How to Set Crab Pots in Alaska

Our boat was sold to us complete with a lot of different types of fishing gear. Some of the gear consisted of crab pots, line, buoys, and bait hooks.

Crab pots and related items can be found in any good marine store - we get most of our stuff from Murray Pacific in Ketchikan, Alaska. They have great gear, good prices, and most importantly, helpful staff.

Sport crab gear includes pots, floating line, buoys, bait hooks, and bait. If you have seen "The Deadliest Catch" on TV, then you may have an idea how crabbing works. Of course, with sport gear, you can choose whether or not you want to go out in bad weather and there are a lot less pots which are smaller and you can handle them without mechanical help from smaller boats - even skiffs and canoes.

We set our pots at depths between 30-80 feet, on average at 60 feet. The bait we use are leftover salmon heads that we had caught previously and kept frozen for crab bait. We put the bait hook through the fish head and hook it on the inside of the crab pot.

Location: There are many local hot spots for crab and the best thing to do is ask people where they are. Usually, we find that crab are plentiful near the mouths of streams, in relatively shallow areas.

There are certain regulations that need to be followed when crab fishing. Check the regulation booklets which can be found in any sports and outdoor stores. Regulations dictacte where you can and cannot place pots, what size pots you are allowed to use, and how you need to prepare the pots in terms of escape holes in case you lose your pots. In this case, you need openings in the pot secured with degradeable cotton twine. Also, you may only keep male crab that are over a certain width.

We love fresh crab and are fortunate to live in such a bountiful state where we can easily go out and catch crab.

2-Pack of KUFA CT50 Sports Foldable Crab Trap with Red/White Floats, Harness, Bait Bag, Crab Caliper & Lead Core Sinking Line Combo (CT50+CAQ3) x2

Kippered Sockeye, Alaskan Alder Smoked Salmon

Although our fishing season has been slow for us this year, we still managed to get a load of fish in our smokehouse. We usually kipper our salmon and smoke it with alder wood.

To kipper, we put water in a plastic bin with a potato. We add rock salt until the potato floats. Next we add brown sugar and I throw in a little bit of soy sauce. The salmon then soaks in that brine for 20 minutes. Any longer and the fish would become too salty. We let the salmon glaze in the smokehouse for half a day and then start the alder wood smoldering to provide our smoke. Depending on the humidity, we smoke the fish between 24 hours and 72 hours.

When the smoking process has finished, we cut the salmon into the correct lengths to fit into our cans or jars (our last batch was jarred). We then seal the jars and pressure can them.

Smoked salmon is delicious and satisfying when you make it yourself from catching the salmon in the ocean to jarring the smoked fish in a matter of 2 or 3 days!

Smoked salmon can be used with many recipes but some of my favorites are mixing it with fried, diced potatoes and mayonnaise, and of course, smoked salmon spread (chopped onions, dill relish, mustard, mayonnaise, pepper, lemon juice) which is good in a sandwich or on Sailor Boy Pilot Bread.

Presto 01781 Pressure Canner and Cooker, 23 qt, Silver

Ball Mason 32 oz Wide Mouth Jars with Lids and Bands, Set of 12 Jars.

Unpretentious Dark Brown Sugar, Great for Baking, Rich Caramel Flavor, Sweetener (1.8 Pound)

Kikkoman - Traditionally Brewed Soy Sauce, Organic Soy Sauce, All Purpose Seasoning, No Added Preservatives - 1 Gallon

Sailor Boy Pilot Bread Crackers, 2 lb

Western Red Alder Wood Smoking Chips (20 lbs)

Masterbuilt 40 inch Digital Electric Smoker with Window and Legs + Cover Bundle

Halibut Handline

We caught our first halibut by using a handline. Handline is like longline but we pull it up by hand instead of with a power block. It is tough work but in the end it is worth it to catch some tasty Alaskan Halibut!

We put our line down about 300' and used squid as bait. Instead of waiting 3 hours as suggested, we had to pull up early due to declining weather conditions. We waited an hour and a half which turned out to be alright because we caught a lot of other bottom fish.

I can't wait to get out and do it again!

