Salmon Fishing in Alaska - the Deadliest Catch

Posted by Fin on 27 July 2009

I just got back from a cracking weekend fishing for salmon down in Seward on the Kenai Peninsula. Ron and his law firm partner Jim took me fishing on board their old friend Ralph's vessel - the American Maid. They had told me stories of how they go fishing for as little as a day but come home with coolers full of wild salmon and halibut - enough fish for all the family for a year. The same is true with moose - Ron isn't a big hunter but like other Alaskans, most men hunt and eat what they shoot. Their freezer is full of moose meat which has become my favourite red meat because it tastes so good as its so lean - moose burgers, mooseloaf, moose burritos, moose tracks caramel cup chocolate ice cream (not moose but I love it anyway!)

Fish in abundance

What struck me most about the days fishing was the sheer number of boats leaving harbour that day and the number of fish caught. In my ten years of environmental work I have witnessed overfishing all over the world and have always been very weary of destructive fishing techniques and the global crash of fish stocks. But it hasn't happened in Alaska (yet) and I was pleased to see that the management being undertaken by the Fish and Wildlife Service has done an excellent job so far of keeping these seas abundant and diverse. I did wonder however if the bounties that were being harvested could be sustained year after year. For vessel after vessel, one after the other motored out into the sea from the Seward port all in search of salmon - wild salmon. There are 5 species of salmon that can be caught in Alaskan water - Chum, Red, Pink,  King and Silver. Today we were after Silver Salmon so I went into the local fishing shop and bought my fish licence for the day - $20 which entitles me to catch upto 6 fish. I didn't think there was much chance of me catching one fish let alone six. I was pleased the quota per person was only 6 - but I wondered if there should be a boat quota too? What surprised me was the overwhelming disgust at the thought of fish farms being allowed in Alaskan waters - I guess the damage they can cause is very evident elsewhere in the World and Alaskans were quick to create laws to prevent them from being set up. As a result the only salmon you can eat from Alaska is wild and I can assure you the taste difference is vastly superior to anything from farms.

It turns out Ralf, Ron and Jim are excellent fishermen and it didn't take long before we were on top of a run of salmon. The American Main was fitted with four Canons on both sides which enables fishing lines to be sunk to the bottom in strong currents or when trolling. The lines were baited with little herring and set at about 70 feet. It didn't take long for the first bite and I caught my first ever salmon. For about two hours it was relentless - as soon as one fish had been hooked up, another line would go. Ron was busy gutting fish, whilst I tried to keep tabs on which lines had been hooked up, then bring the fish in and landing them. It was great fun, and I felt good knowing we were using hook and line, the most sustainable fishing technique and that the sea was FULL of fish. Our small harvest of about 15 fish would do nothing to dent the stocks and would feed the family for the remainder of the year.

Fish Filleting and BBQ!

Back in Anchorage, Jim's wife Jane came round and the five of us, set up a processing line for the fish. Ron had already gutted the fish so all that remained to do was clean the fish off, fillet them, vacuum back them and load up the freezer. We saved one whole side fillet of salmon for dinner. I took a few pieces of the fillet I had attempted and messed up and pretended to have purposely created a dish of salmon sashimi - delicious with wasabi and soya sauce. With Martinis in hand we feasted on perhaps the finest tasting fresh fish in the World - Pacific Silver Salmon fresh out of the water that afternoon. I promised myself I would never touch the mass produced farmed salmon back home again - 5GBP for a tasteless dyed pink farmed fish from Tescos or wild salmon caught sustainably and fresh on the same day in Alaska? Its a no brain-er.

11 comments. Tags: Salmon, Seward, fishing, fin. Location: Seward, USA