2014 Chum Prices: Anybody have a clue?

Akjob

2013-11-28 03:45:24

Okay,

I've got a tough question here. I'm trying to get a sense of what guys are expecting will happen to chum prices next year. I'm looking at investing some cash into my chum operation, but it's hard for me to justify if the dock talk is true and we're looking at $.50 a pound or less next year.

Anybody have any insight into what is happening in the chum market right now? Will this continue to be a profitable fishery or not?

Salty

2013-11-29 04:42:03

Pale meat chum is very weak. At NSRAA the staff was thinking less than this year. Still early but 50 cents range is the current estimate I am hearing. Run estimates for chum are down. Over 300 SE trollers targeted chum this year in the second biggest coho year ever. If coho and chums are both weaker it might be a challenge to do well chum fishing or coho fishing. Some of the smartest trollers I know are retiring this year. Dan Falvey, Tom Guggenbickler, and Dennis Parent for example. I am seriously contemplating fishing solo next summer. Price and abundance are factors.

Kelper

2013-11-30 20:02:15

That's a bummer on the chum prices. I'm a bit perplexed on the coho prices. Seems the prices stay relatively the same whether we catch a ton of them or not. Seems that on the years where cohos are scarce, they we should be getting a higher price?

Salty

2013-12-01 18:47:18

Wild salmon, Alaska salmon, and troll coho in particular are such a small % of the world salmon supply that SE coho harvests that vary between 1 and 3 million fish is not much of a factor in price.

JYDPDX

2013-12-02 02:03:42

Another strong argument for existence of the "fish is fish" philosophy taken by our consumers due to lack of information and lack of market penetration with our highest quality troll caught products, especially coho. If these products were niched properly there would absolutely be a supply demand curve for the price of our products. The fact that there is not is very telling about the high ability of our customers to find satisfactory SUBSTITUTE products. This is our own fault for not ensuring our products are marketed properly. There should be no substitutes to our wild caught troll quality.

akfish

2013-12-02 03:23:27

Joe you are right but whats the solution? Does it start with the ASMI? Maybe they should highlight individual fisheries better. Restaurant owners or markets would rather purchase a gillnetted Coho vs Troll Caught. In the end its about the money.

Salty

2013-12-02 05:38:03

The competition that is eroding troll coho markets from what little I hear is the improved quality and increasing percentage of Alaska reds which are frozen. Quite frankly an ocean brite sockeye well handled is a great fish. We take a few home every year.

Anyway, it is nice to have winter king prices back over $9:00 per lb.

JYDPDX

2013-12-02 17:41:54

Yes, at the retail level the prerogative is always buy low and sell high, they flourish off of consumer ignorance.

ASMI, as I understand, a blanket group advocating in a generalized manner for all alaska seafood. It probably does more harm than good to our boutique troll-caught market share.

frankly an ocean brite sockeye well handled is a great fish. We take a few home every year.

Anyway, it is nice to have winter king prices back over $9:00 per lb.
-Great examples of a fisherman thinking like a fisherman.

sj79

2013-12-02 19:28:48

Ha...it's true, Salty does have a sense of humor.

According to him, the hatchery is predicting .50 chums? ...again, that's a good one.

Seems Salty is relying on a not-for-profit to estimate a market they only deal with in terms of receiving bids for cost recovery. If I where them (NSRRA) i'd love to be able to predict next years price with accuracy. Makes planning much easier.

HOLD ON...NSRRA can't even come close to predicting returns from their own hatcheries let along predict what a market might do. For that matter, our government can't predict what the economy will do either, so what's the hope?

.50 chums would be great, but as any forecast you've got to factor in uncertainty and be conservative.

From the buy's side, I've heard .35, which makes planning easier if you think about it.

Salty

2013-12-02 22:43:24

Like a friend told me this fall: "I love being a fisherman, I just hate being treated like one."

