Fish-O-Gram! Fresh Corvina! Halibut 10 Day Countdown! Divers Got Talent, Illustrated!

Dear March 14th Customers,

This is a week of reflection and anticipation as we prepare ourselves for the oncoming flurry and excitement of halibut season.  Eastern Fishes have been granted a fishing-free reprieve as the Eastern seaboard is slammed by storm after storm.  Local fishes are drying up a bit as everyone pulls back to prepare for halibut.  A bright spot is beautiful Corvina, available whole or filleted.  We do have some lovely whole Petrale from Oregon, as well as Rock, Truecod and Dover.  Also, new this week is Poke grade tuna, suitable for, Poke, we guess.  Pink Scallops roll onward, with excellent abundance and quality.  Hold On! Halibut Is Almost Here.  

Just 10 short days.....

In honor of the Anticipation we have Hold On, by Sam and Dave for the JFF Song of the Week.
https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=Fowldx4hRtI

Milestones.

Our $5 bill is now Stapled to the Bathroom Ceiling.

Fish-O-Gram Hits Seattle.

Yesterday, your Fish-O-Gram correspondent and Mikuni's Kevin Mock were lucky enough to be the first paying customer at the new, super-sized Babirusa yesterday in the formerly Ghetto-Fabulous Kushibar Space (now all cleaned up).  We had drinks and spuds before heading off to an oyster tasting at the White Swan.  Congratulations Charles and Rene, what an achievement! we couldn't be more pleased for you and your crew.  Incidentally, the consensus favorite oyster of last night's White Swan oyster tasting was the Church Pt. from Rivera Shellfish.  The Church Points were full without being overwhelming, with a wonderful finished, polished, texture, a slightly astringent foretaste with a little bit of underripe persimmon.  But the real thing was the finish. A long, lingering, complex but elusive lineup of flavors.  The best comment was that the Church Pts taste like Nostalgia.....

Congratulations Noay and crew!

JFF Product Highlights, 3.14.18.

Corvina, Mexico

Refresh Troll White King, AK

Fresh Whole Petrale, OR

Giant Pacific Octopus, AK

Pink Scallops, Salish Sea

Pacific Oysters, All Shapes and Sizes, Salish Sea.  

Fresh Albacore, Fiji

Time Strapped Chefs Turn Back!!!  Onward to Regular-Form Fish-O-Gram!!!

Like it is Like It Was.

Halibut Dreaming.  

Springtime is in the air...A chef's thoughts turn to a magical flatfish.  These past weeks we have seen increasing availability of Black Cod, true cod and other western delights.  But these are just crumbs, and from a piscine/sales vantage point we are still chugging through deep-winter.  All this changes in 10 short days.  March 24 marks the first day of halibut season coast-wide.  The center of gravity of the halibut fishery, of course is Alaska, with over 17 million pounds of halibut landed.  Canada too is a mighty player in the halibut game, with a 2018 quota of better than 6 million pounds. 

Our Home Seas Grow Mighty Flatfish

Last in line is a tiny Oregon/Washington fishery, with a quota of barely more than a million pounds.  A subset within that subset are the hundred or so thousand pounds of that million caught in the island studded waters of the Salish Sea.  These fish are our March Madness. our glory, and it is our privilege to be the vehicle by which this extraordinary sub-population of fish are transported to a lucky sub-population of chefs. 

Home is Where the Water Flows.

It's the Water...

Salish Sea waters are some of the best flushed, most lively marine waters in the world.  However, the basin also boasts a myriad of small sweet bays where the swirling Pacific currents slow down, warm up, and yield an explosion of marine life, from phytoplankton all the way up.  This unique state of affairs means that everything from the Salish Sea just tastes a little better.  As for the Salish Sea Halibut, they have a sweetness, density and depth of flavor unmatched by any other halibut.  Cut-Out yields on the Salish fish are substantially higher than from Alaska or Washington Coast fishes, shelf-life is superior and the eating experience is unparalleled.  Also, the inside fish enjoy a much higher percentage of the larger 20/40 and 40/60 fish sizes than these other areas. 
A few years back we did a systematic investigation of the stomach contents of these halibut.  We found them stuffed with Spot Prawns and soft Dungeness Crab, explaining definitively why these fish taste so good.

A Flatfish Like No Other.

It's the love...

