Salmon Chowder recipe from Brookings Fishing Charters

Surprisingly easy to make, salmon chowder is a great way to enjoy the bounty of West Coast ocean or river fishing. Hearty and delicious, the recipe is simple and quick.

Many people were first introduced to salmon chowder by guides in remote areas of Alaska. After showing customers how to catch salmon in small rivers and streams flowing into Bristol Bay, the guide will often take the first fish of the day and prepare lunch for his or her clients right on the river bank, over a propane stove or campfire. Often impressed by the tasty concoction of salmon, bacon and potatoes, anglers often come back for a second serving, and the recipe to take home.

Salmon chowder is a great way to enjoy one of the West Coast's most prized game fish. It is simple, easy to make, and delicious.

Start by cooking several slices of bacon. Set the bacon aside, and save the bacon grease.

Cook bacon, and set aside cooked pieces and grease.

In a large pot, saute a yellow onion and a few stalks of celery over butter or olive oil. One or two medium onions will make a regular pot of chowder to feed six to eight people.

Saute chopped onion and celery in a large pot using butter and/or olive oil.

Add five to eight small potatoes, chopped into small pieces, to the pot of onion and celery. Add 1/4 cup flour, stir well. Cook for five minutes over medium heat, stirring frequently, then add just enough water to almost cover the potatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce to medium low, and cook until potatoes are just about done (usually 10 to 15 minutes).

Add six to eight small potatoes, cut into small pieces, to the onion and celery. Add 1/4 cup flour. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes over medium heat.

While the potatoes are cooking, add a generous amount of salt, pepper, dill weed and lemon pepper.

Add salt, pepper, dill weed and lemon pepper while the potatoes are cooking.

Once the potatoes are just about done, add chunks of cut up raw salmon. One or two backbones from a filleted salmon will also work well. This works especially well with the backbones from salmon caught in the ocean, or coastal bays, as those fish have lots of fat and there is a surprisingly large amount of meat remaining along the backbone. Smoked salmon can also be used instead of raw salmon, as can canned salmon. Add the crumbled bacon, and a few tablespoons of bacon grease.

Salmon chowder can be made with the backbone from filleted salmon, which still have a surprising amount of meat. After just a few minutes of cooking, the meat will fall from the backbone.

Remove any bones or skin from the chowder. The raw fish will be cooked in just a few minutes. If using backbones, scrape any remaining meat with a spoon. Discard the bones.

Once the fish is cooked, add a can of drained sweet corn. 

Add a can of drained sweet corn. Fresh corn also works well, when available. 

Just before serving, add half and half to the chowder for a rich, creamy taste and appearance. Add more salt and pepper, to taste, and serve.

Just before serving, add a couple cups of half and half. In remote Alaska, guides will finish the chowder with a can of evaporated milk, as half and half often isn't readily available in the bush.

Sprinkle a few drops of tabasco sauce in each bowl. Enjoy.

----

Andy Martin is a full-time charter boat captain and fishing guide based out of Brookings, Oregon. For more information, visit www.brookingsfishing.com or www.wildriversfishing.com

Perfect fish tacos from Oregon Coast rockfish

Fish tacos have become a favorite way for people to enjoy rockfish and lingcod caught along the Oregon Coast. Healthy, delicious and easy to make, fish tacos can be made fresh with the catch of the day, or enjoyed months after your fishing trip with fillets from the freezer.
The crew of Brookings Fishing Charters has tried countless fish taco recipes. Here is our favorite, seasoned chunks of rockfish topped with a homemade pico de gallo, avocado and garlic-lime crema, served with a corn tortilla.

Fish tacos made from Oregon Coast rockfish topped with a garlic lime crema. Photo by Capt. Andy Martin/Brookings Fishing Charters.

We begin by preparing a fresh pico de gallo salsa. Combine chopped onion, cilantro and roma tomatoes. Add the juice from a couple of limes, minced garlic, jalapeno, salt, pepper, and creole seasoning. Mix in shredded cabbage (the bags of dry cole slaw mix work great).

Combine diced tomatoes, onion, cilantro, jalapeño and cabbage, along with juice from three or four limes, salt, pepper and creole seasoning.

This pico salsa is also great with tortilla chips. Plenty of lime juice is the key.

The finished pico de gallo, lime and cabbage mixture.

