September 1, 2025 • 60 mins
Is the tuna you eat truly healthy fish or just high in mercury? Learn the truth about sustainable fishing, omega-3s, and high-protein albacore tuna that supports your health goals. In episode 810 of the Savage Perspective Podcast, Robert Sikes and guest Jessica Rhodes expose the secrets of the commercial fishing industry. They reveal how pole and line fishing methods result in safer, more nutritious fish compared to mass-market brands. Discover her family's journey in building a craft business founded on quality, from battling giant corporations to embracing a regenerative lifestyle that provides truly superior food.
If you demand the same high standards for your body as you do for your food, it's time to build a physique with a no-nonsense approach. Join Robert’s FREE Bodybuilding Masterclass to learn the methods for constructing a powerful and healthy physique. Sign up here: https://www.ketobodybuilding.com/registration-2
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https://www.craftfishco.com/
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Subscribe to the podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/42cjJssghqD01bdWBxRYEg?si=1XYKmPXmR4eKw2O9gGCEuQ
Chapters:
0:00 - Is Your Tuna Toxic? The Truth About Mercury
0:52 - This Tuna Converted a Hater
1:54 - It’s Not Just Tuna, It’s a Craft
2:35 - From Hobby to a High-Stakes Family Business
4:22 - The "Regenerative Farming" of the Ocean
5:42 - The Fishing Industry Lie You’re Falling For
9:16 - The Real Answer to the Mercury Question
10:35 - Our Tuna vs. "Low Mercury" Brands (The Real Numbers)
12:29 - How a Small Fish Brand Competes With Giants
15:23 - The Secret Process That Makes Our Tuna Different
20:21 - A Day in the Life of a Fisherman (It’s Brutal)
24:30 - The Unglamorous Reality of a 5-Month Season
26:31 - You Won't Believe How Many Fish They Catch
28:22 - The "All-In" Moment We Bought Our Boat
30:28 - What It’s Like When Dad Is Gone for 5 Months
36:10 - Juggling a Business and Raising a Family
37:57 - Our Approach to Homeschooling Future Leaders
42:30 - Will the Next Generation Take Over?
46:43 - Why We’ll Never Be in Big Box Stores
52:18 - What a Real "Seafood Snob" Eats
54:15 - 5-Minute High-Protein Tuna Burgers
59:10 - Where To Get The Best Tuna (Listener Discount)
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
You'll get like a lot of pushback on, you know, mercury
in the fish. They test the fish monthly for
mercury, for radiation and also for histamines.
And we're also catching all of our fish in like the cold N
Pacific off the North Pacific coast.
And there's different stocks of albacore tuna.
These specific tuna are in the colder water, which is lower
(00:23):
mercury levels to begin with. And so they are younger, mature
albacore. And so that helps with a lot of
the health benefits that you're actually a nutrition value that
you're getting from this fish. The level that the FDA sets is
below 1 parts per million and ours.
(00:47):
At the last report I looked at, ours tested at .11 parts per
million in the fish. And we're live.
Jessica, how you doing this fineday?
I'm doing awesome, thank you very much.
How about yourself? I'm doing wonderfully well.
So just to give the listeners some context how you and I got
connected here, you DM D me on Instagram, I believe, and you're
like, Hey, can we send you some of our tuna to try?
(01:10):
And to be honest with you, I have kind of had burnt myself
out on tuna for years with my like bro bodybuilding days
because I was living off of canned tuna in water, like star
kissed tuna and it's like I can do sardines.
I can rock cod liver, but I'm kind of burnt out on tuna.
But this this try it. You sent me some and it's
amazing. It's super tasty and delicious.
(01:31):
So I've been eating that on a daily basis here.
Good. I'm glad you like it.
Yeah, it's very different than kind of the chicken that see a
lot of the traditional canned albacore tunas that you see on
the shelf. So we're trying to do something
different with it for sure. And it is a when we give it to
people to taste, they're like, wow, this is not what I'm used
to. This is not the tune I grew up
(01:53):
on. And like your packaging is, is
legit. Like, it's all like that craft
packaging and it just looks verynice, very appealing.