Commercial harvest from Inside Waters is limited to specific Treaty tribes, namely the three S'Klallam tribes plus the Suquamish, Tulalip, Swinomish, Nooksack and Lummi tribes.  For a handful of soul-stirring days each spring the mosquito fleets of the tribal fishery convert crab boats to longliners to chase halibut.  Most of these folk are year-round fishers and for many of them Halibut is the annual highpoint.  Every fish is individually handled, gutted and iced on board, landed on shore and brought to you as a gift and a blessing.

One of our favorite Crews.

Seeking Good Homes for Extraordinary Fish.

Over the years the vast bulk of these fish have gone into commodities fish outlets--in many cases pawned off as Alaskan fish to a misinformed public.  Starting a few years back, we, and a handful of other small-time fish brokers have steered more and of these fish to appropriate and appreciative markets.  This new order has led to some interesting rumbles on and off the water, but the general trend toward more specific marketing of this fish is very positive.  This year JFF, Lummi Island Wild and Mikuni Wild Harvest have ceased competing, declared a Millennium, and have joined forces to purchase, represent and showcase these peerless fish. 

All Together Now.

Salish Sea Halibut and You.  

Subject to the ever-surprising variables of weather, tribal politics and, of course, the uncertainties of any wild fishery, we expect the first fish in Seattle Sunday Morning the 25th.  Depending on subsequent openings, we are expecting to be flush with local halibut from March 25th through early May. Reserve yours today!  Accept No Substitutes!  

We are Counting on You.

Weekly Pink Scallop Feature.  Lovely, Fluted and Seasonally Appropriate.

Courtesy of Mona Johnson.

Craft Corner. 
Past Fish-O-Grams have generally painted commercial harvest divers, on whom we rely, as a shiftless, substance-loving and heavy users of the criminal justice system.  This is unfair.  Part of this reflected reputation is a relic of the old days in the industry, part of it is intended to be good-humored banter and part of it is, well, true, depending on the makeup of individual divers.  Like every corner of the seafood business, diving does have it's share of desperate characters of varying stripes.  Plus, for those born with dubious impulse control, long-term exposure to compressed air does no good at all.

Outlaws No More.
Mostly, however, commercial harvest divers are dedicated professionals engaged in an extraordinarily taxing profession.  Our scallops divers are wonderful folk, and we salute them.  Joe Littlefield, our top-producing diver, is not just a Dedicated Father, Mighty Hustler and  Superman of the Undersea, he has a whole secret life off the water. 

Tools of the Trade.

Armed with a glue gun, soldering iron, and strips of paper mache, Joe spends his sleepless nights crafting amazing functional artworks.  With his permission, we are delighted to share them with you.  

Until Next Time, We Are Your Corvina Selling, Poke Chopping, Restaurant Opening, Oyster Shucking, Sam and Dave Jamming, Halibut Holding-On, Mikuni/Lummi Wild Partnering, Scallop Extolling, Art Appreciating, JFF Crew.  

Call or Write, We Promise to Write Back!

N&S

Fish-O-Gram #32! Nor'Easter Hits! Urchin YES! Winter Surprise! Black Cod Resurfaces! Oysters Approach Annual Prime! F.O.G. Government Affairs Desk--Lobsters Rejoice--Switzerland Outlaws Live Boils! Mandates Hamster Socialization!

Dear Storm-Lashed Customers

Sunday Evening at Jones (Shellfish) Ranch.  

Wizard Of Oz Time. 

These latter days at Jones Ranch have been frosty and wind-swept.  We thought we were in line for an early spring but we were wrong.  Sunday's blow knocked oyster tanks off of cribbing, scattered trays and plumbing supplies, smashed up our small boat fleet and launched a 20' long drying rack a couple of hundred feet in the air.  Nor'Easters are a legendary and feared force in the San Juan Islands.  Cold air comes roaring down the Fraser River Valley and blasts the islands--really bad Nor'Easters are rare, but when they come the results can be apocalyptic.  In deep winter the ground is generally saturated with water.  A hard freeze limits the elasticity of tree roots and heaves the water-saturated ground.  In the right conditions trees can come down like Pixie-Stix.  One story from way back concerns a Lopez Island pioneer Bat Clancy.  Bat owned a forty acre tract of old-growth timber across from his house.  He steadfastly refused to log his forest, long after old growth had been scalped from the rest of the island.  Melvin Graham, neighbor and County Commissioner at the time approached Bat one more time to ask about logging the parcel--Bat's trees were shading one of Melvin's fields and making it impossible to cure hay on a wide swath of the field.  Bat Again refused.  That next winter a Nor'Easter came up and laid down every stick on that forty acres.  So Melvin got his sunshine, Bat got a lifetime supply of firewood and planted a small orchard in the middle of his formerly-treed 40.  Decades later we leased   Melvin's field from his daughter and the resurgent forest on what had been Bat's 40 shaded the southern portion of field to the point that curing hay was next to impossible.  Plus ca change....

