Gregg Jones

While growing up in Eastern Washington State, Gregg Jones did not imagine a life as a fisherman. “If you grow up fishing, you know what you don’t want to do,” Gregg jokes as I asked him about his children and why they don’t fish,” I didn’t know any better!” But over 20 years later, he could not imagine himself doing anything else. Gregg first came to Alaska in the early 80’s to work for one of the Marine Aquaculture Associations. He spent summers tagging fish and walking streams looking for the previous years tagged fish. During those summers he would watch the salmon trollers fishing in Clarence Strait and Dixon Entrance and eventually decided it was time to make a change. While walking the docks, Gregg happened on a boat that caught his eye. It turned out that the boat was for sale and the owner and his family were moving to Washington State to an area near Ellensburg, WA. Gregg made an offer the boat owner couldn’t refuse, and he traded his house in Ellensburg for the F/V Jeannie, a 38 ft wood troller. A fisherman cannot just buy a boat and start fishing commercially, they also must buy a permit for the rights to fish. Gregg added in a 4-wheel drive truck at the house and the guy handed over a hand troll permit to go with the boat.