I seemed to have missed a few days. It cannot
possibly be Friday. I called a restaurant in Texas,
and had put the wrong phone number on the airway bill,
so Alaska Airlines called the wrong place. Luckily,
they have a cooler in Dallas, so the fished arrived
just fine. Another went to Tennessee, and I hope that
arrived fine as well – I was too exhastimicated from
the stomach flu to pack both boxes going there, and
I’m never sure if others will put as many gel pacs in
as I do (which is probably too many, but better safe
than sorry).
Today I got great news. I finally hooked up with a
gillnetter on the phone. One of the buyers he sells
fish to asked me to show him how to pressure bleed.
So, we got talking about that, and I described it to
him and he said he’d try it this week. Then I
broached the subject of him selling my dressed,
pressure bled pinks, which no one seems too excited
about doing. He was the first who jumped at the
chance to put this fine fish in his boat instead of
throwing it back or selling it for next to nothing.
This got me so excited I immediately started looking
for whole fish around town so I could show him in
person how to pressure bleed. No fish were yet
available at the hatchery. Next I went to one of the
local processors, and the manager, gladly gave me 3
pinks.
I called the gillnetter back, he was over within the
hour, and I gave him a walk through. We found it
didn’t work on a whole fish that had been sitting as
long as the pink had at the cannery, as the blood had
coagulated and could not be moved, but he saw the
technique and was excited to try it. Like me, the
gillnetter self-markets much of his own catch, and so
can see further than the nose on his face if something
looks promising – even if it’s to help someone else
out in the process. He said he’d already talked to
his buddies, so hopefully they can get in several
hundred pounds this week for me.
After he left, I changed the rear brake shoes on our
new, highly used mini-van, and another friend called
looking for king salmon for a reunion. So, I drove
out to my processor and got him his fish. Finally
home at 7:30 after dinner on Costco Polish Hotdog cuisine.
–
Mark Stopha and Sara Hannan
Alaska Wild Salmon Company
Wild Salmon and Salmon Pet Treats
4455 N. Douglas Hwy
Juneau, AK 99801
907-463-3115
www.GoodSalmon.com