How We Fish: Trolling Wild Alaska Salmon
There are almost as many ways to catch a fish as there are fish in the ocean. For each species of fish, there are only a few effective commercial methods to bring the Wild Alaskan bounty to a dinner table. For Catch Sitka Seafoods' salmon, there is only one way - an ancient hook and line method called "fish trolling."
Fish trolling (not to be confused with "trawling," a very different beast indeed) is a type of fishing that requires small boats to pull various types of lures through the icy Gulf of Alaska waters that Wild Alaskan salmon are enticed to bite. Once a salmon has bitten the lure, it is brought to the back of the boat by hand, stunned in the water and carefully hauled aboard, one fish at a time. The fish are then bled, gutted and iced immediately to preserve the catch for delivery.
This all occurs out on the ocean, far away from the rivers and final spawning runs that start to drain the salmon of its lifetime of accumulated nutritional bounty. Fish trolling is the only way to consistently pick Wild Alaskan salmon out of the ocean at the very peak of its life cycle. It is partnering with selected boats in the troll fleet who engage in this careful and deliberate process that allows Catch Sitka to offer up the highest quality Wild Alaskan salmon available.
For a peek at what it looks like to catch a King Salmon using the fish trolling method, check out this video from our fisher-family the Greens, on the F/V Haven.
There are almost as many ways to catch a fish as there are fish in the ocean. For each species of fish, there are only a few effective commercial methods to bring the Wild Alaskan bounty to a dinner table. For Catch Sitka Seafoods' salmon, there is only one way - an ancient hook and line method called "fish trolling."
Fish trolling (not to be confused with "trawling," a very different beast indeed) is a type of fishing that requires small boats to pull various types of lures through the icy Gulf of Alaska waters that Wild Alaskan salmon are enticed to bite. Once a salmon has bitten the lure, it is brought to the back of the boat by hand, stunned in the water and carefully hauled aboard, one fish at a time. The fish are then bled, gutted and iced immediately to preserve the catch for delivery.
This all occurs out on the ocean, far away from the rivers and final spawning runs that start to drain the salmon of its lifetime of accumulated nutritional bounty. Fish trolling is the only way to consistently pick Wild Alaskan salmon out of the ocean at the very peak of its life cycle. It is partnering with selected boats in the troll fleet who engage in this careful and deliberate process that allows Catch Sitka to offer up the highest quality Wild Alaskan salmon available.
For a peek at what it looks like to catch a King Salmon using the fish trolling method, check out this video from our fisher-family the Greens, on the F/V Haven.
