The opening of salmon season in May lifted off with the predictable stampede at grocers nationwide for Copper River kings. The prized fish were going for an unheard of 36 dollar a pound in Seattle after the first opener. "I can't justify stocking it at that price," one Seattle grocer, who asked to remain anonymous, said. "People won't buy it at that price, and it will just end up as pet food. I don't stock beluga caviar, either." Copper River fish weren't the only ones enjoying a surge in price riding a surge in demand. California fishermen marketing their own troll-caught Chinooks were getting better than 8 dollar a pound, and West Coast processors were paying more than 7 dollar a pound for those fish. My friend John Hurwitz, a Pacific Fishing columnist, told me his wife sold a 22.4 pound Chinook off the boat at Half Moon Bay for 183 dollar.
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