Fishing and Foraging Eating in Style while Sea Kayaking

My paddling partner had gone to explore the Southeast of Alaska bay we had paddled into the previous night. I opted for checking out the surroundings of our campsite, used many times over the years by boatweary crews of salmon trollers who anchored nearby. Following a stream to find the best place to dip water, I found a bonus in a cool, deep pool— a six-pack of beer that had been chilling for about a year, judging from the algae on the cans. Leaving it in the "cooler" for the moment, I headed for the sunny bank at the edge of the woods. There, salmonberries ripened in abundance. In no time at all I half-filled a cooking pot with the choicest, reddest ones.

Then I saw Randy's kayak heading for our beach. I hollered and waved. In response, he lifted a clear plastic bag from the cockpit. Clearly silhouetted in it was a big fish. He had encountered a fishboat on the way to sell its catch at a fish-buying scow, and purchased a beautiful, freshcaught salmon for dinner. We would feast on salmon poached in beer (none the worse for its long wait), and berry-studded muffins. Most of the meal had all but fallen into our hands.

That, of course, is not typical of kayakers' everyday fishing and foraging. Often, traveling and sightseeing leave no time to search for edibles elsewhere than in the food bags. On other occasions, when paddlers have time and inclination, wild edibles decline to be found. Living off the land while kayaking is an appealing, romantic notion that does not match reality. It adds a delightful dimension to sea kayaking and, as recreation, would be a shame to miss. But the time involved and the limited scope of what is available at a particular time make it impractical as a key source of food. I forage for fun and consider anything that it brings to mealtime as frosting on the cake. (And the basics of harvesting simple wild foods are good to know in case of emergency.)

The purpose of this article is to introduce some of the wild edibles most common to the saltwater coastal environment. Excellent field guides provide details for those who wish to try some fishing or foraging, best done with a companion who has first-hand knowledge of the local scene.

Fish

Rockfish. If there were not photos to prove it, no one would believe the story of Randy being caught by a fish. He was jigging for rockfish from a single kayak when I heard him call. There he sat with his right arm as high in the air as he could hold it. Just below his hand was the mouth of a lingcod so big the tip of its tail was still in the water. Each time Randy tried to give the fish a rap on the head, the tail would touch the boat and the fish would leap to life, almost upsetting the boat. As I quickly snapped two photos, we debated how to land the monster without a net. But it was the fish that took decisive action. As Randy's arm sagged from the weight the powerful tail pushed off the deck, and in a soaring arc that dislodged the hook the big cod leaped free.

That is about as exciting as it gets fishing for rockfish with a handline, an activity scorned by sophisticated anglers who challenge more sporty fish--and loved by those whose primary goal is to catch something to eat. The rockfish, including, cod, cabezon, greenling, lingcod, Pacific cod, red snapper, and rock cod, all make excellent eating. Try chunks of fish dipped in tempura batter and deep-fried, wrap fillets in foil to steam along with vegetables, or stir bite-size pieces into chowders.

Rockfish congregate in schools near the bottom of kelp beds (good anchorage for a kayak in current or wind) and along steep, rocky shorelines, especially where there is an underwater point. They are most likely to be found where the water is thirty to forty feet deep.

Jigging gear is the simplest of fishing tackle. All you need is a lead weight, a bottom-fishing lure on one hundred feet of sixty-pound-test monofilament line, and something to wind it on. (An empty aluminum beverage can works fine.) Lower the lure to the bottom, then raise it about three feet and let it flutter down a couple of feet. Repeat the action several times. If nothing happens, retrieve the line with a stop-start motion that may attract something on the way up. If you think you have a nibble, jerk hard to set the hook. If nothing happens after a few repetitions, assume that nobody is home down there and try another spot.

Rap a fish smartly on the head upon bringing it into the boat, using a short piece of driftwood as a "fish bonker." Either fillet the catch on the spot or tie it to the deck, giving it protection from the sun. Rockfish are very perishable and should be cleaned as soon as possible. To fillet, lay the fish on its side and cut downward just behind the gills until the knife hits the backbone. (The scrunching sound is the knife cutting through the rib cage.) Then start at the tail and slide the knife forward along the backbone until you reach the first cut and can lift off the whole fillet. Turn the fish over and do the same on the other side. Discard all but the two fillets. Place each of them skin side down and, starting at the tail end, slide the knife along between skin and meat. Discard the skin. Cut away and discard the rib cage.

Salmon. Salmon are the prize catch of Northwest waters from Alaska to the mouth of the Columbia. Going after them (or almost anything other than rockfish) requires a rod and reel. Most kayakers fish for salmon either by trolling (trailing a line behind the boat as they paddle) or driftfishing (letting the boat drift while casting out or jigging straight down with a weighted lure). Trolling is easiest from a double kayak or a single with a deck-mounted bracket for the rod.

