What would you pay for fresh sockeye or coho salmon

[colonel00]

So, we are in the final stages of planning our trip in August to Alaska. It has come up that we can get better airfare if we leave 3 days earlier than previously planned which would mean more fishing before the caribou hunt. Now, I have a bunch of friends and coworkers that have said that they would love some salmon and offered to pay for it. What I am struggling with is a fair price. As an example, one friend said he would give me how much salmon he could get for $200. I have no idea :noidea: So, I poll the brethren to help me with this.

To clarify this a little, a better way to think about it is "If you had a friend going to Alaska and you wanted some of the salmon he caught, how much would you expect to get for $40 or how much would you pay for 4 lbs?" Think of it in those terms where it really isn't a direct market price but you want to be fair to your friend and you want your friend to be fair to you. Of course everybody would want 20lbs for $10 but that isn't fair or realistic.

In case you are bored, here are some links to previous trips:

2010

2008

2007

 

[V-wiz]

Not sure on the price sorry, but damn that is some good stuff there.

 

[bassbuster33]

We typically pay around $10 a pound here for it. It occasionally drops to $8 per lb if that helps.

 

[deguerre]

For fresh, easily 9~10 bucks/LB. Gotta factor in your time and expenses. Lower and you're cheating yourself, higher and you may lose your market.

 

[sandiegobbq]

I am going to Alaska also on August 20- Sept. 5 from Anchorage to Valdez.

I am wondering where I can get salmon in fresh water between those two spots.

I will probably rent a boat one day in Valdez but would like to do some fly fishing for silvers as well as the grayling, trout and dolly varden.

I would charge them 10-12 bucks a lb.

 

[Al Czervik]

Last year fresh coho went on sale here for a couple weeks at less than $4.00 per pound... :shocked: That's the lowest I think I ever seen it though. To compare, I just saw fresh Copper River Sockeye for about $15.00 per pound... :tsk:

Tough call colonel... Some of it would depend on what it's going to cost for you to get it back, what the limits are, how much you planned on keeping for yourself, etc... Factoring in the cost of the trip, airfare and all the other goodies would effectively make the price per pound unaffordable. But as a fisherman myself, I know it's all about the fun. :mrgreen:

 

[Gore]

I can't believe all the people who would pay $11-$12 per pound, but nobody would pay $5-$6 per pound. I would think that would be the other way around. :crazy:

 

[El Ropo]

If there were a less expensive poll option, like $2.00/lb, I'd vote. Not much of a fish person. I do take fish oil and cod liver oil supplements though

 

[mobow]

I can't believe all the people who would pay $11-$12 per pound, but nobody would pay $5-$6 per pound. I would think that would be the other way around. :crazy:

Fair price to ask. Not what you would pay. Everyone who vbotes dfro the higher price as fair would surely pay the lower prices if they could get it for that. keith

 

[pwa]

Personally Not much, I'd just hop in the pickup and go dip-netting :razz:

 

[colonel00]

For fresh, easily 9~10 bucks/LB. Gotta factor in your time and expenses. Lower and you're cheating yourself, higher and you may lose your market.

Very true. Although, I am not really looking at a "market" but just a fair amount of fish for a fair amount of money.

I am going to Alaska also on August 20- Sept. 5 from Anchorage to Valdez.

I am wondering where I can get salmon in fresh water between those two spots.

I will probably rent a boat one day in Valdez but would like to do some fly fishing for silvers as well as the grayling, trout and dolly varden.

I would charge them 10-12 bucks a lb.

PM me and I can help you with some good information. I have a spot for Silvers but it is up towards Denali. We are flying into Fairbanks probably on the 17th and fishing for Sockeye on our way down to Valdez where we will fish off a boat for silvers for a day or two. Trust me, in Valdez, you can catch as many silvers as you want. I do have a cool little spot right before Valdez for grayling. I would suggest buying the book "The Highway Fisherman" and using it. Trust what it says and it will put you on the fish.

Also, I will tell you this, if you are fly fishing in a river, those salmon can wreck your gear. Between a good sized fish and the current, we have busted several poles and lost many fish.