 

A Platter Named  Desire....Pink Scallop Photo of the week.  Note the Olys snuggled in the ice....

Courtesy of Louis Morales, Pioneer Square Taylor Shellfish Bar

Winter Surprise at Jones Ranch!

Early Springers.

Precocious Goats

Some weeks ago, while feeding the goats on a normal January day we came upon a freshly born goat kid.  In the days following we welcomed another 50 more.  This was a surprise of several fronts, normally we schedule goat breeding in order to produce goat kids in late March or early April-once spring grasses are fully on and available.  This past year we put the buck in, as  usual, November 1.  Given a five month gestation, this should have yielded goat kids on April 1.  Unbeknown to us, a young goat buck escaped castration last spring, and goats being the precocious animals they are, successfully bred the entire herd.  On the whole is has been an extremely successful kidding--we only lost one mama and a few babies.  As of now we have two vigorous kids, Banjo and Lucky, living in the house with us, while the rest of the herds prances around the rocks behind our house and consumes incredible amounts of hay.  In a week or two we are going to move them down the road, but for the moment we are entertaining a steady stream of goat-phillic visitors.  Come one come all!
See Videos attached below, check out our goat video-centric Instagram Page!. 

Fish-O-Gram Government Affairs Desk--Switzerland Outlaws Live Lobster Boils!

Just Get Me to Switzerland. 

Too Much Time on Their Hands

While American Government degenerates into a reality tv horror show, our friends across the pond are getting down to business.   As of March 1, lobsters will enjoy special protections in the landlocked nation of Switzerland.  Live boiling of lobsters will be illegal, with penalties of up to three years in prison for boiling a lobster without first stunning or killing it.  Furthermore, lobster may only be brought across the border in conditions approximating their natural environment, namely in large volumes of seawater.  Further investigation reveals that Switzerland already imposes criminal penalties on pet owners who keep only one hampster, or do not allow domestic cats daily interaction with their own kind.  Left unsaid are the rights and privileges of Langustines, Crayfish and Crab, but that can only be next. 

Tell it like it is. 

Switzerland going all-in for the lobsters reminds us of a Seattle PI report, years back, on a PETA confrontation therapy campaign dubbed "Fish are People Too", an effort to get sports and commercial fishers to contemplate the error of their ways.  PI reporters tracked Seattle Salmon Purse Seine skipper Paul Matson for commentary, "I stalk them, surround them, kill them and sell the flesh,' he said while sitting on a bar stool at The Highliner, the bar at Fishermen's Terminal. 'And I couldn't care one little bit what the rest of the world thinks about the hierarchy of sentient beings.'"   https://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/PETA-Fish-feel-so-don-t-eat-them-1159722.php

Switzerland, Imelda Marcos and Moral Hypocrisy

We here at Jones Ranch try to take a more politic tone when dealing with misguided activism--for years we sold meats and seafoods at the Orcas Farmers Market and could generally count on at least one weekly confrontation with a militant vegan and so developed a full roster of firm-but-gentle rejoinders. Beyond the comedy of granting rights to crustaceans--after all, think of what they would do to us if the tables were turned?--lie deeper issues and trends--for one thing, this is a fine case study in the absurdities of claimed moral high ground from a nation that owes it's prosperity to helping kleptocratic billionaires hide their money from justice, or the spectacle of lobsters making asylum claims, or legislators and police wasting their time on the finer points of Hamster-to-Hampster interactions.  But none of this matters to the high-minded, tempeh-scarfing set.  

Imelda Sez, "Thank God for the Swiss"

Today Cuttlefish and Lobsters, Where will This End?

