+1, and extend that to "If you can't tell the difference between any wild Alaska salmon and farm raised salmon, stick to the farm raised salmon."

Check Legal Seafoods..."If it ain't Wild Alaskan Salmon, it ain't Legal."

You can also call Stavis Seafoods, or the John Nagle company in Boston to find out where Copper River is being sold.

Bristol Bay is open now, so you need to specify Copper River.

Without specifying if you're talking about Kings or Reds, this is kind of a weird subject.

Copper river fish tend to have more fat stored than some other fish of the same species because the spawning grounds are farther upstream than in other places; however on that basis the Yukon fishery is the clear winner, since some of the Yukon fish go a long way - over a thousand miles, maybe two in some cases.

But go into the Costco (in a month or two) and ask for Yukon Kings or Reds and you'll likely get a funny look, and the reason is that the Yukon fishery's marketing efforts pale by comparison to the campaigns run by the Copper River/PWS marketing association.

I cooked up a CR Red filet yesterday and it was excellent. But NOT worth the premium price being paid, much of which is going straight to the marketing association, and more power to them.

what's a RED? i have never before seen CRS referred as a red. all types seem to be bright red.
i think the only other one that we see is a coho. the one we cannot afford is a king, and there is a sockeye.

costco in dc area does not have them yet. harris teeter does.

i once ordered a whole king from a wholesaler. it was well over 2' long, and weighed some 30 lbs, gutted and with the head off.

There are two species caught around the same time in the Copper River fishery, King (aka Chinook) and Red (aka Sockeye) salmon. They are different fish, with different levels of fat content. There are usually many more Reds caught than Kings in the Copper River fishery.

The price paid to fishermen for Reds is less than for Kings - this year around $4 per lb. for Reds vs. $6.50 for Kings. These differences usually filter through to the retail level in the form of 30% - 50% markup for Kings over Reds. If the merchant can sell you "Copper River Salmon" without telling you which species, you can pretty well assume it's Red salmon priced like it was King; why wouldn't they? Most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference once the fish is cooked.

IIRC Costco usually says which it is; other fish retailers (and many restaurants) don't.

A good friend of mine is a chef. He buys CR every year as early as he can for his own use (not his restaurant). This dude is of the "cheap doesn't mean bad, expensive doesn't mean good' way of thinking. But he will pay the premium for this salmon.

Spotted at Costco in YUL yesterday - 11.99$ a pound.

Just had some here in TX this week, and it was great, made a 90% salmon spread for bagels with the leftovers and it was mostly devoured this morning.

I actually tried white king salmon for the first time last year and loved it! I'm looking forward to purchasing some more of it.

Mine was red but I didn't know the difference, thanks for the education :)

Going for $4.99/lb at YVR.

Usually I just wait until my local fishermen can hook me up with Sockeye for $10 a fish for 12-15 pounders and fill up the freezer. $20 a pound for real?

We're heading up there to fish for some, and according to my calculations, it will be about $1,000 per pound...

copper river salmon 2012
 

Copper River Salmon Season Opener Begins May 17, 2012. course many of the wagyu doubters will say it is the same taste as atlantic farmed salmon. is supposed to be a bumper crop year, so price should drop to $10 a lb by first week in june. see you at costco.

I'll start my Costco surveillance in about a week. :D

I used to fly to SEA every year around the first of June just to eat the CRS and a few monsters crabs (washed down with a local MB). This is a habit I think I should start again.