Kenai Fish Processing

So, you’ve just caught the fish of your dreams, a giant Kenai River king salmon.
It’s perhaps the biggest fish you’ve ever caught, and now, as you fall back into your seat, your arms still sore from the long battle, grin a mile wide stuck on your face and breathing finally coming back down, the thought occurs to you that you’ve got this enormous fish in the boat, and somehow it has to make it a thousand miles or more back home.
Sit back and relax; Big Sky is fully equipped to handle all your Alaska fishing adventure needs, from setting the hook to getting your fish back home.
All your fish processing needs are handled right here on site.
As soon as your fish, whether it’s an enormous king salmon, a stringer of sockeye salmon or bright coho salmon, are landed, your expert fishing guide will give them a good thump on the head and make a slit behind the gill so the congealing blood doesn’t spoil the meat, before laying them in the fish box.
When you return to camp, you’ll be greeted by myself and anyone else in camp, eager to see your trophy fish.
After the fishermen’s stories are told and countless photos are taken, I’ll take your fish while you kick back, relax, and enjoy life on the Kenai River.
Having cleaned literally thousands of pounds worth of Kenai River salmon, from little pink salmon to 70+ pound king salmon and buckets of sockeye every morning during the height of the run, I’ve developed fine skill for this trade.
With a quick slit I run the knife through the belly of the fish from just in front of the tail to just under the jaw.
I flip the fish and I make a second cut, just behind the gill running perpendicular to the fish’s spine.
In a sharp twist I slice the knife 90 degrees as the blade hits the spine, so it is now running parallel to it. Making a clean cut to the tail I’ll pull off to clean fillets this way.
The skeletal remains of the fish are tossed back into the Kenai River where they’ll provide nutrients to feed future generations of salmon and grow the behemoth rainbow trout that prowl this river.
I delicately slice off the thin rib cage, and chopped the fillet into perfect sized portions for the grill or the skillet.
With your days catch cleaned and rinsed, I bring the steaks up to our onsite vacuum packing building.
We have a commercial grade vacuum packer right here on site to ensure that your fish will taste as fresh in the months to come as it does the day you netted it on the Kenai River.
Once the steaks are sealed, marked and packed into a freezer tray, the finished weight is cataloged, and the packages are moved into our full size walk in freezer.
The hulking beast stores your catch at negative 20 degrees, a temperature I shudder to think about even in the icy grips of winter.
You once lively fish will be solid as a brick in a matter of hours.
The cold temperatures are not only important for locking in freshness, but also for ensuring that they stay cold through phase two of your Alaskan fishing trip, getting home.
Each week I make up a schedule of when our guests will depart, and check in with them to arrange how they’d like to get their fish home.
Though almost all our clients bring their fish home on the plane, we can also arrange to ship via Federal Express.
I’ve always encouraged clients to take their fish with them on the plane. Despite airlines tacking on surcharges to check extra baggage, even at $50 a box, you will still be paying half as much to take them on the plane than to FEDEX them second day air.
Of course, we understand that many of our guests come in their motor homes, motorcycles or plan to visit some of Alaska’s other scenic destinations after fishing with us, while others may simply not wish to port the boxes around.
We’re glad to do whatever’s needed to make sure your fish completes its journey to your front step.
After finalizing your departure plans, you can plan on having your fish packaged in 50 and 25 pound insulated boxes, marked with your name, address and phone number, ready to go when you are.
The boxes do an excellent job keeping the fish frozen through its journey home, even for our guests returning to the sweltering summer heat of the south.
To ensure that you don’t pay any extra surcharges at the airport, I pack the boxes to 48 or 49 pounds. I’ve been told the baggage check in clerks at the Anchorage Airport are friendly and tend to let packages over the 50 pound mark slide by, but I prefer to play it safe.
When it’s alas time to leave, simply back your vehicle up to the processing shed, load up, and we’ll hope to see you again soon!

Joe Connors
Owner/Operator
Big Sky Fish Camp
Fishing & Lodging on the Kenai River