Today's Catch

It has been more than two weeks since my last addition to Today’s Catch and a lot has happened in that time. With the summer Sport fish season starting to kick into high gear, I am having trouble finding time to sit down and update the site. I guess it’s good to be busy. Returning customers might notice that I recently changed shopping carts for the web site. The new cart should prove to be easier to use. The Island Seafoods web site is a work in progress and I learn something new every day.

The west side of Kodiak Island will open back up to commercial salmon fishing at noon on July 6^th. All of our fishermen are anxious to get their nets in the water and back to picking fish. I am planning a trip out with our tender Zachary R in the following weeks to get a first hand glimpse into the daily life for some of our fishing families.

With all of the salmon closures around the Island, the St. Paul boat harbor has stayed active with skippers and crew going through their salmon seines and making repairs to their boats. Across Near Island Channel over in Dog Bay, it is a different story. All of the big, 100 plus foot Bering Sea boats that dominate the harbor are gone. Most are off in Bristol Bay tendering sockeye salmon, while others might be under contract to haul salmon for buyers in Prince William Sound or South East Alaska, while others might be fishing for halibut. The only boats that remain are the Bristol Leader and the Bering Leader. Both of these vessels will most likely sit idle until the next Bering Sea cod season.

 

 

Both Bob Martin and Greg Perkins left town this past week after delivering their last loads of Pacific Grey Cod. Both skippers finished out the season with record numbers. “This year, the fishing was probably the best I have ever seen,” remarked Capt. Bob. The guys are currently up in Kenai, converting their boats from Jiggers to Gill Netters, in preparation for the Kenai Salmon drift net fishery. Bob and Greg are planning on coming back and hitting the cod grounds again in September for the start of the Federal B season which opens on the 1^st. Good luck to you guys up in the Inlet, be safe and I’ll see you this fall.

 

  

Normally in the summer, the mountains around Kodiak Island turn a deep green from the lush grasses and small scrubby alder trees; this summer, the Emerald Isle is getting a bit Greener. On top of the 1000 foot tall Pillar Mountain, sit 3 new wind turbines. These massive, 80 meter tall wind mills can power over 900 homes a day and should make Kodiak Island completely free from diesel powered electricity. I have a clear view of the northern most turbine from my kitchen table. What an amazing sight.

Island Seafoods has had the pleasure of processing sport caught fish from some of the crew working on the wind project. Fondly dubbed the Wind Team, this group of guys from Casper Wyoming has been out with the M/V U Rascal several times, relaxing and enjoying the beautiful Kodiak weather, while limiting out on Halibut, rockfish, cod and King Salmon.

 

Clean, renewable, natural, wild caught, sustainable, Kodiak Alaska.

Until Next time, Enjoy!

 

 

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With the Summer solstice this weekend, Kodiak is basking in nearly 20 hours of daylight. It is so hard to go to bed when it is still light out at 11:45 PM!! It just makes you want to finish that project or pull a few more weeds out of the garden. The people in Kodiak certainly make up for lost time after the long dark days of winter. It has been rather rainy here the last few days, but that means when the sun pokes through the clouds next time, the hills are going to green, top to bottom.

The Kodiak Island Salmon Fishery which opened on June 9^th started out red hot. The fishing was good through the first two 48 hour fishing periods. However, the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game just wasn’t seeing the numbers they need through the weir at the Karluk River. The fish are around, but they aren’t heading into the river.

Fishery biologists count each and every salmon that passes through the weir on their way up the river to the spawning grounds. Fish and Game needs 120,000 reds through the weir to reach their escapement goal.  Biologists hope that an extended closure will allow enough salmon to make it up river. The next scheduled opener is July 6^th. Until then, the fishermen will have plenty of time on their hands to repair nets and gear.

Just because the salmon season is getting off to a slower than expected start, things here at Island Seafoods haven’t skipped a beat. Capt. Peter McCarthy and the F/V Stella are currently under contract by the State to participate in a salmon survey study. He and his son Calvin will be in Bristol Bay near Port Moller for the rest of the month for this job. While his older brother is towing a gill net around in the name of science, younger brother Capt. James on the F/V Coho is on the Sole Patrol. Capt. James and crewman Michael Beanland just completed a full trip of Rock Sole, down one crewman. They filled the boat with just the 2 of them!! Capt. James will be fishing sole for the rest of the month. Starting July 1^st, Capt. James will head out to catch his quota of Pacific Ocean Perch, a small red rock fish which mass in huge schools.

Our all star cast of Cod Jig boat captains is still hard at it. Calm clear weather, combined with superb fishing has kept the fleet humming. Both Capt. Bob Martin and Capt. Greg Perkins have been loading up each trip. When the fish ticket had been signed following Capt. Greg’s last delivery, he swore he would break 18,000 pounds on the next load!! Well, yesterday he did just that.

Here Capt. Greg counts bags of frozen squid bait from the freezer. Perky as his friends refer to him, hopes to load the boat at least one more time before he heads north to fish salmon near the Kenai River.