Unlike the rockfish that simply hang from the hook as you hold them aloft, these are fighting fish. You will need a landing net. Recommended tackle includes a rod between seven and ten feet long, a heavy-duty saltwater spinning reel for casting (either a single action reel or a star drag multiplying reel works fine for jigging), and twenty-pound-test monofilament line. For best results, use a flasher and hoochie.

If you are still following this with interest, you (a) need no further advice, and/or (b) should consult a local tackle shop. There are many avid kayak anglers, some for whom the kayak offers just the newest challenge in a lifelong pursuit of game fish. I know of two kayaks equipped with depth sounders for fish-finding. But my interest and expertise lie in the cooking rather than in the catching. Bring me a salmon and I will either fillet it as outlined above or clean it (cutting off head and tail), wrap the whole fish in foil, and roast.

Indian-Style Salmon Bake

Natives of the Pacific Northwest paddled its coastal waters, caught its salmon, and cooked their catch with skills that the new generation of sea kayakers finds especially intriguing. In the old techniques, there is much that can be used today. Baking a fresh caught salmon beside a beach fire is the highlight of many a kayak trip.

"Keep it simple," advises Lee Moyer of Pacific Water Sports, as he shares his favorite way of preparing salmon. It is patterned after the traditional Indian technique:

Clean the salmon, cutting the meat away from the bones into a butterfly fillet. Leave skin intact.

Split a four-foot pole or branch from one end to about the midpoint. Lay the salmon fillet in the split, supporting it with four or five crosspieces of split wood, each about one foot long. Place crosspieces alternately in front and in back of the fillet.

Wrap wire around the pole just above and just below the salmon, squeezing tight the split to hold the fish in place.

Build a hot fire and place the end of the pole in the ground to hold the fleshy side of the fillet toward the flames. For best results, cook slowly while minimizing exposure to smoke. And for best flavor, burn hardwood rather than the more resinous softwoods.

Crabs and Shrimp

Crabs. Crabs inhabit all the oceans of the world and scuttle across all kinds of bottoms— rock, gravel, sand, and mud. At low tide they can be found in tide pools, buried in sand, or hiding under seaweed. You can catch them by hand on shore and with a dip net in shallow water. When the tide is out, paddle in the shallows scouting for them on the bottom. (Polarized sunglasses help you see through surface glare.) Scoop the net under the crab and quickly lift it out of the water. Then grab it by the rear legs and hold upright or grasp at the rear of the shell with thumb and fingers.

Folding crab traps are more effective. At least two models are sold with kayakers in mind. To catch the big Dungeness crabs of the Pacific coast, follow the example of commercial crabbers who set traps for them just offshore of breaking surf in thirty to fifty feet of water. Other prime places are near long sandy spits, off river mouths, or in inside waters with sandy bottoms and eelgrass. Use fresh bait, such as clams and fish scraps. The best time for trapping is at the slack because crabs like to feed when there is no current. Line up the trap entrance with the current flow and mark it with a float you can readily identify. Check the trap every hour or leave it out overnight.

Most jurisdictions prohibit the taking of female Dungeness crabs (which have a much broader plate on the underside between the legs than do males) and any crabs that measure less than six inches wide. (Check local regulations for details.) Put the keepers in a wet burlap sack or something else that will keep them corraled, cool, and moist. They need not be kept in water.

Dropping a live crab in boiling water is needlessly cruel and thoroughly disconcerting as they often squeal. Better to kill a crab instantly by laying it on its back and splitting it down the middle with hatchet or knife. Lay the blade against the crab and give the cutting tool a sharp whack with a club--enough to cut through to the carapace (the hard shell over the back).

Holding the cutting tool in place, grasp one set of legs and pull, twisting to remove half the body meat along with the attached legs. Repeat on the other side. Rinse off any clinging innards or fragments of shell. Cook fifteen minutes in boiling sea water, then plunge the crab into cool water to soak for a few minutes, thereby making the meat much easier to remove from the shell.

Shrimp. Coon stripe shrimp (four to five inches long and found all along the West Coast from California to Alaska) are fun to catch when they migrate into shallow water in late summer and fall. At other times of year, they live one hundred to three hundred feet down on sand or gravel bottoms. Pulling a prawn trap from that depth is not easy in a kayak. But from August through November the big, tasty shrimp come within easy reach. Starting at dusk, you can catch them by lowering a baited trap from a dock. A trap can be a simple frame about four feet across with netting forming a shallow basket. Tie bait (such as a fish carcass) in the middle of the net. Pull the trap every fifteen minutes or so. As an alternative, walk (wearing knee boots or waders) or paddle along a protected shoreline with a flashlight and a kitchen strainer, colander, or dip net. The shrimps' eyes brightly reflect the flashlight's beam. Just scoop them up.

