This is the first in a series of blog posts by Skipper Otto’s co-founder, Shaun Strobel, about his experience growing up fishing on the BC coast with his dad, Otto. Stay tuned for further instalments in the series!
The 2017 fishing season will mark forty years since the first summer I spent gillnetting for salmon with my father Otto. While the process of setting and picking nets and actually catching fish has stayed largely the same, there have been dramatic changes in the way a small boat fisherman goes about his or her job.
Today the average fisherman in BC is 62 years old. That age would have qualified for “old timer” status in the 1970s. Then most of the gillnet boat owner-operators were in their 30s to 50s. Younger men got started on a boat from a fish company rental fleet, or got themselves an old wooden “double-ender” and tried to keep it afloat until they could save up for a newer boat. When the fleet wasn’t fishing on the Fraser or Skeena Rivers, we were often based out of remote fishing camps in places like Rivers Inlet on the mid coast of BC.
For me my fishing life started when I walked down the ramp onto the docks at the long vanished No. 2 Road Pond at the eastern end of Steveston. Dad had already loaded the boat and geared up so we said good bye to my mother and younger sister and untied to head out of the river and up the coast for three long days of travel to the fishing grounds. As was the custom, we travelled with a small fleet of other boats. Some were fishing partners who we would work with all season, and others were just fellow fishermen who kept an eye on each other as we transited open water on our way to the more sheltered inlets. Some of the boats were equipped with VHF marine radios, but we still communicated primary by “mouse” as the CB radios were called. We travelled 12-14 hours a day at 8kts or 9.2 mph. Dad’s little fiberglass boat could have gone much faster but we matched our speed to the slowest boat in our group.
The slowest boat in our group was Tom Ito on his boat Maverick. Tom was an older Japanese Canadian fisherman who had returned to fishing the coast in 1950 when the interned coastal population was finally allowed to move back to the coast. Their homes and boats had been seized and sold in 1942, so Tom, like many of the returning fishermen, lived on their boats or in company bunk houses in winter. They also spent long hours making their own nets by hand and doing all sorts of tasks that had been mechanized before I ever stepped onto a boat. Although there are few Japanese Canadians still fishing today, they comprised a sizeable segment of the fleet through most of the 20th century. It was Dad’s Japanese friends that first taught him how to mend nets and get his boat ready for his first fishing seasons.
One of these friends was Ken Taneva, whose boat “Waco” was the fastest in our little fleet. Ken was a small man, but a master of several Japanese martial arts and a one time national Judo champion. As a fisherman, he couldn’t afford to miss a salmon season and had been forced to give up on going to the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. Instead, he entertained himself and others by taking on challengers and tossing much larger fishermen onto the sand at the beach at the old fishing camp Namu.
The only other kid along for the ride was David Roberts, who fished with his parents Rod and Judy on their 32 foot fiberglass boat El Jebel. On calm travelling days Judy would often bake treats on her oil stove and hail dad and I to come along side and get a slice of cake or plate of cookies to supplement our rather limited diet of canned food and fresh fish. Sadly, Judy passed away a few years ago but Rod continues to fish, and has provided salmon to our CSF since its beginnings. The El Jebel has been renamed Silver Gill and is still fished by Bill Barry, another of our CSF fishermen.
That first season we travelled to Rivers Inlet to start our season. We transited the whirlpools of the Yucata Rapids on day one, the choppy waters of Johnstone Strait on day two, and the open water swells of Queen Charlotte Sound on day three. When we finally arrived at the fishing camp Wadhams, I was delighted to discover that there were plenty of other children around. Some lived in company housing and others were on boats. The dense Rainforest and thick undergrowth in the inlet made straying off of the boardwalks and floats impossible, and so with little room to run around, we all donned life jackets and played on the water in our little skiffs. We raced, splashed each other with our oars, and caught scores of Rock Fish with our fishing poles. We were also green with envy over the outboard motors that some of the older kids had on their boats and that let them range further a field. Of course, playing only happened between fishing openings, which I will describe in the next instalment of this series.
Specific offerings can vary from year to year, but our mainstay products are flash-frozen, boneless, skin-on fillets and portions – in sizes that are usually around 1lb each. Lingcod fillets are usually available in both 1lb and ½ lb portion sizes. Lingcod cheeks are in roughly 1lb portion sizes. Halibut and sablefish collars are low cost options for stews and soups. Hake was not available in 2023.
2023 prices are shown here. Prices do fluctuate each year. Higher price ranges reflect the inclusion of shipping costs for locations outside of Metro Vancouver.
