Does anyone here troll Kodiak area?

akweavers

2009-11-28 22:44:08

Hello,

I am looking for someone that works the Kodiak area to teach a few greenhorns. They are both in their 20's and physically fit. They are willing to work part-time to learn. I can assure you that you would be pleasantly surprised by the honesty and integrity shown by these two men. They are my sons. We are moving from the interior back to the coast (Kodiak). They will need to learn new skills to make it in Kodiak.

I am former Navy and fished PWS until I began having strokes/heart troubles. I can teach them somethings at the dinner table. However, until they hit the water its all useless.

Thanks for any advice/help

Eric

yak2you2

2009-11-28 23:06:39

There is no commercial trolling in the Kodiak area. No commercial trolling west of cape Suckling, which is east of prince William Sound. Your sons will have to try out a different fishery, or migrate east for trolling. Thanks for inspiring them though, all of our fisheries need energetic young folks to get involved.

akweavers

2009-11-28 23:59:29

Thanks for the info. I hope they get into fishing. I miss it so badly and hope they find joy in their "work" like I did. I read your post and saw Cape Suckling and immediately heard NOAA radio in my mind... "Cape Suckling to Gore Point...."

Thanks Again

Eric

steffco

2009-11-29 21:53:54

What was the reson that they stopped trolling statewide?

Are those reasons still valid.

Kodiak would be a great place for a active troll fleet.

yak2you2

2009-11-30 02:10:24

I'm not quite certain, but I'd guess that boundary lines were drawn based on historical use by the fleet at the time limited entry went into affect. There was some talk a while ago of extending the line out to Kodiak, or having an exclusive area just around the island, but I doubt you'd ever see it happen. In a word; allocation would be the killer. First, the number of troll permits would stay the same, but access to previously untrolled stocks would change dramatically. What do you suppose the Kenai sportfishermen would say when you started picking off their king salmon in Shelikof St. ? or how about the Kodiak gillnetters when you started dipping into their coho stocks? It would turn into a legal battle that would rival the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Sure would be fun though, could you imagine getting a line load of those fat kings that head up some of those rivers?

Salty

2009-11-30 22:18:08

In the late 70's the Alaska Board of Fisheries closed Alaska waters and the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council closed Federal waters off of Alaska West of Cape Suckling to trolling. While there had been some trolling off of Kodiak and particularly out of Seward the fishery was not well established. During that time period Cook Inlet and other Chinook stocks were low and lots of fisheries were being cut back to rebuild the runs, or so the story goes.

Trollers persisted in regularly proposing the closure be repealed into this century. I lobbied and worked hard on the AP to the North Pacific Fisheries Management Council (I represented hand trollers) to repeal the closure particularly as the Chinook runs westward returned to health. We seldom received any support from westward salmon interests.

I changed my tune in the late 90's and told ATA and others that I no longer supported re-establishing trolling westward. While it would be wonderful to harvest Chinook off of Kodiak, Sockeye off the Aluetians, and coho all over the Gulf it is an impossible political problem. Plus, I have learned that many of the westward Chinook are far migrating Canadian, SE, and South 48 stocks. So we would have to include them in the existing quota. Thus, we end up with trollers fishing out of Kodiak and Sand Point harvesting a good share of the SE quota.

Additionally as it turns out troll caught salmon are usually worth many times the ex-vessel value of net caught salmon westward. In some years the disparity in coho values have been 5-10 times. $2.50 per lb. for troll caught SE coho vs. $.25 for gillnet coho in King Cove. And this does not even start to get into freezer troll values. I started to think about how wonderful it is that the only way consumers can get the highest quality wild Alaska Salmon, troll caught ocean harvest, is by coming to SE trollers. That if for some reason trolling was still open westward and we tried to close it now, there would be a huge battle as those fishermen and communities tried to protect their highest value local salmon fishery.

Thus, why try to force those westward to compete with us. Why not celebrate the fact that SE Alaska trollers have the only Alaska troll caught salmon, recognized around the world as the highest quality salmon? And be vigilant about any efforts for enlightened westward salmon fishermen to horn in on our good fortune.

steffco

2009-12-01 00:51:59

Thanks for the feedback, It does shed some light on my question.

I still would love to troll Kodiak though...

Salty

2009-12-02 17:45:33

While I was working for the Alaska Marine Conservation Council I had the opportunity to make several trips to Kodiak, staff a booth at Comfish, and travel to Old Harbor for some outreach. Invariably when locals found out I was a SE salmon troller sport fishermen would come by and talk Chinook trolling gear and techniques. I had detailed conversations with Freddy Christianson on my trip to Old Harbor for example. I just saw an ad in a NW sport fishing magazine with pictures of the Christianson's salmon and halibut guiding business out of old harbor.

I am sure we could develop a healthy troll fishery off of Kodiak. Imagine the fun tangling with those 90 lb. Kenai slugs. Imagine the price wild Alaska troll caught ocean fresh Copper River and Yukon Kings would demand. Imagine the consternation of the trawlers as ubiquitous trollers kept their eyes on them, making sure they weren't trawling where they were not supposed to. Imagine the benefit to westward processors when they could start including the best wild Alaska salmon, troll caught ocean feeders, along with their other seafood. Think of the benefit to young local fishermen who could start into the fishery with their own boats for a relatively minimal investment. (My son started his trolling career by turning $2500 into a power troll permit and working wood troller.) Think of the added value to the salmon harvest when you turn a $.25 pound gillnet caught coho into a $2.50 lb troll caught coho.

I see all this talk about quality and the need to improve salmon quality in our Alaska fisheries. There was just another article this week in the Anchorage Daily News about how Bristol Bay fishermen were being advised to improve quality. Well, the best way to produce the highest quality Alaska wild salmon is to harvest it with troll gear, immediately bleed every one, chill them within seconds of coming aboard or dress them within a couple of minutes and then chill or freeze them.

carojae

2009-12-03 08:15:07

I thought we couldn't fish over there because Clem Tillion hated our guts and had no sympathy for us low-life trollers :x .

They always used the term "mixed stock" which meant to them that there had to be a weak and depressed run in there somewhere. And so, they decided they could get us all by declaring that they must error on the side of the fish and they couldn't allow any fishing from fishermen who couldn't control what fish they were going to catch; meaning from what system.

Yeah, mixed stock. Blah blah blah........and so on. I always wondered if Halibut Cove was his sanctuary and no troller should approach.

JMHO