Other salmon news...

I just heard that Peter Pan has already posted a Bristol Bay base price of $2.05 a pound for reds. Amazing.

In my experience Peter Pan is usually on the lower end of the price range, so in my estimation it can only go up from here.

Is that a lot?

^^^^^^
Last year our base price was 1.25, the year before about $1.00 a pound, so yes, 2.05 is great, plus we get an extra 15 cents if we ice the fish.

BTW, I would be wary of that outfit you posted a screen shot of. That fillet portion pictured is a farm raised salmon.

I purchased a few pounds of sockeye fillets frozen and vacuum wrapped for $9 lb. I felt the price was fair. Halibut very high prices are near $20 a pound.

I have to check with the plant on $
Getting the boat ready to tender here in dillingham
Heard kodiak 1.65$ 15 boat line red river 75 to 100 a haul
Gonna be a wild one if forecast holds for Bristol Bay
You

^^^^^^
I have heard that kodiak price also.
Doesn't really make much sense for BB to be higher.
Let me know if you hear anything further about BB price.

Exactly a farm raised salmon. You can tell by how white were the rib bones were. Wild salmon are not near as white as that where the rib bones were.

When I can't get the wildcaught sockeye salmon filets at Sam's Club, I get this. It looks like I might want to stock up.



I make this from it for the smoked salmon cheese balls I take to conventions....

Slick - how is the Halibut quality? Where did you find it? I always ask to order cheeks. Would like to order. Thanks!

So your getting just under double of last year's price for reds. But with the cost of fuel and inflation it would seem your bottom line will be less.

^^^^^^
As crazy as it may seem, I will be paying nearly the same for fuel this year as I have for the past several years. I set net, and buy my fuel from the village, $5.60 a gallon.
I don't know what fuel will cost the drift fleet; I assume more??

Is this what you do? If so God bless ya

^^^^^
Those are drift boats, same area though. I used to do that, but now I set-net along the beach; our nets are anchored at both ends, the maximum distance we can be out from the high tide line is 1000 feet.
Our set net fishery is much more civil. We have a cabin on shore, and a good social life on the beach with other set-netters.
A couple of videos will give you an idea.



https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OqpJIutHH8Y

That's the way to go! I've seen Chip or Stan in Tanana do this too. It looks much less stressful than drifting on bumper boats. Thanks

The halibut price ($20) was fresh filets at my local grocery store in Montana. Cheeks cost more and you can order them online. Not sure who to recommend.

^^^^^^
I don't really know what the big deal is with cheeks. They tend to be stringy and tough imo. If you really like coarse grained halibut just try to find fillets from a 75 plus pound fish.
I prefer chickens and up to about 25 pounds.

I agree, on the cheeks. Also, prefer fish about 40 pounds and under.

Won't be seeing Stan in Tanana doing that this year. Salmon likely gonna be closed all summer on the Yukon.

Yup no fishing for us poor sorryYukon fisherman again this year. Its the second year in a row. Not even subsistence fishing.

We will sit here and sulk once again as we see the reports of record salmon harvest and record high prices in Bristol Bay again.lol

I used to setnet out of Naknek. I should of stayed there. But its nice fishing here outside my door step and be home in time for bed every night.....if we fish.

My daughter Is on her way back from Chitna . Doing her dip netting got 12 reds and her One King. She said they were closing the king season this coming Mon

Noticed the DFO closed the same in Canada as well yukonjeff

Thats a bummer. You know the time has come to reconsider an enhancement program for the Yukon Kings.

ADFnG stocks ship creek a tiny creek in Anchorage with 600,000 King salmon smolt for the sport fisherman. Just think what 600,000 Kings would mean for Yukon subsistence and commercial fishing.

Hatchery kings are the only kings we are allowed in spring here now, as well. Hard to fathom.

It mind boggles me that they have not put in hatcheries on the Big and Little Susitna. But even if they did I dont think we would get the return. Those trawler guys are doing a number on them out in the ocean and we are the ones biting the bullet.

ADFG is conducting another in river study on king salmon here to figure out why they are not returning from the ocean. Not much meat on this bone.

There is more money in studying the problem than there is in finding the solution. They have been studying the Yukon's low King returns for over 17 years.

In the end they will go to their old stand by "Climate Change" as the reason. Its just unfortunate that it only effects certain fisheries.

Dont forget those taken when they are down around Japan with all their drift nets, and do you think there will be anymore talk with USSR about their take.....

Currently, Cook Inlet Aquaculture is conducting an in river program to reduce in river predation of red salmon by Northern Pike. We will be looking at the results of this program this winter to determine if similar program on the in river predators of King salmon may be the solution to the continuing decline of the King salmon. We are at the point where we will maybe TRY fixing this problem in river, since nobody seems to offer a solution to the ocean problem.

A lot of new information possibly linking huge numbers of pink salmon in the north pacific may be contributing to the decline in King salmon.
BTW, lots of information out there other than this article.
https://www.homernews.com/news/whats-causing-the-king-salmon-decline/

I haven't heard that pink salmon hatcheries are closing? This is where many of these pink salmon came from.

The value of a humpy

Disclaimer: Craig is not always accurate. There may be some facts here.

Is this pike eradication similar to the Dolly Varden bounty of the old days? Or eagle bounties?

It is not really eradication. It is removal of large numbers by netting for several years. Possibly, a full 4 years. I read about the dolly bounties at least out west and they really had little impact, apparently from a lack of manpower living there at the time. In principle, removing a large number of juvenile/ egg predators should improve salmon overall survival rates. We will find out when, the biologist ( I believe he is a biologist ) gives us the results of the program. The last 30 or 40 years we have been increasing the number of salmon freshwater predators as a management goal. Maybe, we should stop?

We tend to view the ocean as an endless resource with plenty of feed for any amount of salmon smolts that we dump in there. The data seems to be pointing out that this is a wrong conception.
We really need to reconsider all these humpy hatcheries.

The Indians and Fish and Game gill netted a bunch of pike in a lake here, to try and improve the trout. Personally I think the Indians pushed it and did it just to stick a thumb in everyones eye. I know I would dang sure rather catch and eat a pike than a trout, and the vast majority of fishermen agree with me.

There was no noticeable improvement in trout numbers but there was a huge drop in the quality of pike fishing after they gill netted them for two years. And they claimed to be only targeting pike, but they were netting around me while I was out there fishing and there were plenty of other fish, bass primarily, but anything with decent sized head stuck in those gill nets when they pulled them in.

One of the worst feelings was to be salmon fishing in WA, working hard just to see the Indians netting it at the mouth. Dunno if its still the same but hatchery kings were all you were allowed to keep in the Puget Sound.

^^^^^^^
You stopped short of real salmon fishing!

Haven't been there in 20 years, but I'm pretty sure they haven't put more regs on the Indians. I know guys that used to get old hay bales and toss them off bridges upstream of the Indians gill nets.

LMAO, god that is awesome wish I could have seen that. Oh absolutely not on the regs on the Indians. Speaking of the salmon @ Oh Snap, I know, the timing was just never right. I was thankful to have gone when I did with a good friend of mine. Puyallap River, Tank Hill Bridge I believe it was called, Puget Sound. Those barbless hooks suck, lost many a kings right at the boat because of those!