Sea Forager Coastal Update Oct 2013

Ok. Here we go. Bizzy bizzy.  Holy Neptune, Sea Forager Seafood is growing faster than a market squid on steroids.

BTW:  I'd like to announce a new pick-up location in the East Bay for Sea Forager Seafood!  American Steel Warehouse at 1960 Mandela Pkwy, 94607, enter on 20th.

Anyhoo, here's the latest press:

Sea Forager In The Chronicle

Lots of challenges coming up after this month, though. Like for instance, what sustainable seafood can I possibly provide after salmon and everything else closes in two weeks? Hmmmm. I will have to dig deep (or drive far) to keep this going, but I'm actually looking forward to this challenge. And if a sustainable, hook and line halibut from Alaska makes it into the package every now and again, I can live with that--hopefully you can too!

October Party!

The fishwife and I will be doing one of our fishy events on Wed., Oct 16^th at The Orbit Room.  I will be showing a movie about local fishermen and the fish they pursue, singing songs with The Fishwives, and doing a reading from my favorite seafood writer: Joseph Mitchell.

I will also have a local fisherman or two present to answer your questions, or drink the beers that you buy them (just stating it like it is).

This event will start at 6:00 pm, and end promptly at 8:00. If you come late you will miss out on the music and the pupus—so please don't be late!

Tours

I am doing a rare weekend Mega Low Tidetour in HMB on Nov 3^rd If you've been waiting for me to do this on a weekend, this is it! I will not do another weekend tour this year, or maybe even ever.

I don't like to add to the weekend masses out there so I don't typically do weekends in HMB. There's

another Mega tour on Mon Nov 4^th (see link above) but it's sure to sell out too, so get your tickets now. Half price for members of Sea Forager Seafood... if you're a member and don't know the password, e-mail me.

Also, I've got an Inner City Crab/Eel tour on the 12th and on various other dates through Nov 9th.  Again it's discounted for members.  E-mail me for the password.

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Oct 2013 Coastal Update, part 2

Halibut

Well... after a 3 year hiatus, the halibut chose October to finally show up in this area. And there was actually a week where it was kind of like 2009 all over again. By which I mean they were everywhere. The bite in Half Moon bay was quite remarkable, but frankly there's only a few guys that know how to catch the big loads of halibut in that area--and I'm not one of them. It boggles my mind that there are commercial fishermen in Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz who can go out and catch 20-40 halibut in a single day, using hook and line only. To do this requires an Obi Wan Kenobi level of skill. Seriously.

I know this is all past tense... sorry. The bite has died off, and being that it's now October and the tides are getting bigger... I really don't think the halis are coming back. Halibut are caught with higher frequency on mild tides... or so is the popular wisdom. Hopefully I'm wrong and the rest of October will yield significant halibut numbers. But I'm not betting my house on it (and I don't even have a house to bet!)

Lingcod

This is the best time of year to catch a lingcod from shore. And there are plenty of lings out there right now. In fact, if I could get away from my life for a day, that's what I would do. Drive up to Marin and fish for lings from the rocks. Fish and Game seems to think the lingcod population is doing quite well. And anectodal data suggests they're right. I am sitting here, writing this, having just consumed a massive quantity of the fishwife's Lingcod a la Tapenade (with new potatos, swiss chard and zuchini). Baked to perfection. And I must say... there is no finer fish, for my money than lingcod. Mmmmm.

I should also point out that despite the frenetic, macho character of the fish (the lingcod is a badass animal), the seminal Miles Davis/Gil Evans album, Quiet Nights, was the perfect compliment to the meal. I'm not really sure why this is. I would have thought something more demonstrative and angry would have worked better with lingcod... but alas the character of lingcod meat is surprisingly subtle, understated, sweet. Not unlike that album.

Monkeyface Eel

  

As everyone probably knows at this point, I have the state record for the largest monkeyface eel ever caught on hook and line. (A-hem) I've also, arguably caught way more of these poor creatures than anyone else on the planet (with the possible exception of certain Ohlone Indians several hundred years ago).  No doubt, when I die monkeyface eels will celebrate my passing with endless parties and deafening cries to their comrades. But until then...