Thank you. Thank you.
Yeah, trying to do something that represents the craft piece
of it and the hands on. I personally wrap all the cans
at this point and do all the packaging.
(02:13):
So thank you. Very cool.
So I, I perused on your Instagram after you sent the,
the tunics. I want to kind of learn more
about the business. This is honestly the the
catalyst for this call because y'all are definitely doing it
differently beyond just the packaging.
I mean y'all are out there like with the boat, catching the fish
with a line, not a net like doing it the right way
organically, which is just awesome.
(02:35):
So I want to hear all about that, like the business, the
lifestyle, like how does one getinto the world of commercial
fishing to begin with? OK, Yeah, My, I started kind of
in the fishing industry and while I was going to college, I
worked on sport fishing boats tokind of put my way through the
(02:55):
financial piece of it, put my way through college.
I fell in love with it. By the time I was getting ready
to graduate, I had enough time to get a captain's license, so I
went ahead and did that. I have 100 ton captain's license
and continued working on sport boats after I graduated as a
captain, loved it and decided towalk away from it.
(03:19):
My other passion is health and nutrition.
My undergraduate degree from CalPoly was in nutrition and kind
of trying to decide how it was going to incorporate that into
my profession. And so I became a nurse
practitioner and that's kind of my side of things.
(03:39):
My husband JJ, who I own the company with, he has been
fishing since forever. It's the only job he's ever had.
He started in the sport fishing industry until about 15 years
ago and then transferred over into the commercial fishing side
of things. And yeah, so we are a fishing
(04:02):
family. It's what we do now.
He J JS fishing season is from about.
He leaves in about June and comes back end of October ish.
So he's gone fishing for those five months out of the year.
And yeah, it's it's definitely adifferent lifestyle, but we are
(04:25):
trying to do something differentwith the brand.
Like you said, we we kind of think of it almost like the
regenerative farming or that that kind of movement on land is
what we're doing on on the ocean.
So JJ are and we own the boat that JJ fish is on his
(04:47):
commercial fishing boat and every single fish that we put
into 10s is caught by him. So in his group, he does have a
small group crew that he works with, but he runs the boat.
And so, yeah, having that transparency of this fish that
you're eating, you know the nameof your fisherman, you know
(05:10):
exactly where it came from, you know exactly how it was
processed is something was our goal with starting this company.
Yeah, super cool. I've been diving deep into the
regenerative agriculture stuff. Like I've had Will Harris on the
podcast, went to his farm and I've tried to eat everything
that I consume in my family, stuff that we've, you know,
sourced regeneratively and or harvested or raised ourselves.
(05:34):
And it only makes sense to the same thing with what you're
eating from the water. So I would assume that what
y'all are doing is a far cry from what the standard is for
sure. But like, are there any others
doing what you're doing or is itpretty much a total outlier?
Yeah, so there are other people fishing in the way we fish.
So we fish and everything. Each fish is caught one at a
(05:58):
time, so there's no Nets, nothing like that.
So every single fish is caught with a pole and a line or jig
fishing, which jig fishing is running lines behind the boat.
But still each fish is caught one at a time and they're hand
lined, pulled in. The fish is taken off the hook
and then move on to the next fish.
(06:21):
And so it is a lot different. You know, there's a lot of
different methods for fishing albacore, but there's so many
benefits to doing it the way we do from a sustainability aspect.
First of all, we have no by catch.
We're not disrupting rain ego environments, you know with the
(06:43):
dragging Nets or anything like that.
We are only catching what we intend to catch and we're also
able to kind of target fish the size that we want.
So the fish that we're catching are in this like 10 to £20
range. We don't keep anything smaller
than 10 lbs. And so they are younger, mature
(07:07):
albacore. And so that helps with a lot of
the health benefits that you're actually in nutrition value that
you're getting from this fish. So it's kind of twofold.
So the way we're doing it is better for the environment.
