Puget Sound fall fishing starts this Sunday!

Mid-October has come around rather quick, and the boats are gearing up to go out Sunday to participate in the fall fishing season in Puget Sound. Our first opening is Sunday from 5pm to 9am in Area 10, which is the body of water right around Seattle. It’s a relatively quick season in relation to the summer, and usually lasts about a month.

During the fall season, we harvest Keta, or Chum salmon. While some people have a negative stigma towards this species of salmon, we make believers out of people every year who are willing to try something new. 99% of the stigma is word-of-mouth from people who have caught these fish in the rivers, after their flesh has lost its resiliency and color. When the fish are still bright they truly are a different animal. In fact, many of our regulars who have sworn they only eat Sockeye and King now buy our frozen Keta as a result of trying these fish fresh in the fall!

The first fresh salmon of the fall will be available for the last Columbia City market next Wednesday from 3-7PM, and we should have fish for the weekend markets through the end of October and into the first couple weeks in November. Pete is planning on mainly fishing the area 10 openings, which are twice a week, while Jonah may run up to Possession Sound and fish 4-5 days per week, depending on how the fishing is going. I’ll keep you updated as we start fishing.

Canned Sockeye Salmon

The last few years have been a little on the thinner side on the sockeye harvest in Alaska, and we have accordingly not had any extra to put up as canned product. After this years successful summer harvest, we decided it’s time to run another batch. We’ll have 6 oz. cans of the natural-pack and organic olive oil and salt, 3.5 oz. cans with organic olive oil and salt, and a new product – 6 oz. cans of smoked sockeye bellies (wow!) available in a month or so. Look for it in the online store and at the farmers markets!

All of the cans are skinless/boneless, and are packed by our friends, Pelican Packers, in Bellingham, WA.

Check out this cool article one of our customers wrote about our canned sockeye a while back.

4 varieties of canned sockeye, available late fall 2009.

Puget Sound Pink Salmon

fresh Puget Sound pink salmon for sale at Columbia City farmers market.

Jonah ran F/V Loki up to Possession Sound Tuesday and Thursday to catch some beautiful pink salmon that are running locally right now. While we catch pinks every year up in southeast Alaska, in Washington they only run every other year. These pinks are running back to the Snohomish, Skagit, and Stillaguamish river systems. We’ll have them on special for the weekend markets-$7.50 per pound for fresh fillets and a flat $10 for a whole, gutted fish. This will be the last of the fresh season until the fall run in mid-october, so don’t miss it!