The monkeyface eels I've been getting lately have been abnormally huge. Slugs. Lunkers. Donkeys. Call them what you will. My friend in the fish, Brian Lynch has been experiencing the same thing of late. Here's his latest pic (see above). Anyway, lots of big fat eels. The news this year is that I'm now using octopus instead of squid (stop the presses!). There was a load of octopus that nobody wanted at the warehouse the other day so I took some of it and caught 6 monkeys in like 30 minutes... just using the tenticles. Makes sense actually. Given where they live, monkeys are far more likely to encounter octopi than squid.

Oh and if you were wondering about good spots in the city to get eels... check out the first line in the Gary (spot burner) Snyder poem...

Things To Do Around San Francisco:

Catch eels in the rocks below the Palace of the Legion of

Honor.

Four in the morning—congee at Sam Wo.

Walk up and down Market, upstairs playing pool,

Turn on at Aquatic park—seagulls steal bait-sardine

Going clear out to Oh's to buy bulghour.

Howard street goodwill—

Not paying traffic tickets; stopping the phone.

Merry-go-round at the beach, the walk up to the cliff-house,

sea lions and tourists—the old washed-out road

that goes on—

Play chess at Mechanics'

Dress up and go looking for work.

Seek out the Wu-t'ung trees, park arboretum.

Suck in the sea air and hold it;

miles of white walls

sunset shoots back from somebody's window

high in the Piedmont hills

Get drunk all the time. Go someplace and score. 

Walk in and walk out of the Asp

Walk up Tam

Keep quitting and starting at Berkeley

Watch the Pike in the Steiner Aquarium:

he doesn't move.

Sleeping with strangers

Keeping up on the news

Chanting sutras after sitting

Practising yr frailing on guitar;

Get dropped off in the fog in the night

Fall in love twenty times

Get divorced

Keep moving—move out to the Sunset—

Get lost or

Get found

--Gary Snyder

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Oct 2013 Coastal Update, part 3

Salmon

The salmon season is finally coming to an end. What a ride! And to think, 4 years ago everyone was predicting the end of salmon on the West Coast. Go figure! That's what 3 years of upwelling and a more sane water management policy will do (ie: bring the salmon back). Although the numbers are down (everywhere except in the rivers), there are still some donkey-sized salmon coming back to the docks. And if ever there was a time to go throw a mooching rig off of Yellow Bluff, this is it! I would imagine they are nailing salmon at Rodeo right now, but I haven't checked the reports in a while. The catch totals on the Klamath this month were... yes I'm going to use this word now... reedonckulous.

Sardines

As can be predicted, there have been quite a few sardines running in and around 3rd street. Monkeyface Operative 007, aka: Champion de la Banana, reports he caught 38 sardines in two hours of jigging with a (totally legal) 3 hook Sabiki near Agua Vista Pier a week ago. I have no idea why sardines forego all the other areas of the bay, and show up on that dilapidated shoreline every year, but they do and I'm not going to complain about it. The popular wisdom tells us that bio-accumulation is a non-issue in species like sardines. Especially in areas where they are merely passing through.

Surf Smelt

My surf smelt woes have now reached epic proportions. The truth is, they just did not run this year. Talking to the old timers out on the beaches, everyone tells me that surf smelt are streaky. They will typically run hard for a few years and then disappear for a few years. That seems to be what's happening. I mean we had 4 stellar years in a row, hard to ask for more than that. Still I can only adequately express my disappointment in verse. So I will now wax haikuic.

Fish Haiku #2139

(From: The Smelt Diaries, Book III, ch, 7., p. 238)

Surf smelt in the foam

Were you just a dream of mine?

Or will you return?

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October 2013 Coastal Update, part 4

Minus Tides

Looks like we have a few decent minus tides late in the day on the 19^th and 20^th of October. Beyond that they're just too late. Although eels and other intertidal species do eat at night it's sort of problematic poke poling in the dark. And probably not the safest thing to do either.

I should also point out that this is the best time of the year (in my humble opine) to fish from shore for rockfish, cabezon, greenling (friends don't let friends eat greenling), and lingcod. Where should you go to engage in this activivty. Anywhere on the Pacific Coast that has rocky shoreline.