It is considered the most eco friendly way of fishing because
there is no other disruption to the environment or to other
(07:31):
species and the nutrition benefits also are far and above
the other ways. The other methods of fishing to
give you an example and another popular way that albacore are
caught is on long lines. And that's a little bit of a
(07:54):
confusing thing I think for consumers because they're
looking for maybe pole caught orpole and line caught and and
some tuna is advertised as line caught.
What you would think is the samething with a line, the fish is
caught, but this is, you know, maybe 50 miles, 40 miles worth
(08:16):
of a line in the water with 5000hooks on it coming off of it and
it kind of sits there for a period of time and then the line
is pulled up. Well, it's very non
discriminate. You might catch some alacore,
you might catch some other fish,you might have turtles, sharks,
other things that are also beingcaught on that line.
(08:37):
But it's still considered lying caught.
So it's not using a net. And so I think people sometimes
get that confused, even some of my own family members who I talk
about this all the time and we're surprised to hear that
line caught and pull line caughtare not the same thing.
So. I like the whole thing with
(08:57):
eggs, like eggs marketed in the grocery stores.
I mean you get like your free range eggs, you get your open,
right? Yeah.
You see cage tree and you're like, oh, that's fantastic.
They're not in cages. Well, that doesn't mean that
they're pasture raised it there's a lot of confusion with
that. What do y'all get like a lot of
(09:19):
pushback on, you know, mercury in the fish?
Like what? What's response to that?
Cause like when people think of tuna they automatically default
to mercury if they're in the know about nutrition at all.
Right, Yeah. And so Mercury, it's been pretty
heavily tested. And so our fish, we are part of
AFA, the American Owl Court Fishing Association, which is a
(09:41):
fantastic organization. And one of the things that they
do is they test the fish monthlyfor mercury, for radiation and
also for histamines. And because of the smaller fish,
and we're also catching all of our fish in like the cold N
Pacific off the North Pacific coast.
(10:04):
And there's different stocks of albacore tuna.
These specific tuna are in the colder water, which is lower
mercury levels to begin with. And then because we're catching
the fish smaller, what you have to worry about mostly with
mercury is bigger fish and albacore can grow to, you know,
50 lbs. We're getting them at a younger
(10:28):
or smaller size and they don't have that time to accumulate
mercury. The the level that the FDA sets
is below 1 parts per million andours, the last report I looked
at ours tested at .11 parts per million in the fish.
(10:52):
So the mercury level is very, very low, which actually is
lower than some of the other tunas that are out there sold as
little mercury tuna like a skipjack or a elephant tuna.
Sometimes those are considered lower mercury than albacore, but
the albacore that are being talked about mostly are these
(11:14):
larger albacore caught in other parts of the world, maybe warmer
waters. There is a brand and that says
that you know they're the lowestmercury out of any other brands
out there. And I think their level of
acceptable mercury is .38. And again, ours is testing about
(11:36):
.11. So I don't worry about the
mercury content for my kids, formy family.
And I think it's it's really not.
It should be a concern, but withthis specific method of catching
fish, the size of fish and wherethey're being caught.
And it really mitigates all of those.
(11:58):
I would assume your family eats quite a bit of the tuna you
catch, so y'all haven't turned into thermometers yet.
No, no, no, we're doing good. My kids are super healthy and
yeah, and they love it. We eat a lot of fish.
We we also, you know, eat other animals and stuff.
But like you said, we are prettyparticular about where we source
(12:20):
it from and between JJ does somehunting and then buying from the
local rancher. Nice, nice.
So like from a business standpoint, I mean, I guess I
mean the regenerative market hasgrown especially in the last
three years it seems. And they're like the direct to
consumer meat companies have kind of found a pathway going
(12:41):
direct to consumer as opposed togoing through the beef commodity
systems that have always been inplace.
Is it kind of like the same thing for the fishing industry?
Like are y'all able to have a a niche market for people that
want to source food doing what y'all are doing?
Or is it like just super cutthroat with all these big
fish fishing companies that are,you know, have the larger
volumes thing can drive down themargins?
