experienced trollers, what area in southeast is best for hand trolling, I realize the fish move around, but were do you think a hand trollers odds would be best? Right now I'm planning on fishing the south end of Baranof.
Thanks
Salty
2010-02-18 07:26:14
If any of us recommended a particular area then the locals would kill us. The best area is generally where you can work in most weather, have adequate facilities, and plan to learn the area.
I loved handtrolling in Southern Chatham when there was a buying scow in Gedney harbor.
kalitan97828
2010-02-18 07:35:39
Being a lot braver than Salty who is sort of a woos I would suggest looking at Hole in the Wall near Craig where a group of small trollers hang out. Gedney Harbor had a skow last summer operated by Alaska Glacier Seafoods out of Juneau. That would be my top choice. Icy Straits in the fall is a good area as is the area near Port Protection. I think some boats do ok on a few late cohos near Ketchikan. Meyers Chuck used to be serviced by a tender, might check with the Ketchikan producers. Hope that is a help.
JYDPDX
2010-02-18 08:34:45
Cross Sound is probably a good spot too. The Hoonah scow is attractive to hand trollers who need to pitch off on a frequent basis. Good place to hide from weather too. Can fish as far in as 3hill on bad weather days and make it all the way down to cape cross or up to cape spencer on good weather. Tides are really strong though. Make sure to pay as much attention as possible to what other boats are doing and why. Try to determine who the veterans are and run the drags like they do. Try not to do crazy shit around other boats.
Salty
2010-02-19 17:11:11
Learn how to use rods. That is absolutely the best tip I can think of for a handtroller.
Salty
2010-02-19 17:11:46
Please define "woos".
Hi Salty,
Are you saying hand trollers are better off using two rods than gurdies?
Thanks Zack
Salty
2010-02-20 06:36:40
No, but you are allowed to use four rods and there are times and places where using rods can be more productive than using wires. And it is so much more enjoyable. A few of the most productive handtrollers in the Sitka area use rods quite often.
I would have rods in my handtroll "toolbox".
bent fin
2010-04-02 02:34:47
the guys that are running four rods, are they fishing cut plugs or spoons or needle fish jigs?
i know a cut plug can really catch fish. but i would be allot of work for one guy to keep up, baiting fighting fish and cleaning.if you get in to them good you can easily have four fish on all the time. it could be a big mess and spend a lot of time getting every thing untangled and the bight is over. sure would be fun though....
Salty
2010-04-02 17:50:13
When you are really in them all you need is two poles, one per person. After a while you can get so you can rig a cut plug in seconds. Also, if you can anchor on the spot in the current, then you don't have to worry about steering while you work, and that adds to the productivity. Don't anchor on the regular troll drag though, it could reduce your longevity. A rolled whole herring works just as well as a cut plug in most situations and is quicker to rig. When I fish rods I almost always use herring, but not always.
But then I have not hand trolled since 1980. I have sport fished a lot off of my boat and my 19 foot aluminum skiff though. And, we have been the weigh station for the Sitka Salmon Derby for 25 years or so and got to see what some of the best sport fishermen were producing during the derby. Aside from all the misleading information I have been fed over the years we have managed to pick up a few gems. The best one being, learn to roll a herring. The other insight I have gained, and people will be furious at me for sharing this, but what the hell, is that someone is always getting them somewhere on something. The vast majority of fishermen just have not found them or what they are biting on yet.
Kelper
2010-04-18 17:58:50
I agree that the Hole in the Wall area can be very productive. It seems that their is always a hot bite going on somewhere out of Craig, in close to the kelp. The key is to stay on top of where the fish are, and go early and stay late. Listen to the charter fleet on the radio, and figure out where the hot bite is. Those guys think they are being secretive, but it's obvious where they are when you learn the area. Then clean those spots out in the early am and late pm when they won't be in your way and when the fish are really biting. Think of it as having 60 guys running around finding fish for you.
Salty
2010-04-18 18:39:26
Kelper,
Good idea on keeping an eye on the charter fleet for handtrolling. Most of the power fleet does not want to deal with navigating around a pack of charter guys drifting and anchoring on the drag so they leave the area. I have had good production as you mention both before and after the charter fleet is working an area. You can also communicate to them the depth and approximate drag you are working to minimize conflict. I have had reasonably good luck with the majority of the charter captains I have communicated with over the years. It is illegal for them to interfere with our commercial fishing operations and they do not want to expose their clients to an unsavory yelling or tangling situation with an ornery troller.
Some of these communications have led to win/win relationships where a few of the charter skippers and I keep each other informed about local opportunities. There are some trollers who the guides hate and are eager to communicate to me whenever they see them working a batch of fish. Nothing like thinking there are no fish anywhere and getting a call from a guide that there are a pile of biting coho and only one troller in the area. That led to me giving him a tip on where there were a nice bunch of big kings when we were prohibited from taking them. Win/win situation.
I need a tip for where to go tomorrow. I am so tired of not catching. Hmm, I wonder if I ever will get a private message on this forum about where they are that I can capitalize on? Yak to Yak sent me info last winter but that was in Yakutat and I did not feel like driving my little troller up there in December so it was not a tip I could capitalize on.
So, kelper, is the forum a good place to troll?
Kelper
2010-04-18 19:01:14
The first king salmon I ever caught in Alaska was on the
I did a combination of crewing on trollers and charter fishing the last 7 years to try to learn as much about my area as I can. I can say that having a few charter guys as friends isn't a bad thing, as they have a 27kt boat to run around and find the fish and see where the other trollers are fishing. I'll be exclusively hand trolling now out of my 20ft Pacific Skiff, and hoping a few charter guys toss me a bone once in awhile, when I'm not on fish. Hoping to use a combination of hand troll gear and rods/reels. We'll see, but I'm excited about fishing in close to the kelp.
Salty
2010-04-18 20:56:46
The biggest king I ever caught handtrolling was on a rod and I was so close to the kelp I thought I had snagged it and tried to jerk the hook out. 40 plus.
yak2you2
2010-04-19 07:18:53
When charter boats are drifting and mooching for salmon, they very often will get a school of fish right under or around their boat. Some of the best rallies I've gotten into was by spinning a nice tight little circle right around one of them. Irritating to the skippers no doubt, but a lot of the time the clients seem to like to watch the commercial show, and take a few photos. Salty, check your PM's.
Zack - the best place to hand-troll is in a spot where you can access a lot of fish every day and have a quiet place to anchor for the night; where you can get rid of your catch everyday because you have filled your holding space; where you can get gas, gear, or groceries whenever you want to without a run; and you have just enough other hand-troll boats around you to figure out how you are doing compared to them. ;) These may sound pretty self-evident, but if you can't find this combination you are going to suffer from having to burn more fuel than you really should.
Like a lot of others who post on here I started hand-trolling when I was a pre-teenager until I got out of college. I was fortunate to have a lot of help and "connections", but discovered early that when I had to make decisions sometimes it was not the right one and that could cost you money. You don't want that to happen on a regular basis. :roll: I would suggest that as soon as possible you contact every fish processor in SE and learn if they have buying stations out on the grounds that you can use for your center of operations. If you can find the combination listed above in Cross Sound, Port Alexander, Sitka Sound, Saginaw/Security Bays, Tebenkof Bay, or Craig - go for it and best of luck!