Some weeks back we reported on European Union legislation granting rights to Octopuses, Squid and Cuttlefish.  Taken together, we see this as indicative of a disturbing trend of applying abstract human values to the natural world, stemming, we think, from the ever greater remove of humans from the land, sea and the glories of food production and nutrient cycles.  With yeast-based, tank-raised faux burger now hitting the market and en ever-larger segment of the population adopting unwholesome vegan and vegetarian lifestyles, we are probably in sight of a day when foodie diehards are forced to smuggle live crab in trenchcoats and real meat is outlawed.  We promise to kick, scream and fuss, but this sort of societal meta-trend is probably unstoppable.  (See Matt Ridley blog on meat eating http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/meat-eating/.)  When that day comes you, our customers, have our solemn pledge to go underground and carry on.  Husbandry, stewardship, and real foods are the rock on which we Jones Ranchers stand.  If that makes us outlaws in the eyes of the Swiss, the Vegans and Jerry Brown, so be it.  

We Embrace the Outlaw Lifestyle.  

Until next time we are your Storm Surviving, Product Listing, Urchin-Season Extending, Black Cod Selling, Spring Oyster Extolling, Lobster Boiling, Food Freedom Loving, Swiss-Horrifying, Hamster-Handling JFF Crew.  

Call or write....We promise to write back!

N&S

Dear Un-Prohibited Customers,

Silly Laws Create Creative Outcomes. 

Ninety-eight years ago Nebraska today ratified the 18th amendment to the Constitution, pushing it over the top and outlawing the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol.   Washington State had already banned alcohol, both through "local option" laws and a 1918 "Bone Dry" statewide measure.  San Juan County had gone dry some years prior, following a visit from famed evangelist Billy Sunday.  In San Juan County, alcohol was illegal between 1911 and 1933.  Banning hootch was a dreadfully earnest endeavor, the notion being that boozy fathers would buck up and spend their times and money on family rather than swilling rotgut and pinching barmaids.  The reality of course was nowhere near the ideal.  Folks drank just the same but the liquor trade went underground.
San Juan County, being a boundary county between puritanical, dry American soil and a decadent and licentious Canada, became a hub for bootlegging and rum running in these years.  Islanders of that era were a web-footed bunch, many of them growing up on and around the water, and those who took to to smuggling did so as ducks take to water.  Early smugglers started with row and sailboats, and quickly moved onto more and more powerful motorboats.  

Let the Games begin.

Billy Wilson and the Black Pup.

Coast Guard and other law-enforcement agencies did their best, but local knowledge of these twisting waterways and the profit motive generally won out over  under-powered Federales.  For many years the primary enforcement boat in the Islands was the steam powered Scout, nicknamed the "Black Pup", with a top speed of 6 knots--about the speed of a well designed rowboat.  Billy Wilson, a farmer, blacksmith, bootlegger, smuggler and former owner of Jones Ranch, did some hard time in the McNeil Island Penitentiary for smuggling during those years.  He and his crew got caught hauling whiskey from Vancouver Island to Lopez and stashing the goods in various barns on the extreme South End of the island.  

Stately but slow. 

Lessons Learned.

As students of history and avid drinkers ourselves, we view Prohibition through the lens of the ongoing American push-pull between High-Minded Totalitarianism and Reality, with the entrepreneurial and unscrupulous ever-willing to rush into the breach.  Perhaps the greatest lesson of prohibition is that a state that chooses to criminalize normal behavior effectively normalizes criminal behavior, with all sorts of nasty long-term consequences.  Above all, despite any madness any government can throw at us, prohibition is an object lesson in how the human spirit, and the desire for alcohol, always triumphs.  This tension plays out to this day.  In local terms, prohibition was a glorious canvas on which people played out games of intrigue, gain and risk.  Prohibition also marked a high point in Island prosperity.  For Billy Wilson and the boys, the good times came to a crashing halt on December 5, 1933 with passage of the 21st amendment, repealing the 19th amendment.   After his release his former associates gave him 40 acres on Iceberg Point--one of the most beautiful places on earth- in gratitude for not squealing.  Billy Wilson spent his latter days brewing and drinking his own, working the dying trade of blacksmithing and raising sheep, including a purebred flock on his Iceberg Place.  We treasure the last few buildings standing from his era, and maintain a large and growing collection of Billy Wilson artifacts, including agate marbles, various hand-forged tools, and a full selection of horseshoes.  We do our best to carry on in his place and in his name. 

Billy Wilson, JFF Salutes You!  Never let local, state or federal governments get between you and your tipple of choice!

 

Wedding day at Jones Ranch, 1915.  

Crab Troubles.

