I have fished for KingSalmon, WhiteFish, NorthernPike, and SheFish with set nets all of my life. My parents have a picture of my in the boat checking fishnets less than a year old. But I’ve only just considered fishing a form of trapping. I guess I did t think about it that much. These pictures and Videos are mostly from the 2020 summertime King Salmon fishing season. I was wondering if anybody else considers Set Net Fishing a form of Trapping?

Now I am hungry. Can't use nets here. Only lines with bait and hook. Setting out fishing lines is a lot like trapping to me. Doesn't depend on prices paid either. I only fish for food for my family. I like to use a rod and reel too. Often drifting for catfish in the reservoirs around here

I always considered a set net as torture for my back. Only did that two years and then I wised up and built a fish wheel. Waaaaaaaay easier !

That’s awesome I have friends down river from me that build fish wheels, but on my river the water is to clear a lot of the summer to work effectively

That sure does cut down the efficiency of both wheels and nets...especially when it starts clearing up in the fall

Great pictures again. Yes! Fishing and trapping are almost the same thing. In fact what we call pots are called traps on the east coast. Shrimp pot

well there's fish traps - not sure net setting is called trapping

That's right too. Fish traps are a great way to put up a lot of fish in a short amount of time.

I’ve seen pictures of elders here in my village building fish traps but I’ve never tried to build one. Might be a project for next summer

Fish traps are legal here but the size is so limited they are used only for bait. I make then from hail screen instead of netting.

Love the photo of your daughter, she is cute. Great photos thanks for post them......jk

Thanks she’s grown a lot in the last 2 years and has taken 3 caribou since this photo was taken.

Fun, but I must say, those are some nasty looking salmon!

These fish dried out a bit. Rode in the back of my pickup about 45 minutes to get home. Does not hurt the meat if you butcher right away. I cut the tail off the one to bleed it when my wife said take a picture. The girl is my middle daughter. She helped set the lines and land the fish. They are called flathead catfish around here. I think they are delicious. Especially the belly meat and the two slabs that come off their head.

I should add I am glad now my wife said take a picture. Those two are the biggest I ever caught and the oldest son of the girl in the photo just made me a great grampa. She was still in high school when we caught those fish. It was the summer between her JR and SR year of high school. So its an old photo but I like looking at it time to time

I believe the Yukon kings hold up better than ours. Been a long time since I ate Yukon king. Around here those would be white meat and your fingers would push through the meat.

Wow those are some cool looking fish. Up here in north Alaska the only catfish like fish around are what we call suckerfish, and some others south of us. The Yukon River Kings we get have most of the saltiness washed out of them but still enough fat that they are just perfect. Funny thing is what the fish looks like on the outside has almost no effect on the meat inside.

You guys don't have burbot?

That’s the one I mentioned that is south of us. Seems like they like muddy or darker warmer water, not the clear cold water of the Chandalar where I am, but with warming water there are a lot more Northern Pike moving in so maybe they’ll be moving up next

Those flat heads are not bottom feeders. They are predators. they dont eat rotten stuff. when you run your lines any dead bait has to be replaced with live bait. so not just any fish is a good bait choice. lines are usually ran early morning and again in late evening. they dont like heavy current either like blues and channels. (bottom feeders) They like to hang out in structure. In eddys or pools with little or no current. rivers with little current to begin with usually have them. They will travel upstream though in the spring when the rivers flood. They tend to congregate below dams in outlet pools then. They have fat but like spoonbills its mostly in the abdomen. Big gobs of fat. Oil rendered from that fat is good stuff on the trap line