MRing to ANC in Jan/Feb for salmon
 

I have boatload of DL miles and I inquired about salmon prices recently. I was quoted $25 per lbs for Wild Salmon shipped to my house in DCA. I was a little outraged since I can buy certified Wild Salmon from Whole Foods for less than that.

I was told that the shipping is half of the cost.

So I have thought about MRing to ANC to buy some Salmon(love that stuff) and bringing it home with me. I have 2 bags for free on DL(100lbs in total) so just asking what is the wild salmon price in ANC that I can find on deal? From my limited search it looks like Costco offers the best price for Salmon, but I have no idea what that price is. Perhaps there is a better price if I buy in Bulk? I am ready to buy more than 50lbs to make it worth my MR and time.

I can get Salmon at Restaurant Depot next to my house for $5/lb but farm raised.

Any opinions?

Read up -

http://www.anchorage.net/articles/wi...ska-salmon-101

https://www.10thandmseafoods.com/

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2...-seafood-watch

Thanks mate. Although that does not really answer my question. Is it worth it to go to ANC to just buy 100Lbs of fish and come back on a weekend trip... The survey that I saw still stands and if that same fish costs $5 cheaper per lb in the costco in ANC then its def. worth the trip.

"Worth it" questions are the hardest. To me, no, because there's no salmon fishery within 200 miles of Anchorage, December is hardly salmon fishing season, it will be cold and dark, if you're flying coach it's an awful long way, and food prices are generally higher in Alaska than in the lower 48.

You could, for instance, fly to Seattle and get equally fresh fish, cheaper, and have plenty of things to see and do in the process. But fewer miles if it's a mileage run. Is that "worth it?"

For example, Dungeness crab is $4.99 a pound at most supermarkets here. How much is it in DC? Wild Alaska Coho fillets are the same price at my local Safeway as they are in the Carr's supermarkets in Anchorage. Shop at Uwajimaya in Seattle (an awesome Asian supermarket/department store) and get some of the freshest and best seafood on the Pacific coast, eat lunch at their great little food court, and still have time to explore downtown Seattle, ride on a ferry, watch them fling fish around at the Pike Market, etc.

Don't get me wrong, I love Anchorage (former resident, still go for frequent visits) but flying there in December to save money on fish is only a great idea if it's mainly the flying that's important.

Thanks for the quick reply mate.
It amazes me how Anchorage is suffocating with Salmon and fish and the prices are still higher than the lower 48. I thought that the salmon prices would be like $3 per lb wild and $1 per lb for farm raised. I guess I will not fly to ANC this winter.

I don't really eat crab since its a lot of work for very little meat...

If one were to fly to there in high fish season I have read that one could catch more than 100 lbs of Salmon, although can't really fish Salmon in winter... With the going prices that I have seen online that means that one could catch $500 worth of fish in a single day. Damn this is worth going for...

Anchorage is a great place to visit for sport fishing, but commercial fishing occurs far away in other parts of the state, such as Prince William Sound (from which comes the overhyped Copper River fish) and southeast Alaska (Ketchikan etc.) which is actually closer to Seattle than to Anchorage in terms of transit time. The main markets are in the lower 48 and overseas. People are often surprised to buy fish in Anchorage that's been harvested in the Aleutians or Bristol Bay and then sent back north from Seattle, but that's the nature of the industry.

Salmon is also a seasonal industry, and December is NOT the season. Crab, on the other hand, is mainly harvested in the fall and winter months, so it's more likely to be fresher (or frozen for a shorter period) than salmon at this time of year.

At $10 a pound you can catch one 50-lb King salmon and do good. Or 5 10-lb Silvers, although those would be record fish and I've never caught more than 3 in one day, but YMMV.

If it's the meat you're after, Costco. If it's the fun, Alaska.

wow thanks for the insight Gardyloo,
The only thing that I don't understand is that you say $10 per pound? I read that the one day permit costs $10 and thats it. And the limit looks to be 2 king salmons, 2 sockeyes, and if my brother comes along thats another 2x each. Do you get taxed on how much you catch? My understanding is that once you catch it its yours.

If that is the case then I will hit Alaska up in the prime salmon season, since its the most cost efficient way. I would give 25k DL any day for 100lbs of fresh Salmon and status earning experience. :)

I think you underestimate how easy it would be to catch salmon. I've fished for years in Alaska (sport fishing, that is) and have caught precisely ONE 50-lb or larger King in that time. (Lots of Reds and Silvers, but Kings aren't that easily come by for most folks who don't live on the Kenai River or have a boat in Ketchikan.)

Granted, I don't charter floatplanes to Lake Clark, but my $10/lb comment was on the price per pound of Kings in grocery stores in AK or WA. If you want to look at salmon fishing as a means of saving money, think again. It's not just the license (and by the way the limit varies by species and area) it's the cost of access, boat, tackle, a guide, food and lodging in the bush, etc., etc. For me I'd probably guess that the "true" cost of fish I've caught was in the $20+/lb range. Remember a 50-lb King is maybe 25 pounds of edible meat and 25 pounds of head, fins, guts and other inedible bits. Catching them is certainly more fun than buying fillets in the grocery store, but it's NOT cheaper.

wow.When you put it like that it really makes sense. I really thought that king salmon in Alaska is so common that kids can catch with bare hands, seems I have been mistaken...

The only place that you can "catch" salmon bare handed is at Pike's where they toss it at you to catch.

Asian fishmongers in SEA and YVR are the places to get quantity of higher end salmon "wholesale"

Farmed salmon is very taboo in Alaska. You won't find it here, with good reason.

And as others have noted, December isn't prime fishing season anyway.