Early Wednesday morning under the cover of thick fog, Captain Bob Martin sliced his way through the mirror pond waters of St. Paul Harbor and eased the 39 foot F/V Argonaut in under the dock crane. Under his 9 fish hold covers rested the results of another phenomenal fishing trip. As his crewman Eddie throws lines around the barnacle covered pilings to secure the vessel, Captain Bob leaned out of the cabin with a big grin on his face. He had loaded the boat once again. 

Yesterday, Kodiak waters experienced a massive -1.2 foot low tide. The deck of the Argonaut lay 30 feet below. I threw my camera around my neck and made my way down to the deck. The last few feet of the dock ladder were covered in barnacles and seaweed, making it a bit tricky. As the offloading crew of Santiago and Ceasar began “pitching” fish, I caught up with Capt. Bob and asked him about his trip.

On Sunday they headed south and drove all over looking for signs of life on the depth sounder; nothing. They headed further south, criss-crossing the 3 mile state water boundary.  At around 4 PM the next day, they found a nice size school of fish and dropped the gear. For the next 6 hours straight, they were hauling huge Pacific Cod over the rail. By 11 PM, Capt. Bob and Eddie had put over 900 cod down in the fish hold. 

Below, Santiago loads cod into the brailer, which is then hoisted up onto the dock, placed in a 1000 pound tote, weighed and brought right into the plant for processing.

Santiago takes a breather between brailer loads.

The bite dropped off soon after dark so Bob pointed the Argonaut toward shore and anchored up for the evening. At first light, about 6 AM, they found that big school and soon enough, they were back on the fish. Capt. Bob and Eddie hauled one full hook string after another for the next 14 hours without a break. By about 8 PM, they had put an additional 1500 fish on board. With the hold  full, Capt. Bob turned the boat around and plotted a course for St. Paul Harbor and Island Seafoods.  With over 2400 fish in 28 hours, this was indeed another successful trip for Captain Bob Martin and the F/V Argonaut.

Inside the plant, the crew is busy processing the fresh catch. Pin bone out fresh fillets are the order of the day. This product will be flown to Seattle and entered into the Pacific Seafood distribution network. Those fresh cod fillets you see in the supermarket just may be from the F/V Argonaut.

Here Muli Muli inspects a 10 pound box of fresh fillets, ensuring consistent, superior quality. 

A basket of fresh cod fillets ready to be packed up for shipping.

Give me a call and I would be glad to send some fresh cod fillets your way.  Until next time, Enjoy!

 

 

 

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Yesterday morning started out with fog so thick I could barely see the end of the dock. I wasn’t sure if the FedEx plane would make it in, but by noon it had burned off and Monday turned out to be one of the nicest days of the year. After work, I took the dogs for a walk on our favorite trail, the Near Island South End. The South End Trail meanders through a lush forest of Sitka spruce and thick moss. After about a mile into the woods, the trail brings you to a breathtaking view of the St Herman, Dog Bay Harbor and the sleeping Bering Sea giants. The harbor is nearly full at this time of the year. A few  of the boats are tendering herring around Kodiak Island, while others are making the final preparations to head out west for the Togiak Bay Herring Fishery in northwest Bristol Bay.

With the weather so nice and the sun setting around 9:45, I decided what a great time to dust off the old barbecue grill and cook some blackened rockfish. I started with 1 pound of fresh rock fish from the F/V Pacific Sun.

   I use Old Bay Blackened Seasoning mixed with Emeril’s Essence seasoning and a dash of garlic powder.

Once the fillets are nicely coated with the blackened seasoning, I fired up the grill. It is always a good idea to do this outside, because it smokes big time!! With the grill on medium high, I place a cast iron skillet right on the grill. I use a laser thermometer, a must have for anyone serious about cooking seafood. I bought mine at the local auto parts store. It is important for maintaining proper cooking temperatures, especially if you are frying your fish. In this case, I want the pan to be about 450 degrees to get that nice blackened look.  While the skillet is heating up, I took 2 red peppers, coated them in olive oil and placed them in a roasting pan. This took about 25 minutes at 425.  Once the skillet is at the proper temperature, I added a tablespoon of melted butter and then quickly dropped the spiced fillets into the skillet. Watch out, the butter WILL splatter!!

Cooking times vary with the size of the fillet. In this case, the fillets were rather thick, so I went about 10 minutes on each side. Thinner fillets would require less time.  