(13:03):
Yeah, our margins are are prettysmall, but yeah, it is.
We know that there are people out there looking for this.
We are looking for this. This is what we look for in our
food. So we know there's a market for
it. I think one of the biggest
challenges is educating people on the differences and getting
(13:28):
through those kind of barriers. But we fish, that's what we do.
We, I think that J JS expertise in fishing has helped to kind of
steer us in the right direction.And we, yeah, I, I think a lot
(13:54):
of what drives down the price isa lot of fish is not caught in
US waters. So that's one thing a lot of
it's caught overseas and in using different methods, right.
So being able to harvest larger amounts and then we are fully
domestic supply chain. So our fish is caught here in
(14:15):
the United States, We have it canned here in the United States
and then it's all shipped and taken care of here.
And a majority of the fish, if not I, I don't know the exact
percentage, but I would bet to say 9597% of the fish that is
sold is canned in other countries.
(14:38):
So that can also lower the cost pretty drastically.
So coming up against that and trying to figure out how we can,
I mean, we know we also can't. It has to be affordable.
It has to be able to make sense for people.
And so that has kind of been inserting this business a little
(14:59):
bit of a challenge of not compromising on any of our
standards and not going to a less expensive cannery.
And the cannery we use as an artisanal cannery in Oregon.
And it's going to be more expensive than in Thailand or
(15:20):
some of these other places wherethe big companies are able to
are are getting their fish processed.
Yeah, it's tough when you're doing it all, but you can in
house. I mean, you're like I said,
packaging and shipping the orders yourself, but man, it's
like so much more fulfilling when you're doing something that
you know is making a difference and you can like see the fruits
(15:41):
of your labor unfold. I mean, like same thing with the
keto brick. Like we don't have very good
margins either, but I'm proud ofwhat we're putting out into the
world. And like that means something.
You know, I can go to sleep at night exhausted, but feel good
about how I live my day that day.
And I, I just love talking to other business owners that are
creating something that they, that they personally had a need
for, like to feed your own family.
(16:03):
And then just, yeah, I think, I think the cream always rise to
the top, as they say. And the margins may never be
there, but you'll have a demand from people that understand why
you're doing what you're doing and appreciate it and are
willing to pay for it. And hopefully that demographic
of people is always there to getthat quality.
Yeah. And you know, I think an
(16:23):
advantage that we do have is that we're hitting a lot of
marks that from a nutrition standpoint, from it being really
an easy kind of packable proteinthat you can take.
And there's it's so versatile, you can use it in so many
different ways. And then also the sustainability
(16:44):
piece of it. I think it's pretty amazing
where we're going as a country. I think a lot of people are
looking for more solutions to sustainable, whether it's
farming or fishing and the traceability.
People want to know where their food's coming from, at least a
certain population and trying towhich like you said about the
(17:05):
eggs, you can be attempting to do all these things, attempting
to buy the right things for yourfamily to find out, OK, tree
doesn't mean I've been spending an extra $3 on these eggs to get
pretty much the same thing. So it is a bit of education and
(17:27):
I don't think that there's many people doing what we're doing.
So it is kind of trying to go out there and spread the word.
Yeah, and you'll package it in, like, olive oil, too, so you're
not cutting corners there as well.
I mean, I was amazed at how manybecause I haven't bought tuna in
a long time because, like I said, I was burned out on it.
But I, out of curiosity, just was flipping over cans the other
day. And that's like an oddity these
(17:47):
days. Like most of them are packaged
in soybean oil. And it's like, why?
Why? Why?
Why? Right.
Yeah. And so we also what the the some
of the fish we're getting processed right now, we'll be
doing it at just albacore. So just the fish, no water
added. There is a lot of soybean oil
(18:07):
added to a lot of these fish notin ours.
We have nothing added to it. And then just the fish and the
salt. And one thing that makes it us
able to do that is most canned albacore comes into a processing
facility. The entire fish is cooked skin
(18:31):
on everything it's cooked, it's taken out of whatever they cook
it in. They fillet it, they cut it into
chunks, they put it into your can and then your can is cooked
right to get the to make it a canned fish.
