Ingredient Sun May 13 2007

Copper River Salmon Season Opens Tomorrow!

The 2007 Copper River salmon commercial fishing season opens on Monday in Alaska, much to the delight of salmon lovers everywhere! Working the fertile flats at the mouth of the mighty Copper River, fishermen will most likely hit the water tonight, motoring out to set their nets on Monday morning, and haul in hundreds of fat sockeye salmon and even fatter king salmon (knock on wood). The opener will last 12 to 24 hours depending on the salmon that are making their way through the mouth of the river. The boats will head back to the docks in Cordova after the opener ends to offload fish and get it shipped out as quickly as possible. There won’t be any idea on price until then, but you can bet this fish will be pricey.

It’s worth every penny though! Like all wild salmon, those of the Copper River return to the river of their birth to spawn and die. Their sole mission for the past several years has been to build up their reserves of fat so that they will have enough energy to complete their long and dangerous journeys to their historic spawning grounds. It’s all that fat that makes these salmon so mouth-wateringly delicious.

We’ll see some smokin’ fresh fish here in Chicago come Thursday, Friday and into the weekend. The season will last 4 to 6 weeks, depending on the salmon. Enjoy it while its here, although you can find frozen Copper River salmon year-round, this fresh season is painfully short.

— Mary Smith / Comments (0)