Oregon Salmon Season - Forums Archive

saltyfish

2012-03-10 01:23:13

For anyone down in the lower 48 or anyone that cares, it looks like its going to be a pretty stellar season down here in Oregon. With like 4x the fish as last year expected to be coming through and the season opening April 1st :D

Abundance

2012-03-10 02:23:49

I am really glad for you guys. Up here it seems like we hear little but bad news south of the border. It's good to finally see something positive. It's good news for all of us that fish stock are looking good. We catch many of the same kings, so maybe we will have a good summer to. April 1st is just around the corner, you guys had better start getting your gear tied! I hope the weather is fishable, It's been too nasty fish here. It blew over a hundred last night again. I heard that the boats that are out were up all night watching their anchors.

Salty

2012-03-10 19:39:22

Actually, It is bad news for us Alaska Trollers that California abundance is way up.

Very few, if any, Chinook south of the Rogue River are ever caught in Alaska.

The additional troll Chinook on the market will further depress salmon prices that are being hammered by a glut of farmed salmon.

Columbia river fall Chinook, Hanford Reach fish in particular, do migrate to SE Alaska and their abundance contributes to the model that sets our Quotas. Nevertheless because of other Chinook stock issues, particularly West Coast Vancouver, I don't expect the Alaska Chinook quota to improve much, certainly not enough to cover the price decline due to the glut of farmed salmon and improved US west coast troll production.

So, while the improved production in California does not help us financially, I don't think many of us begrudge our fellow trollers finally getting a break after a series of tough years. In fact I applaud the efforts of trollers who have been fighting for water rights on the Klamath, Sacramento, and other rivers for the salmon for years. I notice that the Republicans in the House of Representatives voted to override the courts and allocate water away from fish to the almond farmers. Fortunately it is not going anywhere in the Democratic Senate.

Good luck to all and may the clatters on opening day be sustained for weeks.

salmon4u

2012-03-11 04:40:46

drifting almost every night, trying not to get run over by shrimpers and freighter traffic, fog that can set in, thermal lows, 30kt winds for weeks, Oregon State income tax, high cost of permit renewal. The Oregon fishery seems to have huge ups and downs. hmmm, hope it's a really really good year.

lone eagle

2012-03-11 05:28:12

Don't forget crabpots out to 60 fathoms and knarly river bars....

Salty

2012-03-11 19:04:36

Wow, we don't have any of those freighter, crab-pot, or state income tax issues. And the aluminum bats work well for knocking the ice off the superstructure.

Abundance

2012-03-11 21:11:41

I personally drift only a couple of nights a year, and not every year. That's one good thing that we have, we fish generally just a few minutes away from one of the thousands of bays and sheltered areas in these islands. No matter what direction that it is blowing, or what speed the gusts are, you can always find a flat calm spot to fish. I once came fairly close to a cruise ship at night, and have lost gear on longlines, shrimp and crab pots, but those are things that you remember for years. Alaskan fishermen have a somewhat deserved reputation for toughness, but when it comes to trolling we are just plain wimps sometimes. I know that I fished around a California boat for a while last August, and they were going out into stuff that I considered unfishable. They described the seas off of Coronation Island as merely fifteen feet, and not even all that steep. Just an average day if they were out tuna trolling. I think that they drifted that night. I was fishing in glassy still waters behind Warren Island. Catching only half as much of course, but comfortable. Maybe the Fairweather Grounds guys do that sort of thing regularly, but I need to catch some serious fish to keep me out in the bouncy bounce. I would like to know some more about the fishery down south. Do you guys get to fish any salmon besides kings? Do you sell to locale restaurants and the like, or to a fish buyer? I have heard of gillnetters in the rivers down there, but do people fish salmon with nets in the ocean also? Competition with netters is one of our biggest problems.

saltyfish

2012-03-12 01:58:11

Ya there is really only a king season in the ocean and its only troll, except I think washington has a small coho season. A lot of trollers will gear up for tuna later in the summer (july-september), probably similar to how you guys switch to Coho instead of Kings.

And ya we almost always drift. Which can get kinda scary especially when your in the shipping lanes (seems like every night out tuna fishing is in the shipping lanes), just got to make sure your radar alarm is on. I wish we could just pull up to a little cove overnight and drop anchor, but then again you get use to it and its not that bad.

As for selling most guys just sell their salmon to mobile truck buyers, but I am sure there are a lot of guys that sell to restaurants and such. The thing with selling to restaurants is that the only way to sell away from the boat (in Oregon) is to buy a wholesale permit which costs like $450 a year. However, for like $40 a guy can buy a permit which allows you to sell to the public right off the boat, which is a good way to sell iced tuna because there is a lot of local cliental for people buying large orders (100 lbs or more) to take home and can it themselves in mason jars. You just lose fishing days sitting at the dock cutting up fish for folks, so most guys just sell to a fish buyer.

Abundance

2012-03-12 03:48:38

That's kind of what I have heard. It's a good thing that you have tuna, that's always looked like a fun fishery to me. I like to eat tuna a lot, but it is a scarce thing this far north. Every so often you see a few move through, but they mostly just break our salmon gear if you get one. I do remember getting a small one aboard when I was about seven, that sure was good eating. There are few things that I enjoy more than sitting back on a warm summers evening in a remote bay, not a breath of wind, listening to the birds back in the woods, sun setting behind the mountains, a bear maybe digging clams on the beach, nobody around for many miles. I have to admit, it's hard for me to imagine fishing without that to look forward to. But it's like you say, a guy doesn't miss what he doesn't have, and he gets used to it if he does. I understand what you are saying about the buyers. We are allowed to sell from the boat if you have a permit, but we have little reason to do so. Sometimes in the winter I see people sell salmon off of their boats, and a lot of the small time crabbers and shrimpers sell of their boats. Our family used to sell shrimp on the street all winter, and that was a lot of fun. The only way to make any real money is to sell to a buyer, as there are usually not enough people in town to sell a significant load to, but I have always liked the idea of direct to the public. It makes the whole business more personal. Are there very many boats down there? Do the trollers manage to get by on trolling, or do they have to have jobs or other fisheries on the side?