I am going fishing and razor clam digging for the first time in Alaska this year. I want to ship some Halibut, Salmon and Razor clams home. I will be fishing in Ninilchik. My flight home will be from Kenai to Anchorage to Seattle.
What is the best way to ship fish from Alaska? Right now I will be using Alaska Airlines for my round trip flight.
What are the forums suggestions?

Let them swim down here and then catch them.

I don't support killing native fish that are having a hard time making escapement.

Alaska Air Cargo. You will have to drive to SeaTac to pick it up but it's kept frozen the whole time.

We did similar to Chuck S. a few years ago. Talk to any processing plants near by and see what it would cost to have if flash frozen and packed. Then pay the $60-$75 and check it as an extra suitcase. We brought back 300+ pounds of filets this way.

If you check it as a second bag, check with the airline first on using dry ice,

Coastal Transportion? You will have to look at the website and see if they stop anywhere near were you be will fishing. I takes a couple of weeks by boat and you pick it up in Seattle off of Nickerson street near SPU and fishermans terminal. Its really cheap...at least it was in the mid 90's when I shipped my home pack home from Chignik!

Dave

Freeze and check as baggage! Otherwise Alaska air cargo.

Yep, that's how we did it.
50# boxes checked like regular baggage.
The system is set up for a specific size and type of box.

I've always shipped as checked luggage. Is the flight from Kenai a part of the Alaska Air system?

Sometimes the fish might thaw slightly, but I tend to re-package everything when I get home to fit the meal size my family uses.

If you're going to have it packaged, it may be worth having it done in packages that are perfect for your family. This might be costly, but may be worth it.

If you are going to package it on your own, you can do it to fit your needs.

If I know I am going to re-package when I get home, I'll go with full fillets, then cut to size for meal packets using the slightly thawed fillets. I've never done razor clams, but if it is a do it yourself job a small battery operated vacuum or even a hand powered one like a Ziplock using Ziplock vacuum pack bags will do for small quantities.

Whatever you do, it is best to vacuum pack.

When I went last year we each had just under 50 LBs of fillets. Upgraded to First class and we were allowed to check an extra bag for free. I think that way it cost about $10 bucks more then just the bag/box cost and we got the free pops, lunch and bigger Seats. Doesn't always work and we were short one first class out of the 4 of us, but still worth asking about. The guy next to me paid something like $80 buck for first class from Ketchican. alaska to Dallas, TX. That included 3 meals and the extra bag.

Back in the day, I used to lug 100's of pounds of frozen fish back from AK. What a pain in the ass. Plus the quality once I got home left much to be desired. For those reasons, I stopped bringing frozen fish home from my Kenai trips years ago.

Some things to consider:

Once frozen, you need to arrange for and pay to keep it frozen til your trip home.

Once you take it out of the freezer, it must survive the three-plus hour drive back to Anchorage, the 2-plus hour down-time from check-in til the plane takes off. Assuming no additional down-time, significant thaw has already begun to take place.

If you're lucky it goes back into cold storage on the plane. If real cold, your partially thawed goods start to refreeze again. If so-so cold, they continue to slowly thaw.

Plane lands but invariably one hour elapses til my car is headed south on I-5 again. Add another hour and a half of driving (zero traffic) back to Grays Harbor, two or more if there's traffic. Get home unwind unpack another half hour of thawing before all of it is safely tucked in the home freezer where it begins to completely re-freeze again.

When you finally decide to thaw some out for the table weeks/months later, you notice how much juice is drowning your fillets in the bag.... juice that would have stayed completely in the meat had it been consumed fresh.... or at least a little less juice loss had it not been thru multiple freeze/thaw/freeze/thaw/freeze/thaw cycles.

In other words, you are eating CRAP! Anyone half-ass discerning who has eaten fresh compared to previously frozen knows exactly what I am talking about. I just got sick and tired of going thru all the hassle and expense of bringing frozen fish home, only to end up with a HUGE culinary disappointment in the kitchen. I consider it a discretionary sin to freeze high quality salmon, halibut or clams. To each his own.

If your plan is to freeze and there is no other choice, it should only happen ONCE. Same for thawing... only ONCE before it hits your table.

These days I only keep fish during the trip that will be consumed fresh while we are in AK. I keep fish to take home only the last day or two of my trip, ice it down good, and take it home fresh with just a few frozen water bottles to keep it cool. It gets home cold, but cellular integrity is never degraded by freezing. PRIME fish which I can't possibly eat fresh and/or smoke right away for my household is promptly given away to friends and family that appreciate good FRESH fish.

Doc,

Good read and good points

Thanks everyone. I found this pricing chart from Alaska Air
http://www.alaskaair.com/as/www2/cargo/images/Seafood-Express-Rates_20100301.pdf

Not to expensive to ship it back to Seattle. $0.56/pound. Min $55 This was as of March 1st 2010. Does not seems updated but it is what is listed at
http://www.alaskaair.com/as/www2/cargo/Cargo-Pricing.asp

Yep. The flight from Kenia is part of the Alaska flight. It is included in my flight package. I am flying into anchorage then hop on a small plane and fly to Kenia.

Every box of fish I've brought home from fishing with Bob has been checked as baggage and is still frozen solid when I get home. Never had an issue and that's about 10 hrs out of freezer in insulated box. I'm with Francis on the fresh fish though, I had some frozen from AK, but didn't put any in the freezer last fall.

I do this every year. Pack your clothes in ice chests and also pack an army duffel bag.
Put your clothes in the duffel on the way home.
There are many places to freeze fish on the kenai. The important thing is to make sure it is fully frozen and individually wrap each piece in newspaper and pack it tight in the ice chest. Tape the ice chest to keep air from moving in and out. I have never had a problem with it thawing out in 24 hours. If you really wrap it, with like 10 layers, it will keep even longer.
Having a good quality ice chest helps too. Most are not insulated, just double wall plastic boxes. If you can find a real, insulated ice chest, you are golden. I use the cheepo ones and get away with it fine.
do not put ice in your ice chest. They won't let that on the plane.

+1

Extra layers of newspaper on the bottom, sides, and on top of the fish packages to fill up as much of the air space will help with the insulation.

I have shipped hundreds of boxes of fish from the Kenai to SEA. or other places.

Vacuum packed. Wrapped in newspaper if ya can. I've done it with and without. Both work. If ya can't wrap each piece put newspaper on all sides of the fish box and it does help.

Don't go over 50 pounds. Costs ya more. Don't ask me how I know this.

I go up every year now since I retired and I only bring up a carry on bag to keep from paying extra for fish boxes coming home.

I have always used the waxed type cardboard boxes and they work great.

None of the packages are ever partially thawed. Ate frozen Halibut last night from last summers trip and all good!!!

Going again this summer and this is how I'll do it.

fp

Eaten tons of vac-packed fish over the years.

The one thing I see in every bag upon thawing is juice.... juice that should be in the meat, but instead is lost due ice crytals rupturing microscopic cell membranes.

Jack Whelan states in his book Smoking Salmon and Trout, long considered the bible on the subject, that even though a piece of frozen fish still feels frozen after being out of the freezer, it has begun to thaw at a crystalline level.

He states this even happens in your own home freezer when you load it up with new unfrozen stuff. The "heat" of the unfrozen goods will be absorbed by the frozen goods in the freezer.... causing then to partially "thaw" on a microscopic level even though they still feel frozen. The greater the load of unfrozen goods, the more pronounced the effect.

As the freezer comes back to fully freeze all the goods inside, new ice crystals are formed in the partially thawed goods, causing significant cell damage, unbeknownst to the owner.