Trollers
The process of bringing the public fresh-from-the-ocean wild salmon begins with
the trollers. The men and women who work the 14 hour days, rain
or shine, to take advantage of the narrow window of opportunity
provided by the wild coho and chinook salmon runs. Although they are
not the only ones involved in the often complicated
logistics of getting troll-caught wild salmon to the fresh fish
marketplace, from the boat deck to the barbeque deck, we would like to
begin introducing you to the CSMA community by sharing a few troller
biographies.
Greg Howe

Greg
Howe started hand trolling in 1967 at the age of 15 when he fished in
Lynn Canal and Glacier Bay. At that time his craft was his
family's 21-foot Glaspar cabin cruiser, the Tyee. He was fishing
with rod and reel and only sold fish a couple times that summer.
He says he didn't start seriously commercial fishing until 1975 when he
hand trolled from the Windrush, a 26-foot sailboat. Nowdays he fishes
aboard his power troller the Keta. Greg lives on the Inian
Islands year round and also has a hand troll permit. In the
winter he really enjoys fishing from his 18-foot skiff Hobbit Hole for
the elusive and much-prized winter king salmon.
Debra Page

In 1977 Debra Page bought an outboard engine, borrowed an 18-foot skiff
and became an Alaskan fishing captain. Her boats grew larger as
her two sons Taiga and Ryland grew strong catching and eating their
wild king, silver and red salmon. On board the Madam Ching, she
has shared her love of the Southeast Alaskan wilderness under the
Fairweather Mountains with her sons, and her pride in providing the
best eating fish in the world. "I'll fish forever," Debra says,
"Or until I stop feeling awe when I see a humpback whale or feeling a
volt of joy when I pull in a big king salmon."
Debra's children's book, Orcas Around Me (Albert Whitman 1997), tells
the adventures of family fishing in Alaska. (Her husband Bobo-o
captains his own troller). Orcas won the Alaska Literacy
Council's best alaskan kid's book award in 2000.
Bob Bell
Bob Bell's sense of humor is obvious in his boat name, The Village
Idiot, but Bob-o is serious about bringing excellent Alaskan wild king
salmon, silver salmon, and red salmon to the market. Since 1978
he has fished northern Southeast Alaska under the Fairweather Range of
mountains, and raised his sons Taiga and Ryland to appreciate this
special wilderness and the Alaskan wild salmon that thrive there.
The one thing Bob-o likes more than catching salmon is eating
salmon. His favorite recipe is a fresh grated ginger and tamari
marinate on a grilled fillet cooked only long enough to make the wild
salmon flake onto his fork.
Hap Leon

Coming to Alaska in 1977 as a fish biologist, Hap soon realized that
he could learn more about fish by being out on the water with them than
he could by reading about them. One thing led to another, and by
1983 he had “caught the bug” and was fishing his own boat. Three
years later he relocated to Cross Sound, and not much longer after that
he realized that he could make a living catching fish.
When he is not fishing, Hap might be crunching numbers to estimate fish
populations, smoking fish, or playing the drums. He has set a
goal of becoming the hermit-at-the-head-of-the-bay in Elfin Cove, but
is failing miserably at achieving it.
Hap is pleased to participate in a fishery managed on a sustainable
basis, in which the Alaska Department of Fish and Game takes care to
ensure adequate spawning escapement, while allowing careful harvest of
the surplus.
Phil Emerson

Phil Emerson started hand trolling in 1974 in a plywood dory
he built himself. He has fished every year since, though has owned a
32' fiberglass powertroller since 1979. He lives in a remote southeast
bay, population 4, where he and his wife raised and home-schooled their
2 children. Phil is capable of doing most anything that comes up, both
on the boat and living a subsistence lifestyle. He harvests seafood
year-round to feed his family the best diet on earth. His commitment to
delivering the best possible quality salmon to the public is deep. He
refuses to sacrifice quality for quantity, even when it affects his
income. He hopes to continue fishing far into the future, so has a
solid stake in maintaining the abundance of salmon through sound
management of their runs.
Eric Jordan
Eric’s father, Wilhelm “Skip” Jordan started fishing Cross
Sound with Eric’s mother, Marilyn, in 1946 on the 32 foot “Salty”. Eric’s grandfather “Christian” hand trolled
out of an open skiff in Southern Chatham in
the early 60’s. Eric has been hand and power trolling his own
boats in Cross Sound nearly every season since 1978. Eric and his wife, Sarah, show up nearly
every year for the fall coho run on their present boat the “I Gotta”. They were joined in 2005 by son, Karl
Jordan, on the “Lory”.
Eric has
been active in troll fishery politics since the mid 70’s and is considered a
pioneer in the round chum and pink fisheries.
The Jordan
family life trolling is chronicled in Marilyn Jordan George’s award winning
book, “Following the Alaskan Dream”.
Steve Stromme
The only certifiable Norwegian in our fleet, Steve has been fishing
commercially for over 25 years from Oregon to Alaska. Every
morning at the crack of dawn, the Stromme-dog ventures out on the briny
deep with his trusty cat, Puss (who eats fish only if it comes from a
cat-food can). Sometimes he is also joined by his daughter Katie,
or his son, Erik (who got straight-A’s in school last year).
Now and then Steve will take a break from his fishing day to enjoy his
favorite fishing recipe: open a bag of Doritos, and eat them till
they’re gone.
Scott Visscher

Scott
started fishing as a crewman in 1981 and by the 1983 season he had
bought himself a skiff and handtroll permit so that he could fish for
himself. Scott handtrolled for five years and bought the Georgia,
his current boat, in 1987. What attracted Scott to fishing in the
beginning is what keeps him fishing still: “Wild land, wild people,
wild fish. ‘Nuff said.”
Dennis Montgomery
D ennis arrived in
Ketchikan,
just after finishing High School, to become a logger. A fellow on the street suggested he walk the
docks and look for a crew position on a purse seiner instead. He was hired on the "Claudia", made
$600 cash the first "opener, and has been fishing ever since. It has been said that many old growth trees
breathed a sigh of relief the day Dennis was diverted to fishing. He started
hand trolling with his own boat several years later.
While exploring all of
Southeast Alaska,
he found that fishing the Inian Passes was the most interesting and rewarding
of all the places he had been so far. Following th
e tradition that bigger is better, he fished larger and
larger boats until he had a 50 foot troller and was freezing his fish at
sea. It was rewarding but kept him from
being with his family.
Dennis now fishes a 23 foot boat, the "Eye
Catcher", when he is not busy running his small fishing resort,
"South Passage Outfitters".
He knows that quality Salmon depends on the fishers handling
of it from the moment the fish is caught to the time it heads to market.
Dennis is happy to be part of this community of professional
fishers.

Fred Howe
"Many of my fondest memories are of fishing. Catfish and crawfish
in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Trout in Yellowstone country. Salmon purse seining and
shrimp fishing in Alaska.
In the summer of 1974 I stumbled into salmon trolling. One of my favorite
pastimes and they even pay me for the fish. I'm still at it!"
More CSMA trollers
Sarah Jordan |
Lane Ply |
Joe Craig |

Zane Gibbons
| |