Last year fresh coho went on sale here for a couple weeks at less than $4.00 per pound... :shocked: That's the lowest I think I ever seen it though. To compare, I just saw fresh Copper River Sockeye for about $15.00 per pound... :tsk:

Tough call colonel... Some of it would depend on what it's going to cost for you to get it back, what the limits are, how much you planned on keeping for yourself, etc... Factoring in the cost of the trip, airfare and all the other goodies would effectively make the price per pound unaffordable. But as a fisherman myself, I know it's all about the fun. :mrgreen:

Well, limit isn't an issue really as long as I have the funds to transport the fish. For instance, two years ago, 4 of us came back with 100lbs a piece without trying really. But, it does add up when it is about $1/lb to check the fish on the airplane and we have to buy the fish boxes, freezer time, etc.

Fair price to ask. Not what you would pay. Everyone who vbotes dfro the higher price as fair would surely pay the lower prices if they could get it for that. keith

Yeah, I guess I should have phrased it differently. Perhaps I should have asked "If you have a friend going to Alaska and you give him $40, how much salmon do you expect to get for that money?"

Personally Not much, I'd just hop in the pickup and go dip-netting :razz:

Cheaters! Damn locals :tsk: You can also go buy like 5 grizzly tags for $30 a piece but it would literally cost me close to $10,000 if I ever wanted to hunt one.

 

[Crazy Harry]

around here grizzly = prison.
are you bringing back whole fish, cleaned or filets

 

[colonel00]

We fillet them. For the coho we usually cut the fillets into thirds as in the picture above. We have found that cutting them to fit in quart sized ziplocks makes it much easier to stack in boxes/coolers and easier to vacuum seal when we get home. A whole fillet is just too cumbersome. We have kept some whole sockeye fillets but there again, unless you were having a party or something, it is too much fish usually. The quart bag size makes it easy to pull out just the right amount from the freezer at home for what we need. We have talked about making salmon steaks but usually just get into the flow of filleting since we have so many fish to go through.

 

[Ron_L]

Interesting timing... I just got an e-mail from a local high-end grocery store advertising fresh, never frozen, wild-caught Copper River Sockeye Salmon.

The price...

$19.99/lb!?!?!? :shock:

 

[landarc]

You can keep your yucky fish.


I would charge whatever it cost to get it back. Really. It is not like I would be going up there to fish for the meat. If I am going to go anyway, I would only charge the cost to subsidize the handling and shipping. That would end be being around $5 or so per pound I would think. What the market would bear does not figure in for me. If they are my friend, I will bring something back for them, they can pay for what I would not have brought back if they had not asked. I would not harvest salmon for anyone who I did not consider friend enough to offer that deal.

 

[colonel00]

That is quite fair landarc. I am not really trying to charge them, they are offering money. I just am trying to figure out how much fish to give them if they offer $40 because that is usually how it is brought up. Someone will say "Hey, I will give you $x.xx for some salmon" and I have no problem with that. I just want to be fair about it.

 

[tommg]

How about 4 of those one third size pieces for $40. It kinda gives a price per piece perspective (thats a lot of P's). I would be happy to pay it.

 

[pwa]

Cheaters! Damn locals :tsk: You can also go buy like 5 grizzly tags for $30 a piece but it would literally cost me close to $10,000 if I ever wanted to hunt one.

Easy way around that..... just become a local :boxing:

 

[sandiegobbq]

That is quite fair landarc. I am not really trying to charge them, they are offering money. I just am trying to figure out how much fish to give them if they offer $40 because that is usually how it is brought up. Someone will say "Hey, I will give you $x.xx for some salmon" and I have no problem with that. I just want to be fair about it.

You have to be fair with yourself too and not be taken advantage of.

You spent the time and the money and the effort to catch those fish that were line caught fresh.

No one in your town is going to find that kind of quality fish they would have to pay big bucks for a line caught Alaskan salmon and not a farm raised fish.

If they balk at what you ask that is THEIR problem not yours since they asked YOU what the price is.

Here in San Diego that kind of quality fish would be over 20 bucks lb.

I would gladly pay 10-12 bucks for it.

A total no brainer to me.

Of course you will have people in every walk of life that thinks they deserve a hand out.

They don't and you should not accommodate them.

 

[Al Czervik]

So I go to the store this afternoon just planning on picking up a few things for dinner, but in the back of my mind I'm thinking "what would you pay for fresh sockeye or coho salmon"... Hmmm, "I wonder if the Copper River Sockeye is still about $15.00 per pound"? Mongo thinks to himself... "Don't even bother going to look" says Eggplant Man. In the end, I just had to go look and ended up coming home with these... :mmph:

Thanks a friggin lot colonel... :tsk: