Copper River Reds

The wife and I headed down to the Copper River Friday night, of course forgot my fishing license in my chest waders at home in anchorage, had to turn around past kenny lake back to Glenallen to get a duplicate. Wasted 2 hours, (always double check!!!) Got to Chitna and was dipping by 6:42 pm and stopped at 9:10pm with a limit of 29 sockeye and one king salmon. Weather was amazing! Saw a lot of kayaks on vehicles traveling around. Good luck and be safe!

Nice haul!

Your smoker looks new.  I always see you guys up in alaska doing the traditional strip thing on the salmon.  What's traditional for brine, brine times, smoke times, and wood?  Just curious as I've never done it this way.

-Allen

Nice haul. We are lucky if we even get an opening for sockeye period..


-Rodney-

That is some beautiful looking meat!

SWEET OH!!!  Nice Haul!  The Copper River dipnet fishery is another one of those things I haven't done yet since basically moving here in 1971.  Those fish look great in the smoker!

I think brines vary.  I'd be curious too.  I haven't smoked or canned in years since my parents are the masters of it. 

Good looking haul!    

On another note:  I went down to the Klutina Saturday morning to see if I could sport catch one.  There were a dozen or so fellow anglers.  Water levels were a "little" high, very silty, and had lots of debris flowing down (caught some every other cast).  I didn't catch any reds, nor did I see anyone else fight/land/possess any.  I'm going to start visiting every three days or so...or until I hear other folks are catching some.  Should be any day now, especially since the dippers are pulling in some nice catches.

Cheers

we did straight salt no iodine and a cup of brown sugar in a gallon of water, soaked the fish 15 mins and hung until dry, the smoke is to add a little flavor but mostly to keep bugs (bees and flies) cherry chips, did this last summer with awesome results. We did about 10 fish in 3 batches to give you an idea of volume a gallon can take.

we did straight salt no iodine and a cup of brown sugar in a gallon of water, soaked the fish 15 mins and hung until dry, the smoke is to add a little flavor but mostly to keep bugs (bees and flies) cherry chips, did this last summer with awesome results. We did about 10 fish in 3 batches to give you an idea of volume a gallon can take.

Until dry dry?  How long does that take.?

2 to 3 days depending on the weather, if you think they will start molding you can take them inside and put them on racks in the oven on low heat like the lowest setting 120 degrees to finish drying them. So yummy, you can vacuum package and freeze will keep for as long as you think they won't get freezer burned.

2 to 3 days depending on the weather, if you think they will start molding you can take them inside and put them on racks in the oven on low heat like the lowest setting 120 degrees to finish drying them. So yummy, you can vacuum package and freeze will keep for as long as you think they won't get freezer burned.

Oh, so you're really just drying them.  I don't think I've ever tried dried salmon.  Got to try that some time.  Thanks.

Anything to be aware of in terms of spoilage?  If you're not bringing long (salting) or smoking much, you're not really preserving the fish.  So I suspect freeze to preserve is the way to go, right?

-Allen

yes, freeze them, you can dry them a lot longer, up to a week and depending on weather breezy and sunny is the way to go. Traditional natives used to dip their fish in the ocean water for the salt then let air dry on racks.