Sockeye (a.k.a. Red Salmon) are running pretty strong now. Estimates are that around 1.9 million have entered the Naknek River system in the past 10 days or so.

We put our net last night and got about half of what we need for the year's supply. Probably will fish again on this evening's tide.

Corks in the water.



Nice day at the beach.



Fish in the tote.



Filets ready to vacuum wrap.

Oh, so envious!!

Gypsy Kim is right!! Beautiful "catch of the day".

I had salmon for dinner last night but after seeing these photos I think I'm going to have to have it again tonight.

I like the needle nose pliers for removing the pin bones. That's what I use, too.

David, the pliers are the way to go.

I'm going to head down to the beach in about an hour and give it another shot. I'd like to come home tonight with 20-30 more fish, that would give enough to last until next season. I'll brine & smoke some, we'll grind and patty out some for burger, last year we ground and seasoned some salmon - ran it into casings and had salmon brats. You need to be creative ; -)

Hal, I bet your HDL is crazy high!

Wendy, to paraphrase Will Rogers:

I have never met a donut I didn't like.

Sadly true.

Hal, the last photo was my favorite. Love to see that in my kitchen just before adding a little seasoned flour and putting then placing in a hot pan. I come from the part of Montana were you then glazed with a huckleberry sauce.

We pulled in 20 more Reds on Saturday, so we have our year's supply taken care of. I'll likely fish a few more times to help others get their fish.

I bet the huckleberry glaze/sauce works well with salmon.

I like to keep it simple when I cook fillets. I oil and season (with salt & pepper) the fillets. If I do them on the grill I have things as hot as can be and take care not to overcook the fish. In the kitchen, I throw the pancake griddle in a 450 degree oven until it is smoking hot, then turn on the broiler and throw the fish on the griddle. Depending on the thickness of the fillets, 3 to 5 minutes does the trick. Susan gets fancier with things when she cooks, but I like to keep it simple. I've to think that good salmon is like good beef, it should be allowed to speak for itself.

When we grind salmon for patties we add onions, celery, garlic, and whatever herbs strike our fancy (an egg or powdered milk and a little oatmeal for binder helps). Grinding works best if the chunks of salmon are almost frozen. We grind it all up, make patties, freeze them and then bag them up. They make for quick and easy meals.

The salmon brats are interesting - it doesn't matter that I know they are fish, when I take the first bite of the my mind is telling me "sausage" coming in, and my mouth says "fish". So the first bite it always a surprise. This year I am going to smoke some of the brats and see how that works.

While the rainbow trout fillets I had for dinner last night were tasty, they don't look half as good as those sockeyes.

We had fish for supper last night (no surprise there I suppose ;-). It was tasty. The whole meal was good. Fresh salmon fillets, bread right out of the oven, tossed salad, homebrewed ale, and cherry cobbler. Sometimes life is good - well, it's most always good, sometime it's just better.

Hal, you might be curious to know that fresh, wild-caught sockeye salmon was going for $9.99/pound and fresh, wild-caught king salmon was $14.99/pound at a local/Redmond grocery store last night.

Here in Helena, wild caught sockeye salmon is running $17.99 a pound, and king salmon is not available. I understand the king run is way down this year.

Ouch, I'm glad I live in Redmond!

The salmon I had for dinner on Friday night was at a restaurant called "Coho Cafe" in Redmond. It was king salmon and the entree was $27.99 which included rice and some sort of diced fruit/vegetable mix that was so unremarkable I'm struggling to recall what it was. The portion of salmon was, to quote Bert, "dinky". I would guess it was about 1/3 of a pound, possibly even 1/4 of a pound.

Luckily I had a "frequent diner" card that was good for 30% off the meal and 30% off the $6.50 pint of Scuttlebutt Gale Force IPA beer that went with it. That made the price a little more tolerable.

$9.99 a pound is about what ground beef goes for at the Alaska Commercial Company store here in King Salmon.

From what I see in the papers King runs have been low all across the state. There is never a big King run in the River here, so it's hard to say if it's low this year. Could be a good Silver run in August. They seem to run strong here every other year, so I think we are due.

Looks like the Red run in our River (the Naknek) is at 4.3 million as of last Saturday (3 million & some harvest / 1 million & some escapement).

Hal, my local Target has 80/20 ground chuck on sale for $2.99/pound in one-pound packages right now. 85/15 ground round was $3.99/pound in one-pound packages the last time I bought it. And gas was $3.559/gallon for regular unleaded the last time I filled up (at a Costco store).

I will add that Costco wanted $14.99/pound for USDA choice beef tenderloin steak the last time I looked. You have to buy about 2 pounds give or take a little.

Luckily I had a "frequent diner" card that was good for 30% off the meal and 30% off the $6.50 pint of Scuttlebutt Gale Force IPA beer that went with it. That made the price a little more tolerable.

That is very Bertian of you. All sand and no grease....

: -) : -)

Gas is only $6.57 here . . . a bargain compared to what they're paying in some of the really remote villages.

Steve and I took the family out to dinner last night to celebrate number 35 and some of us had salmon on a cedar plank. Not anywhere near as good as what you whip up, but not bad.

Amorette, congratulations to you & Steve.