Fresh Catch

Matt Oxford was working in finance in the Twin Cities untill he decided to bag it all and move to Alaska in 1989. While running a seafood bar, he would cash checks for crab fishermen...which made him decide to and start crab fishing himself. After more than a decade at sea, he's currently catching sockeye salmon in the Upper Cook Inlet--and air-freighting the fillets to the Mill City Farmers Market.

I picked up a fillet from the season's first shipment at the Mill City General Store, thawed it, and grilled it, and was impressed by how well it had retained its texture and flavor. I gave Oxford a call, and caught him on his way back from dropping off 500 pounds of Minnesota-bound salmon at the Fed-Ex station in Homer. He says he typically sets out at midnight, and is up the river by morning, catching fish, icing them and fileting them on board, and then having them vac-packed and frozen at a small processing plant that evening. "The fish you ate was probably caught about three days earlier," he says.

If you have more questions for Matt, he'll be at the market after fishing season is over, starting in late August.

Wild Run Salmon
907-299-0730
651-999-9410
alaskaorganic@yahoo.com

The fish, right after Matt catches 'em.

Matt filleting a fish on board his boat.

The way the fillets look when they've made it to the market.

The shot that will make you want to bag it all, move to Alaska, and start fishing.

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