Purple Urchin

Additionally, this is the best time of year to get the local purple sea urchins, as they tend to be loaded with uni in the fall. Purple urchins of course are nowhere near as large as the more commonly eaten red urchins... but the nice thing about purples is they live out at the far edge of the intertidal and can be found on minus tides—in other words, you don't have to swim to get them, (and you don't have to buy them for 20 dollars an ounce). However, I would like to encourage the local echinoderm hunter to make sure not to wipe out an area. Pick sparingly and do not feel that it is your god given right to always take a limit of 35. That's my thought on the matter. And remember, urchins are not mollusks so the “by hand or hook and line” rule does not apply.

Surfperch

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And that's going to do it for this month... aw shux... I forgot to mention that the perch bite on all the beaches north and south of the bay has been fantastic, if you like perch. For many years now I have been talking shit about the embiotocidae as a food source. Even though I am very fond of them as a cool, dynamic family of beautiful fishes... and of course I made this chart when I worked with the DFG several years back. But last year I found that surf perch make a truly excellent ceviche and it has since rekindled my interest in the culinary potential of the local perches. I actually liked pogie ceviche better than the redtail and calico but they were all really good... maybe I'll post more of this next month.

OK... that's gonna do it for October. Sorry for the tardiness of this update (again!). I'm a little overwhelmed with the fish biz right now... please come say hi at the Orbit Room on Oct 16^th, 6-8pm.   

September 2013 Coastal Update

Hello coastal fisher/foragers, here's your Sea Forager coastal update for September 2013. And it's almost on time for a change!

1. First off a few things. Thanks to all the people who subscribed to my new Sea Forager Seafood Company!

The launch par-tay on Friday Sept 6^th, was a blast! Stay tuned for October's event!

Oh yeah, I'm looking to expand to the East Bay.  Anyone know of bars/restaurants or other businesses that would like to support a sustainable seafood company by acting as a pick up location?  I've got 6 locations in SF but nothing in the East Bay.  Also looking for South Bay locations. Personal residences will work too.  Please contact me if you have ideas about potential pick up locations in East Bay or South Bay: kirk@seaforager.com

2. As far as tours go.  I'm really focusing on my Fisherman's Wharf Tour these days.  It's fun.  It's relatively inexpensive and it's after hours so people can do it after work.  Also easy to reach by public transpo. Everything you could possibly want to know about Fisherman's Wharf and more.  Including tales of our greatest scalawags and a back-end tour of a fish warehouse!  BTW: This tour is free for members of my Seaforager Seafood biz, just e-mail if you intend to come along:  tours@seaforager.com.

3.  This just in!  My next Mega Low Tide Clam-stravaganza in HMB on Nov 4th:  Go here to sign up before it sells out:  Mega Low Tide Tour.

4. The big party at the Marin Headlands Center For The Arts on Aug 10th was a blast. Here's the movie I made to show how we caught all the food for the dinner.  The idea here was to celebrate local bounty but also to show how the fish were caught: one at a time.  The main thing was to tell the story behind the meal. 

If nothing else this may be the first under water footage of a monkeyface eel taking the bait! And I mean taking it!

Anyway, have at... to see a larger version just click the YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnYMDh-Qf8k

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September 2013 Coastal Update II

(Sept 2013 Coastal Update continued)


 Now let's get down to it:

Sept 2013

Crime Against Nature? Or Great Sporting Opportunity?

A few years ago as part of the Monterey Bay Trout And Salmon Project's ongoing attempt to bolster commercial and recreational salmon fishing opportunities, many thousands of salmon smolts were dumped into Santa Cruz harbor. The idea was that in addition to increasing catch in the waters surrounding Santa Cruz, these “sea-locked” fish would eventually head back into the harbor (following the salmon's instinctive impulse) and thus offer the shore-based fishing contingent a golden opportunity at big game sport fishing. Well... guess what? The salmon have been invading the inner harbor at Santa Cruz all month. I'm talking 15 to 20 pounders catchable 15 feet from shore!

I'm not going to lie... there is something kind of off-putting about this fishery. It's great that people can go catch a salmon from shore right now, and of course that was the purpose of these fish from the ge­t go. But... but... I don't know... I can't help thinking about those poor fish. The spawning instinct is so strong in them. And we're using that instinct to sort of pervert their life cycle. In short, there's no real creek for these fish to return to. There's no gravel bed waiting for them. Yes I know this is totally irrational of me but it seems like an affront to the great salmon deity in the sky.  Even though it is essentially the same as most hatchery programs.

