Season Recap from the F/V Leila M

Hello from dry land! I've kicked off my Xtratufs, washed my rain gear, and finally started to catch up on sleep after another Bristol Bay sockeye salmon season. I just wrapped up my 12th year fishing in Bristol Bay, and my 5th year running my commercial fishing boat, the Leila M. It feels so good to put another sockeye season down and get the boat all tucked away for next year.

Bay wide, it was a solid year for Bristol Bay sockeye, not the biggest in recent history, but sustainable and productive nonetheless. The total run came in around 44 million sockeye, and the commercial harvest landed close to 29 million fish, right in line with what biologists predicted going into the season. What the biologists didn't predict was that we would be fishing through back to back storms with relentless rain and waves that felt like they just kept building. I took my sunglasses off on June 25th and didn't put them on again until August.

The highlight of the season this year was that I had a top-notch crew. Deckhands are the true heroes of Bristol Bay commercial fishing. They are the ones pulling fish out of the net while I drive the boat and plan where to set the net next. It's hard physical work, and takes a lot of skill and a really good attitude.

Every season teaches you something new about the Alaska sockeye salmon fishery, and this one was no different. I now know how to swap a pacer pump for my refrigeration system, and that sometimes the best move is no move at all, i.e., don't leave fish to find fish! (This is a lesson I will probably continue to learn year after year.)

What isn't new is why I do this. Every fish that comes off my boat gets handled the same way it always has: bled, chilled, and cared for like it's going straight to my own table, because for a lot of you, it is. That's the whole idea behind direct to consumer wild salmon, finding the cleanest line between the boat and your table.

Now that I'm back, it's time to get this season's wild caught sockeye salmon into your kitchens. Pickup location ordering is open now through September 24th, with 19 locations from Maine down to Connecticut and out west in Idaho and Wyoming. 

Thank you for fishing this season with me, even from a distance. It means more than you know.

Fair winds and following seas,
Jessica
Captain, F/V Leila M