Being a fishing family has its challenges- time apart, big risky business investments, so many variables out of our control.  Our motto is work our butts off and hope for just one more great season at a time!

Here's a great article that renowned Herbalist, Rosalee de la Foret of Herbs with Rosalee, just wrote on what to look for in healthy, quality salmon. She included an interview with us. Check it out!

It's that time of year again- when we are so excited for the upcoming season.  

Excited to put the 'ol F/V Northland back in the water.  Excited to catch the first beautiful, fresh, sockeye salmon for 2016.  Excited to see so many returning customers placing their orders and licking their lips in anticipation for the upcoming harvest.

THANK YOU to all of our customers that put their orders in by the end of May- it really helps us plan for our season.  GOOD NEWS, if you haven't yet we are still taking orders- so keep them coming!  

 Kyle and our 2016 (rockstar of course!) crew of Jamie and Jake are putting the final touches on the boat hoping to launch into the river in the next couple days.  Fresh paint on the decks, repairs to the fiberglass that was smashed around too hard last year, new buoys for the upcoming smashing around, hanging new nets . . . the list goes on.

So far the 2016 sockeye salmon return to Bristol Bay, AK is just starting.  There is a test boat that fishes the southern line of the fishing district and so far they are reporting an index of about 20.  (When the fish are REALLY coming in strong later in the season this number rises as high as 200!!).  New in Bristol Bay this year is that you have to drop your permit card on your first fishing day.  In the past there was a 'Free Week' before you had to commit to a fishing district.  What's important about this is there is a 48 hour closure if you decide you want to change from one are to another.  48 hours doesn't sound like a big deal, but in the commercial fishing world missing out on a HOT 48 hour fishing period can really decrease your season's catch.

On the home front, Emily reports that staying at home with a 3.5 and 1.5 year old is probably an equal challenge to commercial fishing!  Last year was probably a greater challenge than fishing and it's expected that next year will be easier than fishing.  Kyle is still eager for Small Scales Seafood salmon season to be a family fishing venture so he can pass on his fishing bug to his kiddos and not have to be away for so long.  We hope to get some good, calm skiff fishing for Alaskan Rockfish and Pacific Cod with Maggie and Ben aboard later in the summer! 

Thanks for reading.

 

 

Kyle hanging a net in preparation for the upcoming season

 

After years of requests we've finally made the move from our old blog and old fashioned, handwritten checks mailed via the U.S. Postal Service to a new e-commerce website and the all-convenient, "modern" credit card.  We hope our new site is user friendly and continues to tell the story of our small scale family fishing operation.  We're open to suggestions and ideas.

You'll see some other changes this year:

• In addition to our Sockeye Salmon and Pacific Halibut, we are now offering Pacific Cod and Alaskan Rockfish caught by skiff!
• We have a Recipe blog.  Please email us any recipes you love and we'll post them!
• We will offer a revitalized Bulk Buying Club option for our large groups.
• We finally realized that Seafoods with an 'S' is not grammatically correct and dropped the 'S.'

In addition to our overnight delivery option, we will again offer Salmon Share pickups in Seattle (and possibly the Methow by request.)

We hope you are all doing well and that you continue to buy and enjoy our Small Scales Seafood Shares again in 2016!

 

Happy Spring,

Emily, Kyle, Maggie and Ben

Good News: We have Salmon Shares available now!  Contact us to reserve your Scrumptious Sockeye Salmon. It's snowing and cold and snowing here in the Methow Valley! It's a New Year!  We hope your year is a joyful one.

For all the details, including ways we're improving quality and shipping in 2015, pricing, and fall delivery information, read about our Salmon Shares.  Subscribing to our blog is a great way to get announcements about the 2015 season and your order. We hope you're well and enjoying those last scrumptious pieces of the 2014 season. Thank you, thank you, Emily, Kyle, Maggie and Ben

Kyle will be in Seattle next Friday, 3/13 at 5:30 pm with the last of our Scrumptious Sockeye Salmon Shares! All shares are in portions (5-7 oz. size, flash frozen, vacuum packed) and sold in 25 pound increments.  $12/lb!  If you’d like to come and pick up a share contact us and we’ll send you the details.  The pickup will be near Capitol Hill, just E of the intersection of I5 and I90. We will also bring some shares to the Methow after the 13th.  Let us know if you’d like in on that!  I know some of you are anxiously awaiting getting some more salmon.  The first 25 pounds can go much quicker than you’d think. We have a handful of halibut shares left as well, sold in 10 pound increments.  For $29/lb it ships out of Alaska.

Thanks for reading =).

We have 300 pounds of Small Scales Seafood's Scrumptious Halibut ready to sell and ship to you! 

This is super top quality halibut caught by Kyle on a blustery day this fall. They were caught in the shallow waters of Kachemak Bay, AK on hook and long-line gear and hauled in by hand in an open skiff.  Due to the small-scale nature of our operation each line of gear sat for less than 3 hours before being hauled in and delivered to our processor.  All halibut were well bled upon landing and properly iced down.  The fishing yielded beautiful medium sized fish that are portioned into 8oz pieces.  (As fishermen we don't target the largest halibut because they are the main female reproducers.  A smaller fish is also more tender and tasty for you!)

This is as good as halibut gets, from the fisherman directly to you! 

Pricing:  We are selling this halibut in 10 pound shares.  Each share is made up of about twenty approximately 8 oz. portions individually vacuum packed.  *Price includes all packaging, overnight shipping, insurance.

• 1 share, (10 pounds) costs $290, or $29/lb
• 2 shares (20 pounds) costs $520, or $26/lb (the savings is in the shipping)
• (if you want more than 2 shares, please inquire about the cost per pound)

Shipping:  We will have our processor, Coal Point, ship the halibut overnight Fed Ex from Homer, AK.  We can ship up until 12/18 or anytime after 1/5, Monday through Thursday. To Order: Please send an email to emily@smallscalesseafoods with the following info.  We will confirm your order via email, have you mail a check, and set up the shipment!

1. Name
2. Physical Shipping Address
3. Phone Number (for shipping purposes)
4. Number of Shares
5. Preferred Shipping Date/s

  Halibut is a high value, sought after fish.  It's mild flavor and white flesh take well to marinades, grilling and rich dishes like our favorite, Halibut Olympia.  Halibut is allotted to fishermen on an Individual Fishing Quota, or IFQ, meaning that a fishermen owns a certain number of 'pounds.'  (This is unlike salmon where a permit allows you to catch as much as you can in one fishing period.)  Based on the health of the resource in each particular fishing area of Alaska a fishermen is then allowed to fish a percentage of his owned stock.  Currently we are allowed to fish only about 30% of our owned IFQ.  The fishery is restricted because a large portion of the population is growing very slowly.  This is the long explanation to why halibut currently costs a lot per pound!