This morning we had a new boat to Island Seafoods with a load of Halibut and Black Cod, Captain Doug Lyle and the 59 foot F/V Shemya. The Shemya is the biggest little boat I have ever seen. This boat is like a 110 foot boat packed into 59 feet!! Originally built to participate in the Bering Sea freezer longline fleet, the F/V Shemya would catch process and freeze grey cod at sea. A few years ago, the owners stripped out all of the freezers and processing equipment. Now the Shemya is strictly a catcher vessel. Capt. Doug will be fishing halibut for the next few weeks around Kodiak Island and then he heads out west toward St. Paul Island and areas ever farther north.

 

The last few days have been productive for the local charter fleet as well. Tourist season is starting to gain momentum as the weather gets nicer. We had the M/V U Rascal in the other day with a pair or gorgeous yellow eye rock fish. Here I am with one of them and in the background, the U Rascal heading back to the harbor. On Tuesday, the M/V Reel Fun delivered this unidentified rock fish. I can’t figure out what species it is. It looks like a canary rock fish, but I am not sure. You never really know what you are going to see on any given day here at Island Seafoods.

 

Until Next time, Enjoy!

 

 

 

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For the first official Sockeye salmon of 2009, I decided to share a different take on salmon preparation. Everyone loves fried fish. You can never go wrong with a big basket of fish n chips. While white fish varieties such as cod, pollock, ling cod or rock fish are the preferred fish for this cooking application, fresh sockeye salmon is simply amazing!! The oil rich flesh of the sockeye salmon is perfect for deep frying. For this recipe I used a fresh pound and a half sockeye fillet.

Once I removed the skin, I cut the fillet into cross sections. This cut is going to be larger than the one used in the Sockeye Fingers recipe. Cut the sockeye into 2 – 3 inch chunks. This makes frying times more consistent.

The next step is the best! I marinated the cuts in a bowl of fresh Snowshoe Pale Ale from Kodiak Island Brewing Company, located right across the street from Island Seafoods. I let this sit for about 15 minutes while I clean up the knife and cutting board and let the oil heat up.

I like to use Zatarain’s Crispy Southern Fish Fry mix. Simply shake off the excess beer and give the cuts a good roll in the dry mix covering them completely. When the vegetable oil is heated up to about 375, drop a few pieces in at a time. Cook them for a few minutes or until the pieces are golden brown. When they are done, take them out and let them dry off on a rack. I like them without any kind of dipping sauce. The flavor is so rich and this cooking method locks in the natural juices with a crispy crust. If you prefer a sauce, malt vinegar is the best, but a good old tartar sauce isn’t bad either.

My daughter Eydis LOVED this recipe. This fish isn’t greasy like fried fish usually is. She could hold a whole chunk in her hand and nibble away. Between bites she would scream at the top of her lungs in delight, then stuff another chunk in her mouth. The only problem with this recipe is the pieces are the perfect size for a baby to throw for the dogs. I don’t know which she enjoyed more, the mouthwatering fried sockeye or watching the dogs scramble on the wood floor, chasing after a tossed hunk of sockeye!!

I hope you give this recipe a try if you like fried fish. You won’t be disappointed.

Until next time, Enjoy

 

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Early this morning under a blanket of thick  fog, the F/V Zachary R pulled up to the dock with the first load of the 2009 Kodiak  Sockeye Salmon Season. The first 48 hour opener proved to be quite productive. Typically the beginning of the run is slow to show up in the distant bays and passes of Kodiak's West Side. Nets were in the water starting at noon on Tuesday and fishing was steady for the 19 set net sites the entire opener.   Down on the deck of the Zachary R,  Captain Kevin Bundy attaches the hook to his fish hold cover. He agrees that if fishing stays like this, it is going to be a good June for the Kodiak Salmon Fleet.

With the arrival of the much anticipated salmon season, this first round of fresh sockeye is headed to one of our biggest customers.  Fresh fillets for this customer will be flown direct to their distribution centers in Texas, Arizona, Utah, and Illinois. Today, Island Seafoods sent fresh Kodiak Sockeye all over the country!!

I want to encourage anyone who has never tried sockeye salmon to take this opportunity to place an order and try the freshest, purest, most healthy seafood the Pacific Ocean has to offer, Kodiak Sockeye Salmon!

I am going to take you, the reader on a photo tour of today's  salmon production  here at Island Seafoods. Enjoy!

Here is the F/V Fairwind this morning, owned and operated by Captain Shawna Rittenhouse. Capt. Shawna picks up the salmon from the Kupreanof Strait and Onion Bay set net sites.

Fresh off the boat, these sockeye are headed for a tote at the end of the offload conveyor to be brought inside for processing.

This is our dock foreman, Chamba holding the first sockeye offloaded for 2009.

 

Once inside the plant, the heads are removed and they move down the line to the pocket conveyor. Here Saul opens the bellies with care not to cut the precious roe inside.

Off the pocket conveyor, they head to the collar belt, where the collars are trimmed off in preparation for the fillet machine.

After the fillet machine, the fillets follow a moving cutting line where they will be trimmed to precise specifications.

