Chum Troll Update – Neets Bay

24 September 2018:  Neets Bay Chum Troll Update:

Participation in the Neets Bay troll fishery has decreased to 9 trollers. Current chum troll catch rates are minimal. Fishing effort is focused on the harvest of coho.

Coho predominate the harvest. Current catch rates are approximately 60 coho per delivery.

Average weight is 7.2 pounds per chum. The average weight for the majority of the coho is 10.3 pounds per fish.

One processor is tendering the bay on a fairly regular basis.

Current Harvest Summary on 24 September 2018:

Active Trollers Total Harvest (Est. Pounds) Total Harvest

(Est. Fish)

Total Troller Days Fished Current Catch Per Troller/Day
9 1,255,000 122,000 1801 <5 fish

17 September 2018:  Neets Bay Chum Troll Update:

Troll effort at Neets Bay has increased to 13 trollers. Current chum troll catch rates are approximately 10 fish per delivery.

Coho predominate the harvest. Current catch rates are approximately 81 coho per delivery.

Average weight is 7.6 pounds per chum. The average weight for the majority of the coho is 10.3 pounds per fish.

One processor is tendering the bay on a fairly regular basis.

Current Harvest Summary on 17 September 2018:

Active Trollers Total Harvest (Est. Pounds) Total Harvest

(Est. Fish)

Total Troller Days Fished Current Catch Per Troller/Day
13 1,255,000 122,000 1737 10 fish

10 September 2018:  Neets Bay Chum Troll Update:

Participation in the troll fishery at Neets Bay has increased to 8 active trollers. Coho predominate the catch. Chum catch rates have increased to approximately 20 fish per day. Catch data from the end of statistical week 36 has not been included.

The average weight is 8.8 pounds per chum, and 9.4 pounds per coho.

One processor is tendering the bay every several days.

Current Harvest Summary on 10 September 2018:

Active Trollers Total Harvest (Est. Pounds) Total Harvest

(Est. Fish)

Total Troller Days Fished Current Catch Per Troller/Day
8 1,248,000 121,000 1625 20 fish

4 September 2018:  Neets Bay Chum Troll Update:

There is minimal troll effort at Neets Bay. Coho predominate the catch. Fall chum and Coho are being caught in the area.

One processor is tendering the bay on a fairly regular basis


27 August 2018:  Neets Bay Chum Troll Update:

Troll effort at Neets Bay remains low. Current chum troll catch rates are approximately 10 fish per delivery. Coho predominate the catch.

Average weight is 7.2 pounds per chum.

One processor is tendering the bay daily.

Current Harvest Summary on 27 August 2018:

Active Trollers Total Harvest (Est. Pounds) Total Harvest

(Est. Fish)

Total Troller Days Fished Current Catch Per Troller/Day
4 1,244,000 120,452 1571 10 fish

 

20 August 2018:  Neets Bay Chum Troll Update:

Troll effort at Neets Bay remains low. Catch rates are approximately 15 chum per delivery. There are fall chum in the fishery. Historically, catch rates are expected to increase before the end of August. Coho have entered the fishery which is earlier than past years.

Average weight is 7.7 pounds per chum.

One processor is tendering the bay on a fairly regular basis.

Current Harvest Summary on 20 August 2018:

Active Trollers Total Harvest (Est. Pounds) Total Harvest

(Est. Fish)

Total Troller Days Fished Current Catch Per Troller/Day
4 1,242,880 120,289 1540 15 fish

13 August 2018:  Neets Bay Chum Troll Update:

Participation in the troll fishery at Neets Bay has decreased from last week to 6 trollers. Catch rates remain low at approximately 20 fish per day. Troll catch rates are expected to increase before the end of August. Neets Bay summer chum and fall chum have been caught in corridor fisheries.

Average weight is 8.3 pounds per fish.

One processor is tendering the bay on a daily basis.

