Wild King Salmon season got off to a late start this year due to COVID-19 but on May 1st, fishermen in Monterey Bay, CA started catching King Salmon. Through social media, I learned local fishermen were selling whole fish from their boats so I started researching our options. Don’t have time to read this now? Pin it for later!

Salmon is not my favorite, in fact, I don’t eat it so you can image Penguin’s surprise when I told him I wanted to get some. Given our amazing Dungeness crab experience in Oregon, read about that in our Unbelievably Fresh Dungeness Crab in Eugene article, I knew I had to try very fresh, locally caught King Salmon.

Wondering where you can get wild King Salmon in Monterey Bay? There are two main options 1) at the dock from local fishermen or 2) seafood markets. We share our recommendations, and an amazing Salmon Avocado Poke bowl recipe.

Local Fishermen

I really wanted to do something new and get a whole fish from the fishing vessel Ocean Warrior (fv_oceanwarrior), but after much discussion, we decided it was out of our budget. The price varies by fisherman but fv_oceanwarrior was selling fresh troll-caught King Salmon for $12/pound. Whole fish only averaging 8-12 pounds, which was a bit much for us two.

Follow on Social Media

Social media is the best option for getting up-to-date information of when and where local fishermen will be selling King Salmon. We recommend you follow these people on Instagram:

Fv_oceanwarrior: Selling off the boat on K Dock in Monterey.
dttoriumi: Selling off the boat on S Dock in Santa Cruz, and D Dock at Half Moon Bay.
Monterey Fisherman’s Market: Fishermen selling fresh, local seafood on the K Dock in Monterey.
Monterey Fish Trust: A guide to local seafood including delicious recipes.

Sea Harvest Restaurant & Fish Market

Even though a whole fish wasn’t in our budget I still wanted wild-caught King Salmon from Monterey Bay. After some research, we decided on Sea Harvest Restaurant & Fish Market. This restaurant is owned and operated by local fishermen and has been serving seafood on the Monterey Peninsula since 1983.

We headed down to Sea Harvest but unfortunately, they didn’t have any local King Salmon. They were likely getting some later that day but I had my heart set on getting some right then. We ordered fish and chips to go (great!), and went looking for another local salmon option.

Monterey Fish Co.

We ended up at Monterey Fish Co at Wharf #2 in Monterey where we got fresh, caught that day, wild King Salmon. These salmon fillets were $18/pound. More expensive than buying from local fishermen, but we purchased a smaller quantity within our budget and all the work was done. We took one of their bigger fillets that was around 1.5 pounds.

Wild King Salmon Recipes

Back at the motorhome, we decided to cut our fillet into three pieces. Our plan was to BBQ two pieces for dinner and then freeze the last one to make poke bowls later.

Epic Cooking Fail

We wanted to BBQ over the campfire to get that smoky flavor, and decided to keep it simple with avocado oil, salt, and pepper. This campfire salmon recipe suggested starting skin side up so we did, but this turned into an epic cooking fail. Even though we coated the salmon with oil before putting it on the campfire grill the salmon stuck a bit.

Probable cause was we moved the big logs out of the fire too soon to prevent roasting the salmon on a big open flame. Unfortunately, there were not enough coals so the fire lost some of its heat. We gave up and finished the salmon in the oven.

What did we learn? We need to oil the campfire grill as well as coat the fish in oil. Or the easy way out is to cook fish in foil. Also, next time we won’t pull off the big logs and lose all our heat.

Salmon Poke Bowl Recipe

After five days in the freezer, I pulled out our last salmon fillet and let it defrost. Using our sharpest knife I removed the skin. To my surprise, it removed easily.

For directions on how to cure your own salmon at home for sushi check out this Instagram video from Jet Tila (jettila).

I made poke bowls following this Salmon Avocado Poke bowl recipe except I omitted the white rice. Instead, I cooked our Trevijano brown rice with green asparagus, zucchini, and dehydrated vegetables, from Costco, in homemade chicken bone broth. The bone broth gave this brown rice such great flavor. We used brown rice as the base for our poke bowl along with a lot of cucumbers. Penguin added shredded lettuce to his but I did not.

Our Salmon Avocado Poke Bowls:

Trevijano brown rice
Sliced cucumber
Sashimi-grade salmon
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 large avocado, cubed
Furikake
Sriracha

This dressing was simple but perfect. I made it 15 minutes ahead of time and chilled it in the refrigerator. I loved this salmon poke bowl! The salmon was so fresh. I was bummed when I finished my bowl. This poke bowl was hands down better than the cooked salmon. If I had to do it all over again I would skip cooking the salmon and make variations of this poke bowl.

Conclusion

Looking for some AMAZINGLY FRESH wild King Salmon? Prefer a whole salmon right from the fishermen’s boat? If so, check out Fv_oceanwarrior, dttoriumi, Monterey Fisherman’s Market, and Monterey Fish Trust on Instagram. Only want a few pounds? Head over to Monterey Fish Co at Wharf #2 in Monterey.

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