FISHING GROUNDS
Words and Music by Ken Hamm

This brilliant song by Ken Hamm tells about his experiences trolling for salmon off British Columbia’s north coast. It is sung here by Ken accompanied by Doug Cox on dobro, James Young on bass, Buff Allen on drums and Bruce Everett on the flute introduction and harmonica. Fishing Grounds can be found on his 1995 CD Eagle Rock Road (see his contact info below).  See also Folk Songs of BC and Folksong as Folklore.

LYRICS:

1. Well, light comes early, it’s early in the day,
It’s four o’clock and we’re on our way,
Ah we’re looking for smiley, but he can’t be found,
Bitter days, on the fishing grounds.

2. And we tacked off Hippa, in a dirty lump,
And the pigs were bouncing, man, and you could see them jump,
And a cold southeaster, right in your face,
And a three day skunk on, that’s some disgrace.

3. On the fishing grounds, on smiley’s trail,
Down around Hippa, in a rising gale,
On the fishing grounds, on smiley’s trail,
Lord we ain’t quitting till we got fish for sale.

4. We fished it low, and we fished it deep,
And a medium red now, that’s our only keep,
I had a thirty pounder, with a real good fight,
But when we gaffed him aboard, lord it was just a white.

5. And we fished it low, and we fished it down,
At twenty fathoms-lord, that was the fishy ground,
But there’s nothing but shrimp here, there’s no damn birds,
Tell me where was smiley, lord that’s all I heard.

6. as verse 3.

7. No luck on the brass spoon, no luck on the chrome,
We were thinking of the pleasures now, the pleasures of home,
Cause there’s nothing but coho here, too early to sell,
We’re just staring at the linespring, listening for the bell.

8. And the damned old rock cod, twisting up our lines,
Shaking these coho, man am I wasting my time,
Gonna go hand logging, build me up a raft,*
Take it all into Charlotte, and sell it quick for cash.

9. as verse 3, but repeat line 4 three times, the 3rd time with “Ah” replacing “Lord”.*sung: “…build me up a cache” on the recording.

Fishing Grounds is a commercial fishing song about trolling for salmon off the Queen Charlotte Islands – now properly known as “Haida Gwaii”. There are a number of different methods used to catch salmon. In trolling the fish are caught on lines suspended from poles, like giant fishing rods, that are slowly trolled (towed) behind the boat. On board, a line is wound round a gurdy, or winch, and then led up to the linespring (7/4), with its warning bell (7/4), which is suspended from the pole. The purpose of the linespring is to allow for any sudden tension on the line, and the pole’s purpose is to get the line high enough to trail over the side, free from obstacles. Lines have numerous hooks spaced along them, each with a spoon-shaped lure to attract the fish. If one colour of lure doesn’t appear to be attracting fish it is sometimes substituted for another colour (7/1). Also, the lines are weighted down with 50lb round lead weights, called cannonballs. Ken’s boat ran 12 trolling lines, back in 1981, when the song was written, but the law has since changed and only 6 lines are now allowed. To keep the lines from tangling up with each other, giant Styrofoam floats, known as “pigs” (2/2), are attached to them. The pigs have angled vanes that force the lines out to the side as they are being towed forward. Once a salmon is caught, the trolling line is winched in, but is only able to bring the fish to the boat’s side. From there it has to be gaffed and pulled over the side by hand (4/4). There are a number of different species of salmon in British Columbia’s coastal waters but, without confusing the issue unnecessarily, it is safe to cite five true native salmon: the pink, the coho, the spring or chinook, the chum or dog, and the sockeye. The salmon being fished for in Fishing Grounds is the spring salmon, known in the fishing trade as “smiley” (1/3 et al) from the shape of its mouth which takes on a more pronounced “smile” as it gets older. This is especially noticeable after the fish has passed a weight of 25lb. There are two types of springs; one red and one white. The reds, at that time, had a value of $4.50 a lb whereas the whites brought in only $1.00 a lb from the buyers. Fish caught had to weigh over 25 lbs, but fish up to 60 lbs were not unusual. During the spring salmon-fishing season, coho salmon are also in the area, passing through on their way to their grounds. The coho themselves, however, cannot be caught and kept because they aren’t yet in season (7/3). If they are caught by mistake, like the rock cod (8/1), they tie up the line, waste time, and have to be released (8/2). One way of finding where the fish are is to look out for gulls (“birds”, 5/3) which flock over tight schools of herring, known as herring balls, under which the spring salmon come to feed on the herring.

The boat was fishing off Hippa (2/1), an Island off the west coast of Graham Island, the large north island of the Queen Charlottes, in a rough sea with short, erratic, choppy waves (a dirty lump, 2/1) and, consequently, the pigs were bouncing (2/2). One might expect that a fishing boat would not remain at sea during such weather but, unfortunately for the fishers, that is apparently the best time to troll for salmon. Because of the rough weather and a lack of fish however, Ken thought that hand logging (8/3) and log salvaging on the West Coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands might have been a better way to make a living. Perhaps he could have put together a raft of logs (8/3) which could then be towed to Charlotte (Queen Charlotte City, 8/4), for quick sale (8/4) and a quick profit.

Skunk (2/4) comes from skunked, to be defeated or out-witted, and is especially used in fishing and sports.
Keep (4/2) comes from keeper or, more usually, a keeper, and here refers to a fish whose size is within legal limits. It is also commonly used when choosing things of a better standard from a pile, or when selecting finished pieces during a job where quality varies.

Ken Hamm is a singer/songwriter living on Vancouver Island, and is one of Canada’s most respected blues performers. Although not all of his songs are written in the blues format, Fishing Grounds, track 2 on his C.D. “Eagle Rock Road”, is one of the blues-oriented pieces.

For more information on Ken, on his CD “Eagle Rock Road,” and for his performance schedule, dial up: http://www.kenhamm.com/index.html