Current Harvest Summary on 13 August 2018:

Active Trollers Total Harvest (Est. Pounds) Total Harvest

(Est. Fish)

Total Troller Days Fished Current Catch Per Troller/Day
6 1,242,000 120,184 1511 20 fish

6 August 2018:  Neets Bay Chum Troll Update:

Troll effort at Neets Bay has decreased substantially, to less than 9 active trollers. Catch rates have decreased to less than 100 fish per day. Females now predominate the run.

Average weight is now 8.9 pounds per fish. A small number of Neets Bay fall chum thermal tags have been found in corridor fisheries.

One processor is tendering the bay on a daily basis.

Current Harvest Summary on 6 August 2018:

Active Trollers Total Harvest (Est. Pounds) Total Harvest

(Est. Fish)

Total Troller Days Fished Current Catch Per Troller/Day
9 1,237,000 119,000 1469 60 fish

 


30 July 2018:  Neets Bay Chum Troll Update:

Participation in the troll fishery has decreased from previous weeks to approximately 40 trollers. The harvest had exceeded 1,000,000 pounds by the end of the week. Daily catch rates averaged between 116-152 fish per troller day. Mid-week average catches were relatively higher than other days during the week, with a peak of 164 fish per day.

Warmer weather has still produced good fishing days. Neets Bay summer chum otolith marks have continued to be found in corridor fisheries.

Average weight has remained below 10 pounds and continues to stay above 9.5 pounds.

Two processors are tending the area on a daily basis.

Current Harvest Summary on 29 July 2018:

Active Trollers Total Harvest (Est. Pounds) Total Harvest

(Est. Fish)

Total Troller Days Fished Current Catch Per Troller/Day
40 1,082,217 103,247 1338 150 fish

23 July 2018:  Neets Bay Chum Troll Update:

Participation has varied through this week with from about 50 to 65 boats actively fishing. Daily harvest per boat has also varied from about 60 fish to 140 fish, most likely related to weather changes.  Some boats are currently leaving the fishery. We have reached the period when you would expect the peak chum abundance in the outer portion of Neets Bay where most of the harvest occurs.  This should continue for another week plus or minus.

Fish size has decreased to about 10 pounds or slightly less.  The run is still slightly male, suggesting the peak is just occurring…and that the run is a little later than usual.  This may cause some confusion in the fleet gauging run timing as last summer the return was several days earlier than usual.

Two processors are tendering the area on a daily basis.


Current Harvest Summary on 23 July 2018:

Active Trollers Total Harvest (Est. Pounds) Total Harvest

(Est. Fish)

Total Troller Days Fished Current Catch Per Troller/Day
50 728,300 65,500 1091 90 fish

 


 16 July 2018:  Neets Bay Chum Troll Update:

The larger area of Behm Canal opened to troll at the end of last week.  A few additional boats entered the fishery at that time.  Our on-the-water counts of active boats fishing, went up to a high of 66 and have stayed at about that number through the last several days.

Harvest is increasing as the run builds. This year there has been more variance between the individual troller daily harvest than usual; some boats may be harvesting at the historic expected numbers or slightly less – while some are not.  This may change as abundance increases.

The fish are still large, currently averaging more than 11 pounds.  The run is also still predominantly male, suggesting we are still relatively early in the return.

Two processors are tendering the area on a daily basis.

Current Harvest Summary on 15 July 2018:

Active Trollers Total Harvest (Est. Pounds) Total Harvest

(Est. Fish)

Total Troller Days Fished Current Catch Per Troller/Day
66 356,800 30,950 685 98 fish

 

Neets Bay Chum Troll Report, through 4 July:

Chum trolling starting gaining momentum on 1 July when there were 18 trollers in the fishery.  The current boat count, as of the afternoon of 3 July, was 43.  Approximately 47,000 lbs. were harvested between July 1 and July 3. The average fish weight is about 13 lbs, which is higher than average. The fishery is being tendered daily by two local processors.  We will update this information weekly.