The coho salmon that Jeremy Brown cradles in his hands looks as though he just pulled it from the heaving North Pacific waters where he makes his living as a troll fisherman.

Troll fishers like Brown catch their fish one at a time, using metal lures dangling from poles. The poles stand straight up when Brown's 42-foot vessel, Barcarole, is moored at Squalicum Harbor or en route to the fishing grounds. Once on those grounds, the poles are lowered, jutting out at a 45-degree angle to trail lures in the water.

The lures Brown uses are painted in an optic green and orange pattern that doesn't seem to mimic any natural food a salmon would encounter, but they work. The fish he catches in deep sea waters are gorging themselves as they near the climactic stage of their life cycle, building up the fat reserves they need to propel themselves up rivers to spawning grounds.

When Brown catches a salmon, he …  read more

Tags: pacific northwest fishing, trolling, fishing, commercial salmon fishing

Tags: trout fishing Oregon Cascades, fishing British Columbia, Alaska fishing trip, Pacific Northwest Fishing