Producer

Captain Abe started fishing while he was still in college, and brings the fishing know-how to our operation. For a young man Abe has a long history of fishing in Alaska. Abe has been involved in seining, drift netting and set netting for salmon and jigging for Pacific Cod, Rockfish, and Lingcod, and has fished Kodiak, Bristol Bay, and Cook Inlet.
At Kodiak Rush, as Captain, Abe leads our fishing efforts, does the majority of navigation and driving of the Lila Aurora, especially when conditions are difficult, oversees maintenance of our equipment, and upkeep of our boat, skiffs, and nets, as well as communicating with our customers. When he is not fishing, Abe is enjoys baking bread, talking airplanes as he is a licensed pilot, studying ancient cultures, and traveling the world.

Commercial fishing in Alaska brought all these qualities back together; the outdoors, the power of nature, and seemingly endless physical challenges. He quickly fell in love with the wild untamed beauty of the Alaskan Pacific, the midnight sun, the unpredictable weather, and the logistical challenges of bringing fresh fish to customers thousands of miles away.

Our fisheries have been certified sustainable by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch and by the Marine Stewardship Council. The Marine Stewardship Council rates all Alaska salmon fisheries sustainable, and all Alaskan salmon are wild caught. The Monterey Bay Aquarium lists Pacific Cod as a certified fishery, and lists several Alaskan Rockfish fisheries as well. Currently the Monterey Bay Aquarium doesn’t have any listing for our jig Rockfish catch, but all other methods used in our area are certified as sustainable.

We catch Rockfish of several species, Pacific Cod, and Lingcod, by jigging. Jigging, not to be confused with the dance of the same name, is fishing with hooks suspended below the boat. A main line is lowered from the reel with a weight on the end. Up to a dozen hooks are attached to the main line, each attached via a short leader so that the hooks stick out from the main line and are arranged vertically, each one a bit higher than the next. We lower the hooks to a spot where we hope our target fish are waiting, and if our luck is good, one or more fish take the lure or bait. The fish are then reeled up to the boat and individually removed from the hook.
Jigging results in very little bycatch, or the capture of unintended fish. Each fish is individually removed from the hook, so the occasional halibut or sculpin that we catch can be released safely.