And at the same time, if you don't go down to Santa Cruz and kill a couple of these salmon right now, they're going to die anyway—unspawned and wasted. So by all means go get 'em. I'm just saying... on a certain level I'm ashamed of this fishery. Even if I have every intention of exploiting it myself. (Never said I wasn't conflicted).

Combat Fishing

                                Combat fishing in Alaska

The secret is out of course, so if you head down to SC be advised, it's elbow to elbow and side to side in the back end of the harbor. A tad better out on the jetty. I'm going down there next week. The guy with the elbow pads, goggles, and helmet will most likely be me. Oh, and don't bother saying hello. I won't be talking to anyone. Combat fishing is not my happy place. But if I'm going to do it, I intend to do it right—anti-social style.

One nice development is that DFG has designated all even number days as “kids only” days. Why? Not sure but I assume because they got tired of watching salty old fishermen pushing little kids out of the way to get at the fish! Oh yeah, no kayaks allowed. You have to fish from shore inside the harbor. The even/odd thing does not apply to the jetty.

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Sept 2013 Coastal Update, part III

(Sept 2013 Coastal Update continued)

Forage Fish

                                        Bait ball

Anchovies

The big game fishing contingent may laugh, but man, August was a great anchovy month down around HMB. And I'm not talking about pinheads (juveniles) either. There was a school of lunker anchovies (did I just write, “lunker anchovies?) just outside the harbor in HMB most of this month. This was an epic school. I mean massive. Like a mile long. The funny thing was how few fish were coming up in throw nets. At this point I would have to say my throw net skills are reaching a pretty high level of excellence, (a-hem) and yet throwing a casting net into the water with anchovies literally thick as soup all around me, failed to produce a single fish. I think it has to do with water depth more than anything else. Throw nets don't to work very well in anything over 6 feet of water. That's my experience anyway. Though maybe I just need a more heavily weighted net.

                          Brown peilcans workin' the 'chovies

On the downside, one of my salmon-fisher friends expresses concern over the relative lack of baitfish along the Marin coast, (compared to former abundance). I'm also hearing lots of folks complaining about the squid take. Can the ocean really support the harvest of 200,000 tons (or whatever the quota is) of squid annually? Even given the squid's amazing ability to repopulate and the fact that a market squid's lifespan is only 11 some odd months? The official answer of course is, "Yes, the squid fishery is sustainable." But the numbers are staggering—and one has to wonder, how much better off would the food web be if we left a few more squid out there for the birds and the whales and the fishies.  And really, who does the squid fishery benefit?  How many licensees? Or is really just a private fishery for a few select millionaires?  It's the American way I guess.

I'll take my answer off the air.

I am not taking a position on this, mind you. Not yet anyway. I am only reporting on a persistent complaint that many fishermen have been expressing to me.  And since I don't see this complaint getting much press... might as well voice it here.

           

Sardines

Predictably, the boat that fishes live bait for the sporty receiver at the wharf got into the sardines two weeks ago. So there were a few fresh sardines showing up at some of the up scale seafood joints around town.

Then on Aug 14^th I watched a fellow miscreant put about 18 jumbo sized sardines into an orange five gallon bucket while fishing off the draw bridge on a certain ill-named body of water on the south side of our fair city. The next day the same fisherman reported 6 total sardines for 3 hours of fishing. The day after that: none. So, unless you are privy to some very inside information, you can put your Sabiki rig on hold until later in September. Like I've said before, big anchovy years tend to be small sardine years—and vice-versa. There are exceptions but by and large that's the rule.

Evidently San Francisco is doing some work on the Islais Creek area... thanks to Kent for sending this link along:  Islais Creek Restoration

Night Smelt

It was a truly epic season for the little guys. And although they are now officially gone from the few local beaches where I get them, the large number of fresh nighties in the

local markets proves they're still running somewhere. Up the coast near Eureka most likely. One thing to keep in mind is that night smelt don't tend to run in big numbers two years in a row. So prepare yourself for a bit of disappointment next year.

Surf Smelt 

All the usual old timers have been out on the beaches. But the surf smelt will not comply. I bypassed the crowds further north and drove all the way down to Martin's Beach which in years past was a sort of Mecca for surf smelt fishermen.

     
     Martin's back in the day.  Fun for the whole family!

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