The long-awaited West-Coast Dungeness opener has opened with a whisper, and not a bang.  The headline Washington Coast, Oregon and Central/Northern California Crab seasons all finally opened on Monday, following a prolonged wait for the meat percentage to reach acceptable levels.  Typically these fisheries open in early-mid December, in time to maximize holiday sales.  Southern California has been turning out a few crab, as has the ongoing Puget Sound fishery, but catches have been slow and pricing high.Crabbers are afraid that dropping millions of pounds of product on a soft market will crash pricing.  The big boy processors have been firing up their freezers to take the expected onslaught of product, but given the timing of this all, the offer prices are low compared to the past few years.  Southern California has been turning out a few crab, as has the ongoing Puget Sound fishery, but catches have been slow and pricing high.  Now the marquee fisheries are open, but the weather has kicked up and the crabbers are semi-striking.  So pricing is still awfully high, though extremely volatile, and crab brokers are running the thinnest of inventories in order not to get hurt when the volume finally hits and the price does tumble.  Troubled times in crab world..... order and we'll do our level best. Stay tuned for updates!!

Scallops.

Eating Pink Scallops is one of the best things about being human.  Our ancestors ate grubs and bashed each other with sticks so that a blessed few of their descendants could prance around on the seafloor scooping up scallops and the rest of us could enjoy Deep-water treats for the first time in human history.  If you are not currently serving them, why not? 

 

Courtesy of Erik Johnson Photography.

Urchin Bonus Round.

The state quota has been definitively thumped, but our Swinomish and Lummi friends are now hacking away at the tribal quota on urchin.  Between storms and other fisheries, urchin supply is fitful, but any urchin after the first of the year is a gift.  The urchins are getting closer to spawning--watch for white extrusions from the uni.  JFF is firmly convinced that Uni is on a one-way track to culinary glory, that urchins are the Puget Sound version of Truffles, caviar, or, well, Puget Sound Salmon, Pink Scallops and more, but in a punchier formulation.  We eat uni at every chance.  You should too. 

 

It's 2018 and still swingin'.

White King and Farewell to A King of Our Hearts and Plates.  

Some months back Jon Rowley, a man we are proud to claim as a mentor, cheerleader, and friend succumbed to kidney disease.  Jon defines an era of Northwest seafood and the development of a Seattle-Specific culinary sensibility like no-one else.  He drove and  embodied the change from a volume, commodities-driven fishery to the joyful, quality focused and and sustainable fishery we enjoy and celebrate today.  All of us today in the business who aspire to do anything worthwhile are Standing on the Shoulders of Giants, namely Jon.  Those interested in Jon may find more information in a handful of excellent articles profiling Jon, includinghttps://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/jon-rowley-promotes-the-tastes-we-come-to-crave/.

Sunday, greater Seattle gathered to mourn his passing.  Yesterday a smaller group gathered to enjoy a meal in his spirit.  We were lucky enough to furnish the salmon for this meal-- spectacular FAS Queen Charlotte Islands Ivory King Salmon.  Last night we enjoyed Kevin Davis' version of this fish, prepared for Jon Rowley's memorial dinner.  The fish is everything we could have hoped for, and a fully fitting for Jon's farewell meal. The most special of fish for the special-est of people.  We have a limited volume of this fish available as frozen or refresh, H&G or fillet.  Don't let these fish slip away without offering them on your plate!

 

The best of the best.

Diatoms to the Rescue. 

While the rest of the nation labors under snow and storm, we West Coasters have been enjoying an uncommonly sunny winter, reminiscent of dimly remembered Washington winters of the early 1980s.   At Jones Ranch this means the winter grain is shooting up and the elderberries are leafing out.   At the shellfish farm we have seen the first algae of the season, the slimy, ground-swelling chain diatoms.  This is about three weeks earlier than usual.  What this means is that algae eaters, including oysters, are getting an unexpected gift of food and flavor-boost.  To you, this means that all Washington oysters are developing the high, glory flavors of early spring early this year.  We can already discern the high, lingering flavors of spring in the animals.  It has been a long, long time since we have seen an early spring here.  Every winter puts northern folk to the test and every spring is a gift and a joy, whether it comes in January or in April.  Here's to the oysters, here's to the weather, here's to the single celled photosynthesizing critters who make it all happen.  

Algae Eaters, and Eaters of Algae Eaters, give thanks.  

JFF list Highlights 1.16.18.  