Keep shrimp alive in sea water. When ready to eat, pour that water out and dump the live shrimp into boiling sea water (they die instantly, unlike the larger crabs). Cook two to three minutes, until they turn pink. Plunge into cold water to cool; then peel.

Bivalves

All bivalves— two-shelled mollusks including clams, oysters, mussels, and others— feed by filtering plankton from surrounding waters. During warm weather, when the water "blooms" with plankton (as in the phenomenon known as "red tide"), some of the plankton are poisonous. They do not harm the bivalves that feed on them, but the bivalves filter out and concentrate the toxins, becoming potentially poisonous. The toxins may remain in potentially harmful concentrations for a matter of days— or years! There is no known antidote. The result of eating poisonous shellfish can be serious illness or even death.

Do not harvest and eat bivalves of any kind without first checking with local authorities to assure there is no danger of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning, commonly known as PSP.

Clams. The small, tasty bivalves, known collectively as "steamer clams," live beneath the sand or gravel of sheltered bays and inlets. Most are found within eighteen inches of the surface in the intertidal zone. The closer to the low-tide line, the richer and more sheltered the habitat. Dig straight down with hands or a simple tool. Or, on a rocky beach, "muddle" for clams by digging a hole and washing the sea water at its bottom against the sides.

Soak clams in sea water for four to eight hours (which may be accomplished by hanging them over the side of the kayak in a mesh bag). During this time, they clean themselves internally. Want stuffed clams? Scatter oatmeal or cornmeal on the surface of the water; the clams will feed on it. (Note that this is cornMEAL, not cornSTARCH, as I once inadvertently used, thereby creating something resembling cement-filled clams.) Scrub clam shells and steam in one inch of water in a single layer in a covered frying pan about five minutes, until shells pop open. Discard any unopened clams.

Oysters. Not buried, but right on the bottom of warm-water bays and inlets, quiet bays and backwaters, live the oyster colonies. Look for them in the intertidal zone, where the larger ones are farther out. Although they may be harvested at any time of year, oysters are larger, firmer, and more flavorful from early winter until mid-May. After that, their energy goes into spawning, which leaves them depleted and less meaty.

Check local regulations before harvesting, as there are limits in most places. Gather in a mesh bag or pot; they need not be kept in water.

A favorite way of cooking fresh oysters is to barbecue them in the shell. After rinsing the oyster, lay it on a grill with the more rounded side of the shell on the bottom. Heat over coals until the shell opens slightly. Pry open the rest of the way with a fork, remove meat, dip in melted butter, and eat.

To shuck an oyster, insert a sharp knife between the shells and sever the adductor muscle. Place the oyster on a solid surface with the rounded side down. Insert the tip of the knife about halfway along an edge (not at the hinge), breaking off a bit of shell if necessary. Twist the knife and push in the blade, levering the handle upward and pushing the knife point down. When the muscle is severed, the shell will open easily, allowing you to scrape out all of the meat.

Mussels. Mussels of several kinds are found all along the coast, clinging to rocks, pilings, and floats in quiet waters. Paddle up to them and break them off by hand. Store out of the water, but keep cool and damp with seaweed or in a burlap sack. Scrub the shells well, pulling off the "beard." Steam twenty minutes, until shells pop open. (Mussels have the same seasonal cycle as oysters, at their peak for eating between early winter and mid-May.)

Other Edibles

Limpets. The little "Chinaman's hat" that measures up to an inch in diameter clings to the rocks on beaches all over the world. This singleshelled mollusk (like its cousin, the abalone) is one of the safest shellfish to harvest and eat. It lives on algae and does not feed on plankton as bivalves do, so it is not a potential carrier of PSP. And because it is so common, the "poor man's escargot" is valuable as emergency survival food.

Small limpets are found in the intertidal zone with the larger keyhole limpet (which has a hole in the peak) farther toward the ocean than the rest. Limpets cling to the rocks with a "foot" much like that of a snail; when alerted to possible danger, they cling tight. To gather them, move quietly and carry a knife to slip under the foot and pry up.

Leave limpets in sea water at least thirty minutes to clean themselves. Steam like clams in a single layer in a frying pan (they take five minutes to cook) or give the shells a scrub and drop the whole limpets into chowder for the last five minutes of cooking time. They also can be barbecued.

Abalone. Larger than limpets are abalone, which may measure up to one foot wide. The larger species are found in the warmer waters of Mexico and California. Most common along the Northwest coast is the pinto abalone, usually three to four inches wide.

To gather abalone without diving, paddle along rocky shorelines in regions with plenty of tidal action. Look for patches of seaweed, on which abalone also feed. The best "ate" hunting by kayak is at the time of the lowest daylight tides in May, June, and July.