Salty

2013-12-05 06:01:20

Here is a link to an interesting article about why chum/Keta salmon is a great salmon value: http://crosscut.com/2013/11/27/diversions/117599/chum-salmon-fishing-seattle-northwest/

Drew

2013-12-10 00:00:27

That article made me curious if these areas are open to washington trollers to fish chums in the fall.

SilverT

2013-12-10 02:38:15

Thanks for the article Salty. I've had some of their product and it was good. Drew, I was curious about the same thing and did some checking. Most Washington chum return to Puget Sound rivers and have to funnel through the Straits of Juan De Fuca. Last time I spoke with a member of the Makah Tribe they were allowed to troll inside the Straits (sometimes classified as part of Puget Sound). As for the rest of the trollers, they are shut-out of the Straits and Puget Sound by WDFW. About the time chum begin to congregate near the entrance to the straits, someone has conveniently arranged for no chum retention in that portion of the ocean.

After seeing how clean the fishery was for trollers in AK, and how effectively seiners and gill-netters fish them in Puget Sound, I thought Washington could easily provide the same opportunity for trollers. Presented with the idea, a WDFW representative informed me that trollers will not fish in Puget Sound again.

Lane

sven

2013-12-17 06:24:31

I've caught several chums with not very much effort when I was sport fishing in Admiralty Inlet. I'm sure that these Puget Sound and Hood Canal chums would bite well. It could be a great little troll fishery. However, whenever I've mentioned getting a Washington chum troll fishery going to anyone the answer has always been the same: "good luck!"

I guess commercial trolling in the puget sound is taboo.

Once and Future

2013-12-17 22:40:33

So what did trollers do to piss off the authorities in Puget Sound?

kjwelder

2013-12-18 05:38:47

Probably nothing. Just fish politics or status quo. I wonder if trollrrs have ever fished in Puget Sound. Anybody have any expirience?

akfish

2013-12-18 06:36:14

I am pretty sure they are allowed to Gillnet there! Go figure!

Salty

2013-12-19 00:21:00

I know they seine chums in Puget Sound.

Hans2

2013-12-19 01:26:19

The Puget Sound is the stomping grounds for a lot of special interests, the sport fisherman not being the least of them (I am one myself). For a number of reasons, I don't see trollers ever getting a shot at a season in there again. Any troll caught fish would be viewed as direct competition with sports.

And there's plenty of competition -

~~[img="~~http://imageshack.us/a/img703/5452/2dyg.jpg" alt=""]

Salty's right, the seiners do work the chums over. Here's the fleet doing the same to the pinks a few months ago off of Mukilteo. They usually hit the chums in the same spot when it opens -

~~[img="~~http://imageshack.us/a/img191/6808/dpto.jpg" alt=""]

I watched those four boats plug their holds in matter of hours.

SilverT

2013-12-19 02:06:40

Thanks for those pictures! The busy pic reminded me of a late September derby we fished near Jefferson Head in Puget Sound. I was just out of high school and my boss had asked me to go with him and his assistant. We had a few small silvers when things slowed down. We were trying everthing and I had read that if you took the boat out of gear sometimes it would cause a strike. Strangely, out of gear and when the lines were almost vertical, these huge silvers would hit. We caught 4, headed for the dock and almost missed the weigh-in. When we walked up we were greated with a surly, "Where'd ya get those?" and a lot of irritated looks. It turned out that we had the 2cnd, 3rd and 4th place fish. Years later I realized we had probably won with chum instead of silvers.

Thanks again,

Lane

Salty

2013-12-19 23:17:52

I have been one of the Sitka Salmon Derby weigh stations for over 25 years. It is common for sportsfishermen to turn in chums thinking they are Chinook.

Thanks for the nice pictures. It is okay with me that serious trolling for the mix of four species of salmon, Pink, Chum, Coho, and Kings is limited to SE Alaska.

Wild Alaska Troll Caught Salmon has a special appeal meaning high intrinsic quality along with the highest handling and sustainable practices.

South 48 and Canadian troll caught salmon are also great fish. It saddens me that trollers in Washington and Canada don't get much of a shot at the chums.