{"id":93944,"date":"2019-05-17T19:27:41","date_gmt":"2019-05-18T01:27:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-anglers-set-to-head-to-alaska-for-salmon-run\/"},"modified":"2019-05-17T19:27:41","modified_gmt":"2019-05-18T01:27:41","slug":"durango-anglers-set-to-head-to-alaska-for-salmon-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-anglers-set-to-head-to-alaska-for-salmon-run\/","title":{"rendered":"Durango anglers set to head to Alaska for salmon run"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n

As rafters, hikers and bikers dust off their gear in Durango, the Alaskan coast is waking up for the salmon season before the coveted fish start their journey from the Pacific Ocean to perform baby-making magic upriver. The Container of Food chef Jeremy Storm was able to experience the transformation back when he used to work as a private chef for the National Wildlife Federation conservation nonprofit in the town of Cordova at the mouth of the Copper River.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe town is just coming to life, coming out of winter,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are gaining 8 to 10 minutes of sunlight every day. It becomes manic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fishing in Alaska<\/div>\n

The Copper River season takes off mid-May with the king salmon run. Copper River salmon are touted as the highest in quality that money can buy because they are at peak fatty level before they make the days- to weekslong journey to a comfortable spawning spot. Storm said during the first opener, the salmon can go for as much as $60 to $90 per pound before the hype dies down.<\/p>\n

A month later, further southeast, Eric Macias and his crew will board the 58-foot Silver Wave, named after a shoal of shimmering coho. It also shares its name with the fish company that sells salmon in filets and cans in Southwest Colorado that Macias and his partner, MJ Carroll, run.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe come in at the end of the king run,\u201d Macias said. \u201cI\u2019m a seiner, so I have a bigger boat, a bigger crew, and I catch a bigger volume of fish at one time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Macias, who lived in interior Alaska as a kid, has been fishing for 12 years in the southeast of the Gulf of Alaska. He said that\u2019s just where he started and what he knows. He also said it\u2019s debatable whether Copper River salmon is better quality than any other wild-caught Alaskan salmon. He compares it to how Vermont syrup isn\u2019t necessarily objectively better than Canadian syrup, but it has the name recognition attached.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Silver Wave\u2019s catch is put into the ship\u2019s fish hole that holds around 80 thousand pounds. The ship can catch up to 10,000 salmon in a single set.<\/span>Courtesy of Judson Felder<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Macias fishes all five species \u2013 sockeye, king, coho, pink and chum \u2013 for Trident Seafoods, one of the five major fishing companies of the world. Some of that is utilized for his Silver Wave Seafood Co<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From mid-June to mid-September, Macias, the captain, a skiff driver, engineer, chef and deck boss will try to catch as much red gold as possible with their 15,000-foot-long and 100-foot-deep net. The seine is wrapped around a shoal versus being pulled in the water like a trawl.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have skiers-slash-crewmembers from (Durango) and from Salt Lake City right now. I have another from Alaska and another from Washington,\u201d Macias said. \u201cThat\u2019s totally part of the ski bum lifestyle; they have to make money during the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBum\u201d might not be accurate as the crewmembers break their backs in the summer for their winter freedom. Three months on the water can result in a $10,000 to $40,000 paycheck.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes about a week to get used to life on the boat for new people. It takes two weeks to get used to the physical side of it. Then after that, you\u2019re just in your routine,\u201dMacias said.<\/p>\n

That routine begins at 2:30 a.m. and can last until midnight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe fish for 15 hours and we are probably awake for at least 20,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said the boat is in constant motion as they chase down the run. They hit the peak around the first week of August. The skiff drives in circles trying to capture the fish. In one set, they catch up to 10,000 salmon. The Silver Wave completes 15 to 20 sets a day, at about 40 minutes per set. Their catch is put into the ship\u2019s fish hold that has a capacity of around 80,000 pounds. A tender boat, which holds around half a million pounds, picks up the fish before it\u2019s processed. Silver Wave processes their own fish that they bring back to Durango.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Silver Wave\u2019s catch is put into the ship\u2019s fish hole that holds around 80 thousand pounds. The ship can catch up to 10,000 salmon in a single set.<\/span>Courtesy of Judson Felder<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Storm also seine fished for two years in Cordova and helped his friends with gillnetting, which traps fish that swim into the net by the gills. But nets are not the only predators after the sweet Omega 3s.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery critter imaginable are trying to get their hands on those salmon,\u201d Storm said.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of species exist because of the salmon run, and salmon reflect the health of the rivers and ecosystem.<\/p>\n

Despite the bears, eagles, otters and humans all after the pink meat, both Storm and Macias attest to how well managed the fisheries are. It\u2019s part of Alaskan culture. Storm said it was written into Alaska\u2019s constitution that resources would be managed for sustainability. There are limits on how many permits are given, but Macias said \u201cthe sky\u2019s the limit\u201d on how much the Silver Wave can catch.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt depends on how much money we want, how hard we want to work,\u201d Macias said. In 2013, though, processing plants couldn\u2019t keep up with the load and they had to stop fishing for quality reasons.<\/p>\n

A good year doesn\u2019t directly translate to more money in their pockets because the more salmon on the market, the less it costs. But Macias would rather work more for the same amount of money. It keeps morale high.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s way more exciting to catch a lot of fish,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

Salmon in Durango<\/div>\n

Both Storm and Macias said there are a lot of misconceptions about Pacific salmon here in Colorado. They said in Durango, it\u2019s best to buy frozen fillets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next time it thaws, it will be as fresh as it could be other than when I caught it on the boat,\u201d Macias said.<\/p>\n

Shipping could take three to four days or more to get here, so by the time the unfrozen salmon arrives at the grocery store, it won\u2019t be so fresh. Another misconception is all salmon species tastes the same, when really there are different flavors, potency and fat levels. Storm hated salmon before he moved to Alaska because all he knew was Atlantic salmon.<\/p>\n

King salmon is the fattiest and the richest. Silver salmon, or coho, is second largest in size. Storm said that coho is closest in taste, texture and appearance to Atlantic salmon, which is normally found at the supermarket.<\/p>\n

\u201cSockeye is my favorite for year-round eating,\u201d Storm said.<\/p>\n

Sockeye is also the most temperamental when cooking and can dry out easier. If people eat overcooked sockeye as their first experience, it may be disappointing, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey all do, but sockeye and king especially take marinades and smoke really well,\u201d Storm said.<\/p>\n

Pink and chum salmon are typically found in cans and patties.<\/p>\n

Storm adds that sometimes wild-caught salmon is mishandled at the store and occasionally farm-raised salmon looks better. But don\u2019t let this fool you \u2013 it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

\"The
The salmon that Silver Wave catches is sold in Southwest Colorado as frozen fillets and in cans.<\/span>Courtesy of Silver Wave<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Silver Wave Seafood Co. takes orders between June 25 and Aug. 20. The fish are then ready for delivery by the end of September to early October.<\/p>\n

Cooking suggestions<\/div>\n

Storm said he likes salmon best pan-seared. A 6-ounce filet shouldn\u2019t be cooked for more than 5 minutes. He cooks flesh side down and waits until the color changes from translucent to opaque halfway up. Then he flips it, kills the heat and lets it hang out.<\/p>\n

He said seeing the protein coagulate is a great indication that it\u2019s closed to finished. To test this, he pushes on the thickest part of the fillet. If it starts to flake under the pressure, that is a good suggestion of a fish cooked to perfection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coloradans have many misconceptions about the coveted fish<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6314,6313],"tags":[885,2043],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-93944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports-2-outdoors","category-sports-2","tag-fishing","tag-fishing-industry"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93944"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=93944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}