Seine Fishing the Fraser River For Pinks

Got Pinks?

These are pink salmon and they taste like candy. If you see any fish flappin’ around these days, perhaps around Ambleside or Deep Cove, it’s a sure bet that those are pinks. These active fellers come around for a few weeks out of the year, and needless to say, they are one of the more active salmon species out there. Did I mention they taste good?

Lucky for me, I know a lad from back in the 100 Mile House days who is one hell of a fisherman now. He invited me out to do some seining out on the Fraser River out by New West. Pretty much a no brainer that I was going to head out with the ol’camera.

For those of you who are unaware of how seining works, here’s the technique in a nutshell.

Basically the smart way to do it is with a three boat system. The main boat (that releases the nets) is the hub of the whole process, and basically where all the action takes place. From the main boat, a skiff runs the nets out behind the boat and forms a big circle with the nets. The nets drop about 25 – 30 feet (using lead line not weights) and this process of getting the nets out takes about 3 – 4 minutes (well, for these guys because they were a well loobed unit eh). After that, basically there’s a purse line that sinks to the deepest level and is the key to the whole process. Basically, you need to sync that sucker up tight at the right time and get that line in first, otherwise the fish escape through the bottom. Basically, it’s a net with a string and the strings at the bottom. Finally, the third boat comes into play as it tugs the main boat away from the line so to avoid getting tangled and is later used to store the fish. Voilá that’s about it.

Anyways, here’s the badass crew that were out today.

These guys are jovial lads for the most part, but they mean business man. The reason for that is the pink season is relatively short and when there’s chances of catching a couple thousand pounds a day, you can understand why.

And if you’ve ever wondered why these lads wear those fun looking pants, it’s because the madness happens when the fish get in the boat. They go effin’ ballistic. Water’s flying everywhere and it’s chaotic. You’ll get the idea over the next few pictures. Oh, and those nets full of fish that are being dead-lifted aren’t light: Pushing about a hundred pounds at their fullest.

Awesome. I was floored to be out there today and would go out and take pictures for any crew at the drop of a hat. This is my kind of thing and any time you can say “I like the cut of your jib” in it’s appropriate context, that’s a good thing.

Jeremy Birch was the name of the tattooed fella in the pictures and huge thanks to him and his crew for letting me go out with them. Also, you’ve made my little Swede at home very happy with all the tasty fish that’s sitting in the fridge right now .

If you’d like to see more pictures from this morning on the water, click here to be re-directed to my (very unorganized but improving everyday) Flickr account.