Abalone are well camouflaged. Their checkered mantles help you spot them (as do the white-specked edges). Move quietly and try not to let your shadow fall on the rocks. With stealth and a deft hand, you can grab the shell and remove it with a quick twist before the abalone grabs tight to the rock. A knife or spatula is essential to removing one that has clamped down.

Leave the abalone in sea water for thirty minutes before cutting the meat from the shell. Only the meat of the big abalone must be pounded to tenderize. Cut it crosswise and saute until it is no longer translucent-- only a few minutes. The meat also can be cut into bite-size pieces for chowder. Be careful not to overcook, as the meat then will become tough and rubbery.

Sea Urchins. Looking more like underwater flowers than animals are the spiny sea urchins found on rocks just below low tide. Gather them by hand. The bright yellow ones are tastiest.

Open the bottom by cutting a circle around the center with a sharp knife. Pull out and discard the round, hard "Aristotle's lantern" from inside. Rinse and shake out all of the urchin's "insides," leaving only the light brown roe clinging to the shell. The roe— eggs— is whet you eat: raw (sometimes mixed with soy sauce) on crackers or as dip, deep-fried in tempura batter, or beaten with eggs for an omelet from a true "chicken of the sea."

Sea Cucumber. Not a vegetable, but a sea animal that resembles a cucumber in shape, this odd-looking creatures does you the favor of cleaning itself. When frightened it disgorges its inner organs as a defensive and diversionary tactic. The muscular outer cylinder can grow a new set of insides. Unfortunately for it, the muscle is the part you want to keep. Cut off the ends and then slice the tube lengthwise. Open it and you will see five longitudinal muscles. Pull each of them off in a whole chunk. Saute or cut up for chowder. Cooking time is about five minutes.

Beach Greens

Seaweed. Sea lettuce (Ulva lactuca) looks just like green, leafy lettuce growing about halfway up the tidal zone. It tastes like salty lettuce. Bladder wrack (Fucus furcatus) is a greenish brown rockweed, its forked branches tipped with yellow pods that pop when you step on them. (The pods are filled with a gelatinous substance used to thicken puddings, but that is not what you are interested in.) Cut off the topmost two or three inches where the pods have not yet puffed up. Use sea lettuce and "popweed" both as flavorings for soups and stews and as salad greens.

Glasswort. Called by many names including seabeach sandwort, chicken claws, crowfoot greens, and sea chickweed, this bright green plant with fleshy, succulent leaves grows just above the high-tide mark in sheltered inlets and bays. It sprawls over the sand, putting down roots as it grows. Eat the leaves raw in salads or cook the whole stem two minutes in salted water. Butter it and eat with your fingers, discarding the tough inner stem.

Goosetongue. Also called seashore plantain, this plant grows on rocky outcroppings near the water or well back on the beach. A cluster of leaves rises from the base of the plant, which also has a central stem with a spike of densely clustered greenish white flowers. Picking is best in early summer, when the tender new leaves are good to eat raw in salads. Boil or steam the larger leaves as cooked vegetables or use them to make wilted "lettuce" salad with bacon and vinegar.

Berries

Beach Strawberries. All along the West Coast from California to Alaska, wild strawberries are found in sunny spots at the top of the beach. They look just like the garden plants except smaller and closer to the ground. The leaves consist of three leaflets with toothed edges and ~e flower has five white petals. The bright red fruit is a real treat. You also can make tea from strawberry leaves. Boil about two handfuls of washed leaves in a quart of water for five minutes. Both the berries and leaves are rich in vitamin C.

Blueberries. Several subspecies grow along the West Coast, ranging from tall shrubs to little ones no more than two feet high. They grow in dappled sunlight as part of the forest understory, often right where the woods meet the beach. Some ripen as early as June and others as late as August and September. In Southeast Alaska the late-season berries often come complete with resident worms--tiny green things that look like baby inchworms. Many locals eat the berries worms and all. But if you would prefer to have berries alone, soak them for thirty minutes in fresh water with a few blueberry leaves floating on the surface. The worms will bail out and board the leaves as if they were life rafts. Discard leaves; eat berries. (Most authorities say to use sea water for this, but every worm I have encountered has headed for the lifeboats much more energetically in fresh water, leaving fewer casualties among the berries.)

Salmonberries. Growing on woody shrubs up to seven feet high, these look like big raspberries. It is common to find the full range of colors from pale pinkish yellow to bright red on the same bush. There may or may not be prickles on the twigs. Pick only those berries ripe enough to slip off easily. Compared to raspberries, salmonberries are somewhat bland. Add them to bowls of mixed berries, stir into compotes, or use in place of blueberries in muffins and pancakes.

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By Trevor Herft