Salmon Fishing Lodge Part III

Salmon Fishing Lodge Part III

The Equipment

               When heading to the remote wilderness area to hunt for the elusive King salmon, there is one variable that you can control, the quality, reliability and safety of the equipment. Fishing the open ocean can be tough and dangerous and you need the right equipment. Let's start with the boats.

Questions you need to ask the potential lodge:

1. How old are your boats? Guide boats can take a beating and older boats are generally less reliable. Look for a quality manufacture as well. The boats should be the best available.

2. How large are your boats? Being cramped in a small boat is not fun if you are on the water for 12 hours. Large boats can stay at the hot spot when the afternoon winds pick up when the smaller boats are forced to head elsewhere. Having more room also allows for back up equipment, a good first aid kit and places to safely hold very large fish. 

3. Cleanliness, A boat that is clean inside and out tells you that the boat is attended to each day. It shows that the lodge takes care of their equipment and increases the odds that that equipment will take care of you.

4. What Navigation and Communication equipment is one each boat? Each system should have a back up, electronics fail and you don't want to be lost or stranded or worse. 

5.  Do all your boats have at least two motors? Generally when salmon fishing you have the main engine and a kicker for trolling but this is not always the case. With only one motor and a small boat, things could get ugly in a hurry if the motor fails. Help from your lodge may be 45 minutes or more away, and that is plenty of time for your boat to be pushed into a rocky shoreline.

Fishing Equipment

Ask the lodges what type of rods and reels will be used, do your own research, are they the best? Make sure there are spares of everything on the boat that are in perfect working order. It is important that these reels are frequently respooled, the big salmon can put a toll on the line.

And the last step to successfully landing that big fish...the net. Seems like a no brainer but this is often over-looked. You can't land a 60 pound fishing with just any net. 

Images courtesy of The Good Hope Cannery