We pride ourselves in keeping the best interest of our fisheries in mind at all times. That’s largely why we’ve adopted camp policies at Alaska West such as 100% barbless hooks, catch and release only on king salmon, as well as aim to handle to-be-released fish as ethically as possible.
That being said, we’re also extremely fortunate to witness sustainable runs of sockeye, chum, pink, and silver salmon on our home river which also gives our guests the opportunity to not only fill their freezer with wild (not farmed) salmon, but to do so responsibly.. Something we feel really good about.
As part of our fish program, we offer our guests the option to have their fish frozen as fresh fillets or to have them hot smoked in-house. As such, many of our guests ask us what our favorite species of salmon to smoke is, and more often than not they’re really surprised when we tell them our favorite isn’t necessarily sockeye, or even coho.. Nope, it’s chum!
Really? Chum? Yes, really.
Located only 5 river miles from the salt, we experience mind-boggling numbers of chrome bright chums and aside from being really fun to catch, they’re also really tasty! In fact, we’re not entirely sure why, but we find chum to retain more moisture than other species of salmon when smoked. That makes it more tender in the long run, and more delicious as well.. Believe it!
I completely agree smoked Chrome Chum by Dan at AK West is the bomb and easily better than the other species. Also one thing not mentioned that I admire about the responsible harvest practice at AK West is though they don’t require it it is suggested that you not harvest the female salmon which makes a ton of sense. One male salmon can fertilize numerous female salmon’s eggs. But if a female get’s harvested, it’s out of the reproductive chain. See ya in a few weeks! Save some Chrome Chum in the river please ;p
Interesting