KUFA Sports 300-Foot leaded Rope Coil with 5/16-Inch Diameter for Shrimp & Prawn Trap (AF-LP3), Grey

Beau Mac HLDW89 Halibut Ldr Dbl Hook 80Lb Wire 8/0-9/0 2XL

Longline Fishing Snap Clips, 15pcs Stainless Steel Tuna Clips Longline Branch Hangers Snap Fishing Accessory Easy On Off Downrigger Clips

No Fish So Far

We haven't done well so far this season. We have been trying to catch King Salmon but have only caught one. I feel bad about it except for three things - 1) Salmon fishing in California and Oregon were shut down this year in response to lack of fish, 2) Veteran local fisherman are only getting one or two fish per day, and 3) We haven't gone out much due to our jobs and our house hunting endeavors.

I am worried about the rest of the season and about catching other types of salmon but am hoping this is just a late start. I feel sorry for all of the people who count on fishing for their livelihoods, as we are just sport fishing.

The only King Salmon we caught this year so far was one in May that was a puny 18 pounds. There was a King Salmon fishing derby in Ketchikan and the winner caught a 50 pounder, though.

The types of gear we have used were hoochies, plugs, and spoons. We haven't tried using herring as bait as most other people do so that may be another reason we aren't catching much.

We are waiting for the Cohos, or Silver salmon, to arrive and hopefully will be out of our slump.

Lazy jigging for halibut

What could possibly be better than a relaxing jig for halibut? I wasn't very lucky on this trip (I think we were drifting too fast) but I sure had fun. We had already caught some salmon and crab so I wasn't anxious to catch anything. It would have been worse if we didn't stop and try. That might be true for everything in life. If I remember correctly, this picture was taken at about 9:00 PM.

Three shrimp pots lost on the ocean floor

We lost three shrimp pots. While we were lowering the pots, I thought we were at the end of the line and that a kink in the line would work itself free as it had before. I was wrong on both counts. The bouy sank and we haven't seen the pots since.

Our three sport shrimp pots were spaced about 15 feet apart on a lead line with a bouy on the top end of the line. The target depth was 300 feet and it was near a ledge that dropped to 550 feet. We marked the location on our GPS.

I felt pretty bad about losing the pots but now I understand the state laws that mandate an area of the pots be fastened with cotton. That way, the cotton will decompose and a hole will be created for shrimp to come and go as they please.

As I talked about this with other people I was comforted by finding out that losing pots was a common occurence and realized that is also why a state law existed - because it happened so frequently that it was a problem.

Most people I talked to quickly told me that I needed some type of grappling hook to drag the area in hopes of finding our pots. I constructed one out of rebar and dragged the area a few times to no avail. I believe my problems were 1) lack of time in the area, and 2) no weight on the drag line. I think I need at least a 20 pound weight on the drag line.

The loss of our pots occured last fall and I am anxious to get back out there this spring and hope we can find our pots.

If not, it is always nice to be on our boat, no matter what we are doing.

Walker Downriggers

The type of downriggers we bought were Walker Cohos. They are manual downriggers. They are pretty good for the money - they are inexpensive but get the job done. We will upgrade someday in the future but they are holding up for now.

To mount the downriggers, I had to place some wooden blocks underneath because there are some short walls that come up in the back of our boat and the downrigger arms didn't clear them at first. The blocks are only 2 inches high and that was all that was needed.

It is a good idea to have an extra spool of downrigger wire (or a wire repair kit) on board the boat as well as an extra downrigger weight. We've already had to replace both in one season. They are not much money though, so it's nice to buy them upfront and that way we didn't miss out on much fishing time.

Learning to Fish

Before last year, the extent of my fishing experience was mainly just casting. When we bought our boat (Adventures of Owning a Boat in Alaska), my wife and I learned how to hand troll.

Trolling is a fishing technique where you hang a heavy weight from a downrigger, attach a fishing line, flasher, and hook, and tow this setup behind you in a boat. We usually travel between 2 and 4 knots.

Trolling works great for Alaska King Salmon and Silver Salmon (Cohos) as well as other fish.

We haven't caught any halibut yet and that is our main goal this year.