Pink Scallops, FAS Ivory King, Nisqually Oysters, Monkfish, John Dory, Giant Pacifc Octo,                            Lopez Island Smelt, Quinault Steelhead, AK Spot Prawns, OR, Brine Packed.    

Until Next Time, we are your Bone-Dry-Voting, Proudly-Tippling, Black Pup-Dodging, Crab-Troubling, Scallop-Extolling, Uchin-Encore-ing, Rowley-Waking, Oyster-Loving, Plankton-Identifying, JFF Crew.

N&S

Call or write! We promise to write back, especially if you place an order!

Fish-O-Gram Encore Presentation! Scallop Promos! Halibut is Here! Saturday Deliveries!

Dear Repetitious Customers, 

What with one thing and another, we have not had the time to craft an entirely new Fish-O-Gram to herald the onset of the 2017 Halibut and Blackcod fisheries.  So we are pulling from the archives, changing dates and making do.  In current news, last night King 5 news aired a 3 minute love story to the rebirth of the pink scallop fishery.  It was a beautiful story and we are deeply grateful to KPR publicity for making it happen, Eric Wilkinson for spinning a sweet story and the heavy editing by King 5 technical staff to make us look moderately intelligent and legitimate.  Here is the link: 

http://www.king5.com/news/loca l/rare-northwest-delicacy-maki ng-a-comeback-in-puget-sound/ 420958458

Traffic to our website has exploded these past hours.  We are building a website around linking curious internet surfers to retail outlets and restaurants selling and serving the scallops.  If you would like your venue to be featured, please send us logo, links and any photos or additional blurbs you would like shared.  

Will success go to their heads?

Encore presentation.....Our 2016 Halibut-Centric Fish-O-Gram with a few key dates changed

Dear Halibut-Hungry Customers,

Your long, winter nightmare is almost over!  No more trimming freezer-burnt Pacific Ocean Perch filets for fish-fry, no more slogging through mountains of hormone-laced factory farm pork!  No more trying to torture basketball sized beets and celery root into something resembling an entree!  The Fish Train is Here!!!  Saturday, Halibut as well as IFQ Alaska Black Cod.  April 1, Washington Coast Black Cod.  April 15, fresh Oregon Troll Kings!!  Away we go!!!!. 

We are now in the final countdown to the March 11 Halibut Opener.  Every fishery, including Alaska, Canada and West Coast open simultaneously.  Here at Jones Ranch, all eyes are on the Tribal-only, inside waters Halibut.  This is one of our favorite openings.  The weather looks to be reasonable for the weekend and all systems are go.   Every fishery is managed differently.  In Canada and Alaska, individual fishermen may decide when to fish between the opening and closing dates.  On the Washington Coast, most commercial halibutis caught during 8-10 hr targeted openings spread out through the season, and as bycatch in other fisheries.  Our tribal cohorts set their own opening schedule within the general opening and their quota, which this year stands at 414,786#, including ceremonial and subsistence fish.  Tribal openers are set jointly between all involved treaty tribes, which include the Lummi, Swinomish, Nooksack, Tulalip, Suquamish, Port Gamble S'Klallam, Jamestown S'Klallam, Elwha S'Klallam, Makah, Quillayute, and Quinalt, with each tribe being geographically limited to a historic "usual and accustomed area" The Coastal tribes are seasoned longline fishers, with well-outfitted boasts and access to the most abundant halibut banks, so if good weather prevails on the ocean, these tribes have the capacity to thump most of the quota in a couple of days.  In general, the tribes try and schedule halibut early to take advantage of high pricing, and to stay out of the way of the Spot Prawn fishery and the ongoing, episodic spring and summer crab fisheries.  

It's big time out on the coast

Tribal Timing.

The first opening is traditionally an unrestricted opener, meaning fishers may land any volume of fish.  Subsequent openings may include poundage limits per boat, usually 500#.  Setting openings takes on the form of high diplomatic art, with individual tribes trying to tailor the openings schedule to advantage their fleets and screw the other guys.  Halibut season is the only time of year the inside tribes set aside their own differences to join fire on the coastal tribes.  
This year the inside tribes are praying for weather rough enough to keep some of the outside tribes in port, but calm enough to allow inside fishing, and so keep coastal landings down and hold some quota on the table for future openers.  In the event this looks likely, the Makah will either force a postponement of the fishery or demand a poundage restriction to hold inside catches down.  Further complicating things, an untimely death, or the death of a highly placed tribal member,  of any individual tribe, can postpone the fishery until the funeral and reasonable mourning period is over.  Lummi funerals last up to five days.  During an extended string of deaths the business of the tribe grinds almost completely to a halt. This could yet happen, but an informal survey of Lummi Elders indicates that everyone is holding strong right now.

