Thank you for joining us for our first blog post. There is always so much going down "on the dock," that we felt compelled to share the good times with you and now that the season is winding down, we are finally getting a chance to do just that! In this first blog post I will briefly summarize the summer events and then go into greater detail of events both past and current, in future blog postings.
Last winter it snowed hard, here in Seward, which was evident to any of those early bird fishermen that visited us in early to mid May as the mountains were still heavily blanketed and there were snow mounds along the side of the road.
The fishing started slow this summer, which was bittersweet for us. We always are in need of more business, but we also needed the time to clean-up the facility, fix busted pipes, paint, and other basic maintenance. The slow start also gave us an opportunity to do something we have been trying to do for some time; open up the hot dog cart! One of our newest additions to J-Dock this summer was the Weeny Buggy, serving pulled pork sandwiches, Hebrew National Kosher hotdogs, reindeer sausage, smoked brisket, all with unique homemade toppings, such as pickled red onions and watermelon relish.The cart became a quick, cheap, and tasty lunch/dinner option for employees at J-Dock, captains and deckhands, and tourists alike. Nothing like chowing down on a pulled pork sandwich and sipping on a cold beer while your captains hang your fish for pictures!
The annual Seward Halibut Tournament started off slow too. Although the charters brought in many nice sized halibut throughout the fishing season, there were no halibut over 150 pounds for the first half of June. This created an air of anticipation for the BIG CATCH and the whopping $10,000 first place prize! To be completely fair, there were a few halibut over 150 pounds. In fact, there was one that was close to 230 pounds and would have been a tournament winner, had the fisherman purchased a tourney ticket! Better luck next year and remember: BUY A TICKET!
Regarding seafood sales, we began the summer with a blowout sale of last season's harvest of sockeye salmon; we dropped the price down to $10/lb., including shipping and handling for all of our previous customers. The fish was sold in less than a week, which is no surprise. It is impossible to beat that kind of price/quality for wild Alaskan sockeye salmon and since we process, vacuum pack, and flash freeze all of our seafood in our state-of-the-art facility, the quality is maintained near 100%.
This sale segued into taking advance orders for the King Salmon and Sockeye Salmon run that typically begins at the end of June on the Kenai Peninsula. June 25th was when we expected our first catch of these delicious fishes, when the news came... Alaska Fish and Game had shut down the Kenai River to commercial fishing! This was a nightmare, as you may expect. We had already advance sold hundreds of pounds of king salmon and sockeye salmon! We notified all of our customers of the situation as soon as we could, either via email or phone, and most of them were just glad enough to be kept in the loop. After two weeks of hand wringing and night sweats, we finally got a catch of sockeye and king salmon and were able to fulfill most of our advance orders or exchange those that we did not.
About mid-season we were lucky enough to be featured on iAmAMomandPop.com for being a great, unique place to work and live. Alexis describes what he likes most about working at J-Dock:
"What is especially unique about J-Dock Seafood Co., aside from exquisite seafood in a jaw-dropping setting, is
the people that work here. Almost every employee travels from someplace
else to work here in the summer, including the lower 48, Europe, Asia,
and Canada. During the height of the season (July-August) we become
family. We work together, live together, eat together, and celebrate
successes together."
This was quickly followed by a blog review by Sammi, author of Word Search Puzzle Dreams where she featured products such as our smoked sockeye salmon. We are glad she tried out our products and that she liked everything we shipped her. Sammi writes, "Wouldn't it be nice if you could have a selection of fish shipped to you so you always have it at the ready for cooking? J Dock Seafood makes that a reality!" It seems the more and more people learn about J-Dock Seafood Co. and our premium wild Alaskan seafood, the more people want what we are delivering, straight from our dock to your doorstep, overnight!
In August we had a historic event during the week long Silver Salmon Derby. Michael Rogers, a 64-year-old who was born and raised in Seward, caught a $50,000 tagged fish. According to many local fishermen and captains, the silvers seemed to be scattered around Resurrection bay, rather than in schools as they normally are, making the fishing difficult. The only charters having any serious luck fishing for salmon were those that were trolling with down riggers.
As the 2012 season comes to a close J-Dock prepares for winter and for HUGE upgrades, with plans to build a brand new, energy efficient, blast freezer, as well as expanding our processing room to more appropriately accommodate the thousands of pounds of fish we process daily. We are also making plans on extending the deck in front of our weigh stations all the way out to the fillet stations, to make room for tables and chairs, in hopes of serving beer and doing a "grill-your-catch" outdoor restaurant. More on that to come soon...
Stay tuned to our blog throughout the winter. We will be updating regularly and are looking forward to customer comments and reviews, and answering any questions you may have.
As usual, we will be proudly delivering, certified sustainable, wild Alaskan seafood, year-round, straight from our dock to your doorstep, overnight
Thanks,
Alexis
J-Dock Seafood Co.
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