Halibut is caught between the months of March-November, lingcod in May, sablefish in the summer and rockfish late spring and summer. We aim to keep halibut, lingcod and rockfish in stock year-round while sablefish can be available mostly in the late summer and fall.
PRODUCT
SEASON
Halibut
MAR-NOV
Sablefish
JUL-SEP
Lingcod
MAY-JULY
Yellowtail Rockfish
JUN-SEP
PRODUCT
PRICE
Halibut fillets
$39-$44/lb
Sablefish fillets
$27-$30/lb
Lingcod fillets
$22-$27/lb
Yellowtail rockfish fillets
$13-$16/lb
Halibut collars
$10-$13/lb
Sablefish collars
$8-$11/lb
Lingcod cheeks
$28-$31/lb
Tuna
Our albacore tuna is flash-frozen at sea to ensure it is sushi-grade. We carry both full and ½ loins which range in weight between a little over 1 lb and a ½ lb. We also offer thin sliced cold smoked tuna lox in 100g packages and three types of canned products – regular, no salt and smoked tuna varieties. Unlike some other tuna species, albacore is a smaller species which is low in mercury which makes it safe to eat more frequently!
2023 prices are shown here. Prices do fluctuate each year. Higher price ranges reflect the inclusion of shipping costs for locations outside of Metro Vancouver.
Albacore tuna is caught between the months of June and September but we aim to keep it in stock year-round.
PRODUCT
SEASON
Albacore tuna
JUL AUG
PRODUCT
PRICE
Albacore tuna loins
$25-$31/lb
Sliced cold smoked albacore tuna
$11-$12 per 100g package
Canned albacore tuna
$9-$12 per can
Salmon
We carried a wide mix of salmon products in the 2023 season. While specific offerings can vary from year to year, we always have lots of salmon to choose from. Our mainstay products are flash-frozen, boneless, skin-on fillets and portions – in sizes between 1lb and ½ lb each. We also carry hot smoked and cold smoked salmon and a variety of canned salmon products too.
2023 prices are shown here. Prices do fluctuate each year. Higher price ranges reflect the inclusion of shipping costs for locations outside of Metro Vancouver.
2023 prices are shown here. Prices do fluctuate each year. Higher price ranges reflect the inclusion of shipping costs for locations outside of Metro Vancouver.
Arctic Char is caught between the months of November and March. We usually carry it from December onwards and often sell out by late spring or early summer.
PRODUCT
SEASON
Artic Char
NOV-MAR
PRODUCT
PRICE
Artic Char portion
$27 – 32 per lb
Shellfish
Our wild, pink and spiny scallops are individually frozen and packed into 2lb packages. They can be cooked from frozen in one of your favourite clam or mussel recipes. We also offer cans of smoked scallops. In Vancouver, we offer live options at various False Creek Fishermen’s Wharf pick-ups during the year. Mussels are a special treat and one we offer every week during their season, while live Dungeness crab and beach oysters are usually available a few times a year.
2023 prices are shown here. Prices do fluctuate each year. The higher price ranges reflect the inclusion of shipping costs for locations outside of Metro Vancouver.
Scallops are caught between Nov-Feb each year but we aim to keep them in stock year round. Live Mussels are available at weekly pick-ups between July-March. Live Dungeness Crab is available at on 2-3 occasions only between Aug-March. Live beach oysters are available on 2-3 occasions only between Nov-March.
PRODUCT
SEASON
Scallops
JAN-FEB
Oysters
JAN-FEB
Mussels
JUN-APR
Dungeness Crab
JUL-SEP
PRODUCT
PRICE
Scallops
$24-$29 per 2lb box
Beach Oysters (Fishermen’s Wharf only)
$13.75-$19.50 per dozen
Mussels (Fishermen’s Wharf only)
$8.95/lb
Dungeness crab (Fishermen’s Wharf only)
$20-22 per lb
Prawns
Our wild, flash-frozen spot prawn tails are special – even as spot prawns go. These prawns are caught live, quickly tailed and packed into 6 oz or 1 lb tubs aboard the boat, topped up with sea water, then frozen at sea to capture their just-caught freshness and negate the need for any preservatives. Our tubs of spot prawn tails are easy to thaw in minutes and perfect for your favourite shrimp or prawn recipes.
2023 prices are shown here. Prices do fluctuate each year. Higher price ranges reflect the inclusion of shipping costs for locations outside of Metro Vancouver.