The tacos will be topped with a garlic-lime crema. This is a great topping for any taco or Mexican dish, but is especially tasty on rockfish or lingcod fish tacos. Combine 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/3 cup mayonnaise, 2 to 3 tablespoons lime juice (a whole lime), 1 teaspoon garlic powder and 2 teaspoons Siracha.

To make crema, combine 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/3 cup mayonnaise, 2 to 3 tablespoons lime juice (a whole lime), 1 teaspoon garlic powder and 2 teaspoons Siracha.

Cut the rockfish fillets into small pieces. Each fillet will usually yield four to six pieces. The great thing about fish tacos is a couple of rockfish fillets will go a long way - enough fish for half a dozen fish tacos or more. In a skillet, heat a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil. Spread the pieces of rockfish and generously season with salt, pepper, lemon pepper, Johnny's Seasoning, creole seasoning, and garlic.

Spread the pieces of rockfish and generously season with salt, pepper, lemon pepper, Johnny's Seasoning, creole seasoning, and garlic.

While the fish is cooking, warm corn tortillas on another skillet and place in a warmer.

Warm corn tortillas by placing on a hot skillet for one minute per side.

The fish will cook quickly on medium high heat. Flip each piece of rockfish and season again.

A couple minutes per side at medium heat will quickly cook the pieces of rockfish.

After the fish is done, add a few pieces to each tortilla, and garnish with the pico salso, crema, and slices of avocado. To add an authentic Mexican flavor, add a little grated Cotija cheese.

Fish tacos, with pico de gallo, avocado, garlic-lime crema and a little Cotija cheese.

To catch a limit or rockfish and lingcod to make your own tasty fish tacos, book a trip with Brookings Fishing Charters at www.brookingsfishing.com or call (541) 813-1082.

Brookings Lingcod Fishing KTVL CBS

Brookings Fishing Charters featured on TV

The crew of Brookings Fishing Charters was recently featured in a segment for the local CBS affiliate in Medford, Ore., as well as being featured in the Medford Mail Tribune newspaper.
Capt. Andy Martin of Brookings Fishing Charters took a crew from KTVL Channel 10 in Medford to Mack Arch for a winter time lingcod fishing trip. The episode aired in three parts as part of the 6 o'clock news on Channel 10.
Here is a link to the segment https://youtu.be/NwqAZNWL7Cw

2019 Oregon Coast Lingcod, Rockfish Seasons Begin

Big swells and strong winds have kept anglers at port for much of the new year, but for a few days in early January, the ocean was calm enough to venture offshore and get in on the hot winter lingcod and rockfish bite.
Capt. Andy of Brookings Fishing Charters took the Miss Brooke to the House Rock area on New Year's Day, with easy limits of big rockfish for six anglers and more than a lingcod per person. After an initial stop in the shallow kelp beds, which only produced smaller rockfish, Capt. Andy headed to deeper water and got the crew into non-stop action on large black and canary rockfish in 110 to 120 feet of water. After getting everyone's limits, the Miss Brooke returned to shallow water to fish large herring for lingcod.

Anglers hold two of the limits of lingcod caught Jan. 1 aboard the Miss Brooke of Brookings Fishing Charters while fishing on Jan. 1, 2019, out of Brookings.

The lingcod fishing was not as hot as the the first trip of 2018, but several anglers limited out and everyone caught at least one lingcod. The fish ranged from 6 to 14 pounds.

Frequent Brookings Fishing Charters customer Glen Thil of Shady Cove, Ore., holds three rockfish caught as part of a triple hookup during the first charter boat trip of the year on Jan. 1.

Capt. Andy said the grade of rockfish was really good for the first trips of the year, with large blacks, large blues and some nice-size canary rockfish. There also are big numbers of smaller rockfish in the kelp beds, a positive sign for future seasons.

Some of the big canary rockfish caught Jan. 1 aboard the Miss Brooke.

For 2019, the rockfish and lingcod regulations will remain nearly identical to 2018. Anglers can keep two lingcod a day at least 22 inches long. There is no annual limit on lingcod. The daily rockfish limit is five rockfish a day, with any combination of blacks, blues, canaries, Chinas, vermilions, quillbacks, coppers and kelp greenling.

Brookings Fishing Charters offers year-round charter boat trips out of Brookings. Visit www.brookingsfishing.com or call (541) 813-1082 to book a trip.