Inside halibut are for hugging.

Our Wish is for Inside Fish.

We are inside rats--both by geography and affinity.  For years we have worked with the Finkbonners of Lummi to bring the local halibut to market.  We maintain our ties to the Finkbonners, and have now branched out to source fish from the Wilbur Family of Swinomish, Mark Hatch and Co of Tulalip and a whole raft of new friends in the S'Klallam tribes. Inside fish benefit from all the glory of our island-studded home.  It is the unique combination of huge water-exchange coupled with our protected little bays that give all marine life in the San Juans unparalleled flavor, quality and authority.  The primary food supply for our islands halibut is Spot Prawns.  Inside halibut also tend to be larger, fattier and just generally better.  We have have never once seen a chalky halibut over the quarter-million of so pounds of inside fish we have handled these past years, while the coastal fish are notorious for chalky fish.  Plus, who would we be if we did not hold our hometown fish above all others?  Some people boost sports teams, we are Islands Halibut Superfans.

We expect 3-4 openers spread out between Saturday and the beginning of May.  As discussed in a previous Fish-O-Gram, these halibuthold up exceptionally well.  We expect to have a steady supply of local halibut at least through the end of April.  Accept no substitutes!!Halibut bycatch is almost as much fun as the fish itself.  We get loads of true-cod, ling cod, yellow eye, the occasional blackcod and tens of thousands of pounds of skate and dogfish.

I'll take the one from Lummi, thanks.

Bait for the Boys.

Your faithful Fish-O-Gram correspondent has had a busy last week shuffling bait around the Puget Sound Basin and nailing down the last details of the fishery.  For these few brief weeks treaty fishermen convert their crabskiffs over to long-lining.  Typically they work the lines through their crab blocks.  Catches are modest, so each fish gets individual, loving treatment, usually beginning with a pistol shot to the head to stun the fish, then immediate gutting and icing onboard.  There is a true joy in participating in the warp and woof of the seasonal, eternal patterns of the fishery.  Halibut numbers are strong and growing, the individual fish are spectacular, the bycatch is terrific, prices are strong but fair, fishers are happy--this is just generally a lot of fun.  
We will be buying in Port Angeles, Sequim, Cornet Bay, Lummi, Anacortes and on Lopez.  We expect to move 40,000# of 'buts over the course of the fishery.  This last week we moved 15000#+ of bait. Favorite baits are Salmon, Octopus, and Argentine Squid, or Illex argentinus.

Scheduling and Pricing.

Fishing commences at 12pm Saturday and extends till 12pm Monday.  We will be delivering fish into Seattle Sunday, Monday and Tuesday mornings, and we will be running a special delivery route Sunday.  Tuesday's fish will be stockpiled and sold on for at least a week and a half--well handled halibut improves with age, and we look forward to proving it to you. No pricing has been posted yet, but we expect little change from last year when pricing ranged between $10-13#, H&G.  Bycatch, namely cod, ling and skate will be available at market prices.  Order now!  Also, any and all are also welcome to come participate in the madness!  Careering down I-5 with $100,000 worth of fish packed on our farm truck! Staying up all night cutting wings off skate-fish!  Creeping around rotten dock-ends at 2-AM with twenty thousand dollars cash and a pistol jammed in the back of your jeans.  It is almost, but not quite, as glamorous as being a line cook. 

This is where the magic happens!

Cali-Hali Yields to the King of Flatfish.

Many of you have enjoyed the solace of Cali-Hali these last, long, dark months.  Snuggling up with this super-sized flounder has been a fine balm for a Northwest winter.  With local halibut coming at us like a freight train, the Cali-Hali must now yield to the big dog of Pacific bottomfish.  As of this week the Cali Hali season is done, and we are no longer bringing them in.  

Safe 'till December.

Chef's Corner.

