Salmon Season 2026 | Soul Mate Salmon

Looking down on Adelia’s site - the colors are even better in real life!

Another summer has completed its cycle and as we ease into fall and a little rest for our weary bodies, we think back on all the goodness of the last few months. What a season it was, full of hard working, dynamic, intrepid crew, lots of silvery salmon gracing our nets, a remarkable dose of sunshine to lift our spirits, great meals, and mother nature amazing us at every turn. I think we saw more humpback whales breaching while we were working on the water than I have ever seen - majestic and awe-inspiring as they dance just offshore. Fireweed, bringing forth the bright pink flowers of late summer and the bright red leaves early fall, were brilliant this season, blanketing the hillsides in a riot of color. For us the salmon, too, were dazzling - pulsing in a strong surge throughout the first three weeks of August, making our muscies ache and bringing us great joy as well as great tiredness.

Four baked salmon fillets, each with a different sauce for a windy-day dinner with our neighbors

Our people deserve so much thanks for being so dedicated and game for the challenges of the season. Adelia had returning crew Maddie and Joyce, and her oldest niece Cecilia for 3 weeks before school activities took her away. Tollef had tall ship sailor Sean and long-time Uganik crew member, Chase. We thank them deeply for all their efforts this summer - it was such a successful season thanks to them! And enjoyable, too! How lucky are we to have such good people to share this hard work and difficult but beautiful life with.

Adelia with Trap 6 crew from left: Cecilia, Joyce, Maddie

Now we are on to prepping for the winter kelp-growing season, it’s been nonstop since last April! Next week we’ll start out-planting our seed, where it will grow over the coming months until we harvest in May/June. Once we get it all in the water and situated, it’s pretty hands off since it grows with no inputs from us, so we’ll be free to start planning our fall travels to Minneapolis to start delivering salmon, hoping for late Oct or November - we will keep in touch on that! Growing kelp is such a lovely compliment to our salmon life, and we love the way it gives back to the ocean that feeds us so deeply. On that note, we thought you all might be interested in this profile on our kelp farm and homesteading life produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for their “Tide to Table” series. Enjoy!