Great Season in 2016

Great Season in 2016

Emily Lints4 comments
Kyle and the crew came back from Bristol Bay about a week ago and we're so glad to have them home!   Phew, we all made it through another season.

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Herbs with Rosalee:  How to Choose the Healthiest Salmon

Herbs with Rosalee: How to Choose the Healthiest Salmon

Emily Lints2 comments
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!

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Notes from the Boat

Notes from the Boat

Emily Lints28 comments
It's go time aboard the F/V Northland!  Phone calls home and fresh photos are nonexistent and texts short.

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Catch Report

Emily Lints1 comment

Quick report from the F/V Northland:

-Dropped the permit card in Egegik, AK.  Fishing whenever possible, one to two times a day.  Catching a few hundred to few thousand fish a period.  The Port Moller test boat further south has recently tripled its numbers of catches - so hopefully a bunch of salmon will arrive in the river in 5 days or so!  Over 150K salmon have already made it up river in Egegik, working towards the 1.4 million escapement goal.  Working hard, having fun!  

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Waiting to Launch

Waiting to Launch

Emily Lints4 comments

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.

 

 

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SSS Moves into the 21st Century

SSS Moves into the 21st Century

Emily Lints21 comments
Kyle hanging a net in preparation for the upcoming season
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

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Salmon Available!

Emily Lints6 comments
Good News:DSC_2773 We have Salmon Shares available now!  Contact us to reserve your Scrumptious Sockeye Salmon. IMG_2485 It's snowing and cold and snowing here in the Methow Valley!IMG_2495 It's a New Year!  We hope your year is a joyful one.

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Grateful All Around

Emily Lints6 comments
Fishing is always a bit of a flurry. 
It's a flurry to catch the fish and then it's a flurry to get all of our orders out.  By now most customers are enjoying their 2015 Salmon Shares. 
As our fishing flurry slows down we take the time to sit back, eat lots of Scrumptious Sockeye Salmon, and be grateful for YOU- our great customers! We also love hearing how many of you are grateful to get your mouths on your Scrumptious Sockeye Salmon Shares.  We've received so many thank you cards, notes and emails.  Each one bolsters us to continue connecting you with some of the finest seafood available.
IMG_0771 
(a note of thanks from an anonymous customer)
THANK YOU FOR YOUR BUSINESS AND THANK YOU FOR BEING THANKFUL!
We still have limited 2015 Salmon Shares available.  We are planning another Seattle/Methow drop off and are still shipping orders as well.  Contact us if you're interested!

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The Glamour

Emily Lints4 comments
Luckily the non-glamorous moments of last week materialized into some glamorous moments and Scrumptious Halibut!  Kyle caught these beauties just the other day and  it's some of the best halibut out there; hauled in by hand out of the beautiful waters of Kachemak Bay, AK, well iced and dressed at sea, flash frozen and vacuum packed.
We have these tasty Halibut Shares available for another two weeks. 
Kyle hauls in halibut long line gear by hand.  (This skiff was our first salmon drift boat years ago!) Kyle hauls in halibut long line gear by hand. (This skiff was our first salmon drift boat years ago!)Rough seas make for hard work and lovely fish. Rough seas make for hard work and lovely fish.This year's halibut ready to offload.  This year's halibut ready to offload.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

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Non-Glamour

Emily Lints20 comments

Fishing has its glamorous moments- glorious sunsets, large schools of salmon hitting your net at once, months of post-fishing down time in a good year, large halibut coming over the rail, doing something you love . . .

 

It also has the non-glamorous moments:

photo(2)

Kyle's been preparing to fish our small quota of halibut and is putting in the required non-glamorous time: loading herring chunks and salmon carcasses onto the many circle hooks.  (He gave Maggie the chance to help, but she was more interested in throwing gravel around.) 
Tonight Kyle is out laying gear with his mom (thanks Eileen!).  Kachemak Bay weather isn't perfect tonight, but they decided to go out in a little swell and a moderate breeze.  Hopes are to start picking the long-line gear tomorrow morning and re-set it with fresh bait as many times as necessary to catch our 1,000 pounds of halibut quota. 
Skiff fishing on our small scale offers plenty of adventure! We promise more glamorous pictures too, but heck you might as well know about the real, down and dirty parts of fishing too . . .
Thanks for reading.
Salmon and Halibut Shares still available!

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