FISH ON WITH LANCER JIGS BY ZACH HANSEN My grandparents own a fishing lodge on the west coast of British Columbia. Visiting with my family every summer and fall, my earliest memories are fishing in those waters with my granddad and my dad. A hot thermos of coffee would cut the damp, cold mornings and the down riggers sliced the water and the waves knocked arrhythmically into the hull while we trolled for salmon or jigged for cod. Little is as exciting as hooking a fish and confirming the catch as it is netted alongside a boat, but I have never committed to the more involved, technical nuances of fishing. I excuse a skunked boat for having bad luck and credit a lucky boat for the hungry fish it found. As causal as those reasons seem, my nonchalance and ignorance are spared only by the salmon and cod filled seas of Canada and Alaska, a fisherman in the Puget Sound knows better. Here it is not ‘easy’ fishing, and my take would leave me empty handed. Fishing with Duane Wilson I have learned of two types of fishermen: those like myself who hope for hungry fish, and those like Duane who respect the trade as a science,
understanding the biology of the species they are after and the chemistry affected by the environment around them. Differences in the seasons, weather conditions, sun light, water and air temperatures, tidal changes, and storms and winds are only some of the variables accounted for by these fisherman. These variables change and gear and methods used when they cast their lines. Man controlled variables like the depth and colors of the lure, the type of lure, the number of hooks, the boats troll speed, and the length of the liter can be used to match those of the environment and result in hooking fish better than anyone else on the water.
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Tony Benner photos
