June 17, 2024 — Dave Bitts can bring in over 100 salmon by himself.
“That’s an exceptionally good day. If I catch 20 fish it’s worth the trip,” says Bitts.
At 76, he still fishes for salmon alone. Standing in the cockpit on the stern deck of his wooden trawler, Elmarue, he can keep an eye on all six wires; when one of the lines starts to dance, he brings the fish in, stunning it with his gaff while it’s still in the water. Then he uses the tool to hook the salmon behind the gills and swings it onto the deck.
“By the way, I want that fish cleaned and chilling in a single water flush within half an hour; that’s the standard,” says Bitts. “I want you to enjoy eating it as much as I enjoyed catching it.”
Bitts has commercial permits for both crab and salmon. Normally, in late May, he’d be out salmon fishing; instead, he’s just returned from a late crab run and tucked Elmarue into her slip at Woodley Island, a tidy marina in Humboldt Bay right across the waterfront near Eureka’s Old Town.
In April, for the second year in a row, the Pacific Fishery Management Council voted unanimously to close California’s commercial and recreational ocean salmon fishery. The closure was based on woefully low numbers of adult salmon expected to return to several California rivers.
The east end of the marina is stocked with sailboats and pleasure craft, but on the west end you can spot several commercial boats — Inua, Joy Ann, and My Lady, her deck piled high with crab pots.
“There’s not that many anymore, because there’s not much salmon season anymore,” says Bitts.