The KING is in the Building...

Dennis Zadra, our fisherman in Cordova Alaska

The Kings of Spring are in the house, and the best salmon of the year is in Tony's Markets right now - King and Sockeye Salmon fresh from the Copper River of Alaska!  We were the first market in Colorado to carry Copper River salmon, and we're still the most consistent and freshest of all markets in town - because we have our own fisherman!  I went fishing with Dennis and have lots of pics - we'll let them tell the story...

We start by loading the boat with LOTS of ice - the Mehgan Denise (named his boat after Dennis's daughter) is specially designed for fishing the Copper River - with a flat bottom and two Chevy 350's driving jet engines, that's what it takes to cross the flats and maneuver the high seas of Alaska.  Once we get ice, gas and a cooler full of food, we're off for the fishing grounds and 72 hours of non-stop fishing, or should I say work!

The Meghan Denise has a hydraulic wench that operates a HUGE net that has weights on the bottom and buoys on top, creating a 'curtain' in the water to capture the migrating fish; smaller nets for sockeye, larger nets for Kings.

The Copper river is immense and moves incredible amounts of silt - we're in the Delta where the water is very murky, can you see the clearer colored sea off in the distance?

To cross the sandy delta flats takes custom made stainless steel boats of a certain size with flat bottoms and jet engines - Dennis's are powered by 2 Chevy 350's.  Most of the fish are brought in by tender boats - which cannot cross the delta, so they take days to reach port.

We started fishing inside the delta at exactly 7 pm (Alaska Fish & Game flies overhead to be sure nobody starts early) and only had a handful of fish here at 11 pm - the sun only dimmed for a couple hours around 2-3 am - Dennis never stopped fishing, I took a nap for a couple hours.

4 am the next morning, fishing has been slow so we moved out of the delta into the bay, tracking successful spots from last year marked in his GPS.

To catch fish, the net is stretched out to form a curtain - soaked for about 40 minutes and then hauled in and every fish removed by hand and live bled.  In between sets the fish are sorted and the prime fish cleaned and iced.  The ocean and delta are huge, though Dennis hits past successful areas, it's like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack.

The Copper River is immense - this picture is only one of the many fingers that dump into the delta!  I took this from the "Million Dollar Bridge" built during a copper boom in the early 1900's - glaciers on all sides and icy water.  There is no fishing here in the river, unless you are a native.  That's Alaska Fish and Game monitoring the laser fish counter - ensuring enough fish have escaped before each opener.

We saw a little sun (that's when I brought the camera out), but it rained most of the time, it was windy, the boat rocked a stomach churning dance and it was soooo cold - but the view was AMAZING!  Here we're fishing off the tip of Wingham Island, which turned out to be our most successful area (and thankfully it partially blocked the cold wind).

Dennis with a fine Sockeye Salmon - it's amazing how he kept smiling and joking for the whole trip, the hardest working man I know!

Not a huge haul, but not bad - now they have to be cleaned and iced.

Back in port, Dennis shows off a beauty of a King - the Kings of Spring!  This one will be our dinner (and breakfast, and lunch...)

Dennis's prime fish are cleaned and iced at sea, and then air-freighted directly to us, the rest are smoked or sold to the cannery.  From what I could see, most were not iced or gutted, sold to the the cannery tender and take a week or so longer to get to their destination - still not bad, but not the best.  After seeing how it works first hand, there is no question that our fish are the best from the Copper River - perhaps the finest in the world!

We dropped the bruised fish (most of them) off at the tender boat, trading them for gas (you think gas is expensive here!) and a hot cup of coffee and headed home - before we could rest, Tony's fish went into cooler boxes with frozen gel packs and his wife Alicia drove them to the Cordova airport - they should be at DIA in 24-36 hours.

To save money, most of the fish are processed in Cordova and loaded onto these containers to be barged to Anchorage or Seattle - not only do we get prime, unbruised fish that are cleaned and iced shortly after catch, our fish is flown right from the fishing boat so ours is MUCH fresher than most.

Cordova port - can you see the dancing lady and the bear on the mountain?  A couple of days with little sleep and a couple cold Alaska Ales and you can!  Look hard, they are facing opposite directions.

Downtown Cordova - it ain't much to look at, but the folks are nice, the food is hearty and it never seems to stop raining.

The Baja Taco bus was one of the best restaurants in town, actually it was GREAT!  The owner drives to Cordova for the summer and back to Baja California every winter.

The nets need a lot of work after every trip - here Dennis is hand mending tears from snags on rocks.  The boat has to be cleaned and maintained before the next opener - usually 1-2 fishing openers each week.

Occasionally something else gets in the net, but not much - we also got this crab, a ling cod and a Dolly Varden. 

What does a fisherman do on his day off?  Go fishing of course!  We set lines for halibut between openers - sometimes they can be caught right off the docks in town - sometimes the Killer Whales take the fish when they're being brought to the boat.  The locals like their halibut fried in batter like fish and chips and served with ketchup or tartar sauce.

The Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Wall was in town, so the whole town turned out for a picnic.

I was lucky to catch this town BBQ near the Memorial Wall - Copper Kings grilled by a vet on the summer solstice with homemade side dishes and homemade cakes - it doesn't get any better!

A local favorite - salmon covered with garlic salt, mayonnaise, peppers, onions and cheddar - um,,, well,,, a little different and not the way I would approach it, but not bad!   I grilled some teriyaki salmon satay as well as chicken fried Moose cube steaks - YUM!

Dennis can't stay awake long after a 72 hour opener, one of the few times he wasn't smiling the whole week.

Dennis and Alicia with Alicia's parents who help out for a few weeks every summer.

Fishing for salmon with Dennis was a once in a lifetime trip - and it's impossible to appreciate how much goes into catching and delivering the finest and freshest salmon in the world to Tony's, and the dangers the fishermen face everyday.  These fishermen are a tough breed, and I'll always appreciate every single bite of Copper River salmon with mindfulness and awe.

Hunters, Dennis also provides a guide service - Alaska's Lonesome Dove Outfitters

Recipes with the next post - cheers and go buy some salmon! - mick

About the author: Chef Mick (Michaelangelo) Rosacci is the Corporate Chef and co-owner of Tony’s Markets in the Denver Metro area. Mick also teaches cooking on Denver’s Channel 7 News and Dig In, a local gardening show on FOX. For more recipes, visit www.TonysMarket.com and/or subscribe to Tony’s Culinary Club by clicking here.