Following the carefully trained eyes of the trimmers, the fillets run through the pin bone remover. Here Elsa pulls, by hand any stray bones the machine missed. This step makes life in the kitchen and dinner table much much easier!

For today's fresh orders, we packed fillets into 25 pound cases for shipment on Alaska Airlines.  Here Blanca delicately layers fillets meat to meat and skin to skin. After this it is out to the waiting flatbed truck and off to the airport.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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In April of 2000, Island Seafoods had just moved into its current building located right next to the breakwater adjacent to St. Paul Harbor. Back then we processed sport caught fish from charter boat clients and river anglers. We had a few boats that delivered  jig caught cod and every once in a while, we landed a small load of halibut. We sold crab, scallops and halibut from our small retail counter to local customers and tourists passing through.  It was a good little business that filled a niche in this town; little did we know, Island Seafoods was destined for something much bigger.

Early one morning in the fall of 2001, at the end of the Bristol Bay Red King Crab Season a big blue and yellow boat slowly pulled up along the south side of our brand new dock. As the crew tossed lines around the shiny new creosote covered pilings, the skipper came out of the wheelhouse. Captain Murray Gamrath, skipper of the F/V Gulf Winds looked up from the deck and with a warm smile on his face, asked if we had space for him to store his left over bait from the king crab season for a few months. He also needed a spot to tie up the 110 foot Gulf Winds for a few days while he and the crew made preparations  for the 3 month rest until the January Opilio Season. Boy we had never seen such a big boat at our dock! The Gulf Winds took up the entire 100 foot stretch of our dock! We told Capt. Murray “No Problem Buddy!!” We had plenty of room in our freezers and plenty of space at our dock.

 Yesterday I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with Captain Murray Gamrath and Josh Harris on the F/V Cornelia Marie, featured on the Discovery Channel's show, "Deadliest Catch". I met up with Capt. Murray in the parking lot of the fuel dock and even though it had been nearly 8 years since our brief encounter, he recognized me asked how things were going with me, my father and the business. Murray had to run down to his cannery to pick up some papers, but he told me to head down to the Cornelia Marie, where Josh was taking on several thousand gallons of diesel. Josh invited me aboard the Cornelia Marie with a welcoming smile and a firm hand shake.

Josh and fellow crewman Ryan were on the stern behind the wheelhouse topping off the tanks. The Cornelia Marie had just returned from tendering herring up in Togiak Bay located in northwest Bristol Bay. Josh said the fishery was pretty uneventful. The herring spawned pretty much right after the seine fleet arrived. The big load of the season delivered to the Cornelia Marie was only around 80 tons, compared to some record sets which exceeded 800 tons in last year’s Sitka Herring fishery!!

Josh and Capt. Murray are busy getting the boat ready to head back up to Bristol Bay to tender salmon in the fast and furious Sockeye Salmon fishery. The boat will leave Kodiak in five days. Before the boat heads up to the Bay, Josh and Capt. Murray are going to fly down to San Diego to film the “After the Catch” episode tomorrow. There the guys will meet up with Capt. Phil Harris, his younger son, Jake and the rest of the captains from the Discovery Channel’s hit show. While Capt. Murray will be running the boat for the summer season, Josh will be getting off the boat. He is heading to New York to participate in some corporate Discovery Channel events to help promote the show and the industry. When the tanks were topped off, Josh and Ryan tossed the lines and pulled away from the fuel dock. Capt. Murray invited me over to his slip in Dog Bay to sit down and catch up.

Over in Dog Bay, tucked in next to several 100 plus foot Bering Sea crabbers, I found the 127 foot Cornelia Marie. Out on deck, Josh was busy pressure washing herring scales and roe from the house and sides of the deck. When herring roe makes contact with salt water, it is almost impossible to remove from a smooth surface!!

Up in the wheel house, I sat down with Murray and we talked about his experience with the show, his history in the industry and his plans for the future. Capt. Murray had spent the last year running the Cornelia Marie while Capt. Phil Harris was recovering in Washington. The seasoned Bering Sea skipper has participated in the fishery for nearly 30 years. For the last 16 years, he has been running boats such as the F/V Labrador, the F/V Gulf Winds and the F/V Aleutian Ballad to name a few. Last year, Capt. Murray caught and delivered 1.1 million of the 1.2 million pounds of Opilio quota for the Cornelia Marie. He also landed 580,000 pounds of Red King crab this past season. When Capt. Murray is not at sea, he enjoys a quite life with his wife in Las Cruces New Mexico. The new found celebrity status has been a bit overwhelming at times. After the last crab season, he went from about 200 friends on his and his wife’s Facebook page, to well over 10,000!! Out and about, at the bank, the grocery store, at dinner, random people address him by first name. Capt. Murray would some day like to take this new found fame and apply it to marketing seafood of his own, but for now, the sea still calls him.

 

It was truly an honor to spend some time with a couple of really friendly, hard working, great guys who risk their lives every season to bring to market the finest crab the Bering Sea has to offer.

Check back for the 2009 Kodiak Salmon Season Updates, we are a week away!

Until next time, Enjoy!

 

 

 

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