Previous Fish-O-Grams have discussed the dilemma of skate bycatch in the upcoming halibut fishery.  We have always prided ourselves on being able to utilize just about anything from the sea.  Also, hard working halibut fishermen rely on bycatch for fuel or bait money.  It becomes an important part of their season.  Ergo, in order to purchase the superlative local halibut, we find we must also take on thousands and tens of thousands of pounds of skate fish.  Both Long-Nosed and Big Skate are plentiful in island waters, and they can be fun, if handled right.  They are also huge, stinky, bony and prickly and they ooze ammonia-laden slime in epic volumes.  Like all shark-type fishes, they pee through their skin, meaning the slime they ooze is mostly urine.  We have long sold small volumes of skate to our restaurants, but in recent years the sheer volume of skate coming in has been causing us real troubles.  Last year the Finkbonners alone came up with 20,000# plus of skate fish.  We were pleased then, when out of the blue, we received a call from from folk who offered to buy any and all skate we could come up with for export to Korea.  We have always known that Koreans love skate, but never why, or how it is prepared. 

Waterfront peoples world-wide have eaten skate fresh for millennia.  But Skate Culture, and skate preservation, originated in the Southern Korean Province of Jeolla and specifically on Heuksando island in the 14th century.  Local lore claims that islanders developed fermented skate, or Hongeo, during a period when Japanese pirates scoured the Korean coastline-- islanders had to repeatedly abandon their homes, run up river for protection and they needed durable foods.  Also, Hongeo could legitimately be considered a weapon.  Left entirely alone, the ammonia in skate skin ferments the skate flesh.  Treated thus, Hongeo lasts indefinitely.  As southerners moved to the bright lights of Seoul, they brought their affection for Hongeo with them.  The rest is history.  Hongeo took Seoul by storm, and is now one of Korea's favorite, featured national dishes.  Korea now catches, imports, prepares and consumes literally millions of pounds of Hongeo annually.  Skates and rays come from all over, but as with most things marine, Puget Sound produces the best, the slimiest, skate anywhere. 

 

Home of the Hongeo

Hongeo Education.

In a delightfully unexpected turn of events this past week, your FOG correspondent found himself of an evening drinking beer in Kent with a nest of heavily hair-jelled Korean Hipster fish brokers.  Loosely scheduled as a forum to discuss skate marketing, the meeting rapidly turned into a plant tour, philosophical conclave, and recipe swap.  The plant was full-tilt busy at 8pm marinating Pollack Roe with a bright-red MSG based brine to make beer-drinking snacks.  Cases of (Chilean) farmed salmon snuggled sushi papers, rice wine and case upon case of MSG in all of it's glorious forms.  Next week this plant will be abuzz creating what may be Korea's greatest gift to fish cookery, Hongeo, or fermented skate.  Skate urinate through their skin, meaning that skin-on skate develops a very strong ammonia odor.  This ammonia, used wisely, can preserve the whitefish between.  Hongeo is eaten when the odor, described as "uncleaned outhouse" and "rotten feces" reaches it's apex.  Hongeo ammonia levels can become so high as to cause skin lesions.  The texture is described as terrible, chewy and spongy with nuggets of hard cartilage.  Aficionados report getting a buzz from eating Hongeo, similar to alcohol, but cleaner and, well, stinkier.  It is said to be good for handovers, digestion, low vitality and, of course, is an aphrodisiac, assuming you can grab a shower, a complete change of clothes and swab out your mouth with lye before getting busy. 

Skate in this country has traditionally been directed to the lowest-end whitefish uses and faux scallops for the casino buffet crowd.  Our hipster chefs love it, but there is no real volume there.  Koreans obviously have bigger things in mind for the fish,and we at JFF feel strongly that they should have it.  However, knowing that you pride yourselves on being at the forefront of culinary trends, we offer JC's (hipster fish broker) home-cooking Hongeo Recipe.

Take one large Skate.  Cut wings off.  Wrap in cut grass or hay.  Leave at room temperature in a sealed, odor proof room for 1-2 months until the odor and off--gassing, when checked, induces retching and burns the eyes. 

Slice thinly, serve with kimchi, sliced radish, lettuce, other condiments or alone, for the uncut experience.  Enjoy!

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Lurking deep in Kent. Just follow your nose.

This coming Saturday marks the inaugeration of JFF Seattle Saturday deliveries.  Please order scallopsFriday for Saturday.

We are, Repetitively, your Halibut Hungry, Scallop Promoting, Skate Fermenting, JFF crew.  Call to order! Call to schedule your fish-buying adventure! Call with Fish-O-Gram recipes! Call for spring planting tips! Just Call!