mattakfish
2013-01-31 07:14:10
After several weekend trips with nothing but a few shakers, I finally gaffed my first keeper as a new power troller on Sunday. 40 fathoms. Chartreuse/mylar hot spot. Whole herring. The king wasn't big but it was big enough. Perfect for a couple of great dinners with family and friends! Now, if only I can figure out how to repeat the process 50 or 60 more times this winter, maybe I can buy more gear for this summer! :D
Kelper
2013-01-31 17:43:47
Congrats! I remember my first attempt at gaffing a salmon, and the giant circus it was! Go get more.
Abundance
2013-01-31 18:05:11
Hay, your learning! You've landed more than me this winter. I am taking my first winter off in five years to do boat work. You are making me more jealous than you can believe. My winter king hotspot is also forty fathoms down, although my Dad (who stole it from me this winter) says it hasn't produced much. Working those kings in and bonking them on the head is an art, that is a fact. I don't know how many I lost as a deckhand before I got it down. You should have a good handle on how to do this by the time the kings roll into town this summer or earlier. Keep on enjoying the winter trolling.
Congrats on your first king Matt! I looked at your boat from the outside. It looks pretty nice. Maybe you can give me the grand tour someday. I deckhanded on a 40' Snowball in 1981. I've been out of the business for 30 years, but planning to get back in this summer. I'm really looking forward to trolling again!
Doug
Salty
2013-02-01 02:34:21
That first king of the year is so welcome and so sweet. Time for me to go get the first one. Wrapping up this gear inventory which has turned into a huge task.
Remember in working that king in that your arm is the rod. And when you conk him it is not a tap, you are not hitting him on top of the head, you are driving the head of the gaff through the top of the head, spinning that gaff in your hand without re-cocking it, and slipping it through the gills in virtually one continuous motion. Then you are bracing and slipping that slug over the rail.
Since we are predators, and a big part of our business is taking that fish's life, it is important to do it cleanly with respect. The wonderful thing and disquieting to some, is that it is so personal, we look every fish in the eye. But, that is what separates the live hook and line fisheries from net fisheries. Because we are taking these fish one at a time while they are alive our quality is unsurpassed, and so is our respect for these amazing creatures.
mattakfish
2013-02-02 04:16:03
A long time ago, I started making it a habit to quietly mumble a quick thanks to every fish (and deer) I killed. I continued doing that as a hand troller and I'll keep doing it as a power troller. Maybe it sounds a little goofy, but I have always seen it as a way to keep in mind the fact that I am taking life to sustain mine (for a living and/or for food)
On a less philosophical note....a technical question for salty. You don't conk your kings before you put the gaff in them?
Salty
2013-02-02 20:41:13
With the rare exception of a barely barely hooked king, we conk every one, trying to kill it with one single blow. I don't remember landing one nice king last year without conking first in the water. Usually the conk and the gaff is in one motion as described above. Sometimes, if we don't hit it just right the king will do a death dance and we wait till it is over and re-conk it and then slip the gaff in and slip it aboard. We do not do flying gaffs, over the shoulder, over the cockpit, down onto the checker with a big thump. It is dangerous, hard on our body, and bruises the fish.
On coho we conk most of em. On chums and pinks we rarely conk em, but we slip them aboard into the de-hooking, bleeding bin in as smooth a motion as possible. We don't see enough sockeye, less than a handful a year, to bother netting them, which seems the best way to handle those wild spinning jumping balls of energy.
The biggest king I had two years ago was barely hooked on a big superior. He was wild, about 50 pounds, and when I got him close enough to see how he was hooked, barely in the tip of the nose, I knew that he would get off if I didn't get a perfect conk. I thought about trying to gaff him without conking but knew he would likely get off the gaff and hook in the ensuing struggle to pull him aboard alive. Then he would bleed to death and it would be a tragic waste. So I carefully worked him into conking range and swung hard. He moved with the gaff halfway down and I hit him mostly on the nose. He went wild, ran to the end of the leader, jumped and the hook went flying one way while he went the other.
I hope he made it to spawn as those are the kind of genes we want replicated in the Chinook pool, the king of salmon.