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Alaska Fishing Guides

Sports Fishing - Hand Trolling

There are many types of fishing in Alaska.  The two most important distinctions are between commercial and sport fishing.

Commercial fishing consists of power trolling, hand trolling, seining, gillnetting, crab, shrimp, and long lining.  Both commercial and sport fishing are regulated and you will need permits for the type of fishing you plan on doing.  An example of the price for seine permit is $45,000.00.  The price for a 7-day, out-of-state sports fishing license is $30.00.

Power trolling and hand trolling are similar except that power trolling uses power to raise and lower the downriggers and hand trolling requires you to use your own power to raise and lower the downriggers.  Of course there are electric downriggers used for hand trolling but the difference also lies in how many lines you are allowed to have in the water at any one time.  Seining is the fishing method where you surround a group of fish with a seine net and ‘scoop’ them up.  In gillnetting, the fishermen lay out a net in a somewhat straight line and catch fish traveling through the area.  Long lining is the fishing method where a long line is laid on the bottom of the ocean with many hooks attached to it that lures bottom fish such as halibut, cod, or snapper.

Sport fishing may be the number one reason people come to Alaska to do.  One type of sport fishing that people do in Alaska is hand trolling.  This is a common method of fishing used around the world for different types of fish and is also used in Alaska to catch salmon.  Two common types of salmon people fish for in Alaska are King Salmon (Chinook) and Silver Salmon (Coho).

Hand trolling uses a set of equipment to catch salmon at different depths.  First, a downrigger lowers a weight to a certain depth so that while the boat is moving, the line is not dragged behind to the surface of the water as would happen without a weight.  The second piece of equipment is the fishing rod which should have a weight capacity to handle the type of salmon you are after.  (Cohos are much lighter on average than King Salmon.)  The bottom of the fishing line from the rod is connected to the weight lowered by the downrigger.  As soon as the salmon bites, it pulls the fishing line from a release mechanism so the fish and the line are free to be retrieved by the fishermen.  The weight is pulled up separately with the downrigger.

Trolling requires many different tools, techniques, and conditions so that you can catch many salmon.  Different lures are used, ranging from bait to lures to ‘hoochies.’  Trolling speed is influential on your catch as is the electrical current your boat emits.  Fishing is better when the barometric pressure is in a good range (usually high) and the slack tide is the best time for fishing.

We will go into more depth on these different topics in the upcoming weeks so be sure to check back often.  If there are certain topics you wished to be discussed more thoroughly, please send email and let us know.