Free: Contests & Raffles.
Quick update on the fishing season -Chums came in like a lion, out like a lamb. There were some grinders that worked them until the bitter end, with scores in the 100 fish range by the end of August. That might just cover fuel...Most guys switched to other fisheries. Troll coho was the main target, but late season had been a little hit-and-miss locally the last few years. This year the same. Big coho, but numbers down. The main smash came in Sept in Cross Sound in to Homeshore, but that inside fishery is all tidal. If you're not fishing the flood in the right spots, you're not catching. The rest of the time you are better off hunting or beach combing. The boats that were consistently on fish in Sept were doing really good, though. Yakutat out west to Icy Bay (and beyond, I'm assuming) had a great Sept fishery for coho this year too. That's very remote, big boat country in Sept though. Mostly freezer boats, and a few ice boats that have a good relationship with the buyer in Yakutat. If you're a new ice boat to the area, you may not have a buyer in Sept... you've been warned I switched up to longlining for halibut. It was a tough grind this year, but those fish don't catch themselves. A pic of our biggest hali in Sept. 167# dressed.Next up is winter kings, opener on Oct 11.
Do this kind of math with kids wanting to farm all the time, good job Skillet, go to school kids for sure!!!
Oh I know you would have found just the right chef for this one! We got paid $6/# for the fish ( 147# IFQ weight, which is hanging weight less a 12% deduct for head, slime, and ice). Total $882. The actual saleable meat (skinless boneless fletches) on this guy is typically 60% of IFQ weight, so right at 88#.A nice restaurant like your customers had would sell a 6oz halibut plate with truffle rissotto and salad for, what, $40? And they'd get about 230 servings out of this fish, for a total of $9200 in revenue...Fish math is fun. And depressing *edited to add - the IFQ shares that i bought that gives me access to this Halibut fishery until I sell those IFQ shares cost me $41/#... so my "permission slip" to catch and sell this fish originally cost me a little over $6k... Considering current fuel, bait, and crewshare expenses, plus interest on my quota loan, I profit about $2.00/# on a $6.00 dock price. Or about $300 on this fish. Therefore, it will take me roughly 20 years to break even on my halibut buy-in, provided all things stay the same. Go to school, kids!
Wx pretty terrible up here for the next few days - 45 kts and 22 ft seas out front. A bunch of buddies coming in with big trips of black cod today, ahead of the weather. Here's a deck vid on the Defiant, captain Matt is a certified fish houndhttps://youtube.com/shorts/Amx-WEHL4nI?si=sM6y9z0XXZ080WdjPic of his halibut set while waiting for the cod pots to fill -My buddy Rob came in with 25,946# of round black cod on 3 days fishing -Fall black cod season fully underway in Sitka!
