The 2016 Southeast Summer Troll Season was a worthwhile and memorable time for me and my family. Although Murat had begun the season some time in June prior to the first king salmon opener on July 1st, Isabella (12), Andre' (10) and I arrived Sitka, Alaska on July 18th. King salmon retention closed on July 5th and Murat resumed targeting coho salmon until the second king opener. On the day of our arrival Murat had just returned and was selling his latest coho harvest to the Seafood Producers Coop [SPC]. We met Murat at SPC and immediately joined him to catch salmon for the next 8 weeks on board fishing vessel Invictus. Greg Levens was kind enough to share this memory of Murat's first 2016 king salmon landed. Catching King Salmon is one of the most exciting aspects of salmon trolling. Because of their distinctly larger size there is a thrill upon successfully landing a king on board, and owing to their smaller population size, king salmon are more difficult to catch for any harvesters who have not yet discovered the select areas king salmon are known to school and swim.
One of the most notably memorable aspects of our season was the inclusion of Isabella and Andre' as active crew members responsible for icing salmon, cleaning the deck, off loading salmon, and cleaning the fish hold. Until this year, Murat and I had only enjoyed the company of our children, while fishing, as bystanders to the trade of their parents who loved them and did their best to keep them safe and happy. This year we were a team. Among fishermen, it goes without saying that we were not the best team ever assembled. Our weak links included my significant loss ratio while landing fish, Andre's refusal to ice fish, and Isabella's inability to get up before noon. We were glad to be together. Murat worked harder to compensate for his crew who eventually improved a great deal just before it was time to return to Philadelphia.
In eight weeks we landed nearly ten thousand pounds of wild salmon. Each of our salmon was gutted, rinsed, iced, and delivered for processing. The quality of our handling was superior. Our salmon were clean, free of obvious blood, and consistently held at temperatures between 31-32 degrees F. 
We digitally captured a few of our more frequent memories.
With each trip's turn around, we cleaned the fish hold and refilled it with new ice.
Murat landed the most salmon on board and nearly all of the harvest. The average weight of king salmon varied between 10 and 14 lbs slowly increasing throughout the season. During the time where retention of king salmon is prohibited, they must be shaken off the hook without mortally wounding them.
The summer passed too quickly. On the day of our departure it was as if we had only just arrived. Murat and I have worked together for over twenty years building our lives around commercial fishing in Alaska. Our kids are growing up with exposure to a way of life as old as civilization that has remained as relevant today as it has ever been. It was rewarding to increase our bottom line — but absolutely priceless to share our values, time, and trade with our children through a fun, educational experience that they too consider unforgettable.
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