Salmon fishing heats up on Southern Oregon Coast rivers

Fall has begun to arrive on the Southern Oregon Coast, and with it the best bay and estuary salmon fishing of the year.

Guide Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing and Brookings Fishing Charters spent all of August on the Rogue River Bay in Gold Beach, where the salmon fishing has been good.

Salmon caught in the Rogue Bay in Gold Beach, Ore., in August, 2018, with guide Andy Martin.

A big run is expected back to the Rogue this year, and August didn't disappoint. Fishing was solid all month on the Rogue Bay, with a fish-per-rod average, limits some days, and a few slower days mixed in. The size of the salmon was good, with a solid 20-pound average.

The average size of the salmon on the Rogue Bay in 2018 has been around 22 pounds. Great fish.

Now that September has arrived, Andy is switching gears to the Coos and Coquille rivers. The Rogue will continue to fish well in September, but with cooler water upriver, the fish will not hold as long in the bay, instead they will quickly move upriver toward their spawning grounds.

The Coos has one of the biggest hatchery runs of king salmon on the West Coast, and limits are common in peak season in September. Anglers can keep two salmon a day, which can be wild or hatchery kings.

In October, Andy and the Wild Rivers Fishing crew will focus on salmon in the Chetco estuary, as well as the special ocean salmon season off the mouth of the Chetco, which runs Oct. 7-8 and 13-14. This is when the biggest salmon of the year are often caught. The biggest salmon in Andy's boat caught during the estuary was a 58-pounder caught several years ago. It is the biggest fish in recent memory from the estuary.

This 58-pound king caught in 2009 with guide Andy Martin is the largest in recent memory from the Chetco Bay.

In late October and November we begin our drift boat season on the Chetco and Smith rivers. This is by far our most popular fishery of the year. With several local, year-round guides working with us, we can still accommodate anglers for the 2018 season, but dates are filling fast. Visit www.wildriversfishing.com to learn more.

The first big rain of October will bring hundreds, or thousands, of salmon into the lower Smith and Chetco rivers. The run continues through December. The Smith will fish will first, followed by the Chetco, and then the Elk and Sixes rivers. Once fishing slows in the lower rivers, the Upper Chetco, where Wild Rivers Fishing guides Andy Martin and Travis Sallander have special-use permits from the Forest Service, will heat up. This is a limited-entry fishery for guides, so the Upper Chetco does not get anywhere near as crowded as the lower Chetco or Smith rivers.

Salmon, lingcod, halibut season underway in Brookings

BROOKINGS, Ore. - The 2018 salmon, halibut, lingcod and rockfish seasons are under way on the Southern Oregon Coast, and when the weather cooperates, fishing has been good.
Brookings Fishing Charters has been running trips daily out of the Port of Brookings, with good catches of lingcod and rockfish. Limits are common when the ocean is calm. During windy weather, the charters are still finding limits of rockfish.
Several dozen halibut have been landed in Brookings so far this season. In May, Capt. Andy took the Miss Brooke of Brookings Fishing Charters on a halibut trip, and returned with two keepers in the 40-pound range, as well as 49 sanddabs and half a dozen petrale sole. The halibut were caught with Capt. Andy's custom halibut rigs fished with squid and whole herring.

Capt. Andy Martin of Brookings Fishing Charters holds a 45-inch halibut caught by Mark Berry off the coast of Brookings in early May.

Salmon season opened May 19 and runs through Aug. 26. So far, fishing has been good 6 to 9 miles of Brookings, but the weather has been windy for much of the season so far, limiting the chance to get offshore. We expect very good fishing when the wind lets up and we can get to the salmon grounds.

Fishing for lingcod is great when the ocean is flat. Here are some nice lings from May 2018 for Brookings Fishing Charters.

Our lingcod and rockfish action has been great, with lots of topwater action on big snapper. Lingcod fishing has been solid, with limits on the calm days when we can get to Twin Rocks, House Rock or Mack Arch.

Deckhand Jason and Capt. Andy of Brookings Fishing Charters with a pair of nice Brookings halibut from the 2018 season.

In June, we will focus on salmon and halibut more, but also run lingcod and rockfish charters every day with at least one of our boats. Brookings Fishing Charters has two boats, and books two more six-pack charters.

To book a trip, visit www.brookingsfishing.com or call (541) 813-1082.