  After the fillets are fully cooked, I removed them from the skillet and brought them inside to plate up. The red peppers were finished as well. They have a sweet smell that fills the whole house. I sliced the pepper in half and placed the blackened rock fish fillet right on top. To go along with the meal, I sauteed a few zucchinis in olive oil. The result was a slightly spicy,  juicy and succulent rock fish fillet complimented by the sweet and savory taste of the roasted red pepper.

 

If this recipe looks like something you would like to try out for your friends and family, drop me a line and I would love to offer any advice and support. Until next time, happy seafood cooking, Enjoy!

 

 

 

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As the 2009 Comfish enters its final day and starts to wind down, the Gala Seafood dinner is still the talk of the town, but down at Island Seafoods, it is business as usual. Friday night many of the jiggers came and grabbed bait and ice and headed out to the fishing grounds. With a fair forecast ahead, the fleet is looking to repeat last weeks’ stellar deliveries. The high line delivery of the week came to us from Captain Tim Tripp on the F/V Bottom Line. Capt Tim fishes alone; he is the captain and crew. In 3 days worth of fishing time, he managed to fill his stout 32 foot boat with 16,020 pounds of grey cod. This is the most fish he has ever put under the hatch. It is a good thing the weather was nice, because as you can see, he came in a little heavy in the stern. We’ll see if this next trip can produce similar results. Good luck and safe fishing to all our Jig Fleet.

 

 

 

 

At 12:30 today, we had the F/V Pacific Sun at our dock with a load of Halibut. The Pacific Sun, skippered by Captain Jeff Hochstein, is the largest boat to deliver fish to Island Seafoods. At 124 feet, the Pacific Sun is too big to fit under our main dock crane. We have the Pacific Sun tie up to the face of the dock and we use her massive knuckle crane to lift brailers of halibut from the hold. When the F/V Pacific Sun is not plying  the Gulf of Alaska for Halibut, she is hard at work in the Bering Sea fishing both Red King Crab and Opilio Crab. In the summer months, the Pacific Sun tenders salmon in the fast and furious Bristol Bay Sockeye Fishery. After that, the boat heads out west and fishes for Pacific Grey Cod near Dutch Harbor and even farther west towards Adak.

 

 

 

 

 

I will be featuring fresh halibut this week direct from the beautiful F/V Pacific Sun. Also, check back mid week for fresh cod from Captain Tim off the F/V Bottom Line.

Until Next time, Enjoy!

 

 

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Every year since 1980, Kodiak plays host to Comfish, the largest and longest running commercial fisheries trade show in Alaska and the only one to be held in a major fishing port. The trade show features vendors from all over the world who specialize in equipment and technology designed for the fishing industry. Comfish has also expanded its focus beyond fisheries products and innovations to include a fisheries policy forum. Experts in the industry are invited to address changes, challenges and opportunities facing the Alaska Seafood industry now and in the future.

 This year the Kodiak Chamber of Commerce sponsored a gala seafood dinner, “Look How Far We’ve Come”, to celebrate the 50 year anniversary of statehood and the Alaska Seafood Industry. Special guests included Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and her “First Dude” Todd Palin and Senator Ted Stevens. Island Seafoods provided the seafood for this special event. The menu displayed a wide variety of seafood from Kodiak including, Teriyaki Sockeye Salmon, Halibut Olympia, King Crab cakes, stuffed scallops, and seafood fettuccini alfredo. The stuffed scallops were probably my favorite. Beautiful Kodiak Scallops filled with King Crab meat; Mouth watering!!

 

After the dinner, my wife Rachel and I had the wonderful opportunity to share a moment with Governor Palin. My wife and I thanked her for everything she has done for us Alaskans.  Her presence was simply electrifying. The room was buzzing with excitement as she paused for photos. Governor Palin was very friendly, taking the time to ask us a few questions about our daughter Eydis, who was born 1 month after her son, Trig. Meeting the Governor was an amazing privilege for Rachel and me. Her charismatic presence and approachable down to earth demeanor was something that you don’t get from seeing her on television. Great food and interesting and important people; this was truly a night to remember!

 

 

 

Until next time, Enjoy!

 

 

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Last week was pretty quiet around Island Seafoods. We had a few small jig cod deliveries in between Killer Whale sightings. The Kodiak Killers have moved on since the action last week. Much of the longline fleet took advantage of the relatively good forecast and headed out in search of Black Cod. On Sunday morning, we had the F/V Heritage at the dock with a nice load of big black cod.  Captain Brian Young was up against pods of hungry Killer Whales this trip who made hauling the gear a real chore. The Whales can sense when the boat engages the hydraulic winches and it sounds to them like a big dinner bell. They will follow the long line as it comes up from the bottom and pick the fresh black cod off like they are eating grapes.

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