Our process is very different. The fish is filleted before it's
cooked and so that filet, it's hand, it's hand cut.
(18:56):
There's a person with a knife ona cutting board cutting that
fish, cutting it into flay. So that whole steak is going
into the can and then one time is getting cooked.
So all of the natural oils and omega-3 fatty acids and all of
those, the high nutrient contentis depleted a lot of times by
(19:18):
cooking it twice where our fish is only cooked once.
That makes a big difference. A lot of times if you cook the
fish 1st and then you're cookingit a second time, you need to
add broth or these other things to make it palatable.
Our fish is just cooked once. So it is, you know, it maintains
(19:40):
that high nutrient density that it, you know, as eating it fresh
and, and that's another reason. And we do use the olive oil as
kind of our premium product. And I don't know if you've tried
it just plain or what you've been doing with it, but you
know, we love to just open it upand have it on crackers just
(20:03):
like that or just plain or it istender and has enough flavor and
not dry to just put it on a salad or put it, you know, add
it to whatever you going to add protein to.
Yeah, would definitely taste better.
I mean, there's like a notable difference in taste from that
and other cans of tuna. So you're doing something right
(20:25):
for sure. What what does the I actually
just watched Captains courageousthe other day with my three-year
old son. The the old captain's
courageous. He was he was digging in.
So what is a a day in the life of being on the water fishing
for five months look like like when he leaves.
When when did y'all start the business?
(20:47):
We, so just this year is when we've actually started like
launched our website and we've been canning it for a while and
just kind of friends and family and everyone's been pushing us.
You need to sell this. Where could I get more?
When can I get more? Oh, we don't have any more.
So everyone's kind of been pushing us, but we just actually
(21:09):
launched our website a couple ofmonths ago.
So it's very new. Exciting, very cool.
So he he takes off, you said in March.
He's taking it in June. Sometime in June, yeah.
And then what? What does that look like?
Like he's on the water for five months straight?
Like what does a day-to-day in the life of commercial fishermen
(21:29):
look like? So he, it, it kind of fluctuates
throughout the season, but he comes in about every, he
provisions the boat for about 30days.
So before the boat leaves, it's basically packed, you know,
going grocery shopping and eating all of those things to
(21:51):
get provisions for the boat. All the supplies are going to
need for about 30 days at sea and about every, depending on
how fishing is, some trips couldbe as short as like 2 weeks.
So sometime between two weeks and 30 days he will come into
port and offload his fish and get groceries, reprovision, get
(22:14):
fuel, all of those things. So he's not out out for the five
months. But again, those trips in the
port are just 24 hours or so, asfast as he can get fish off the
boat and get back out there day-to-day, I would say.
And in the Pacific Northwest, days are really long in the
(22:37):
summer. And so I think they're getting
up around 4430 and kind of goingthrough their morning routine,
making sure temperatures, right.And the boat is AFDA regulated
facility as well. So there's a lot that has to
happen in take making sure temperature and of the fish and
(23:01):
everything is on par. So they kind of go through that
routine in the morning and as soon as it starts cracking Gray,
they have jigs out in the water.They're they're fishing.
And so JJ uses different methodsfrom water charts to binoculars,
(23:23):
everything in his power to and just kind of that 40 years of
knowledge on and to figure out where he can be in best position
to capitalize on the day. And so he has a crew down there.
And so they will be jig fishing,they're catching fish, they're
(23:43):
pulling them in one at a time. At some point, some guy makes
breakfast, they eat and and that's kind of it.
They go through the whole day, they catch fish, they process
and they're getting them into their hold, their fish hold,
which is recirculating refrigerated seawater.
(24:04):
So the fish are down to six degrees.
So they're frozen on the boat. Also really great for keeping in
that freshness and all the nutrients.
And I would say depending again on the day, he probably goes
down maybe about 11 O clock at night, long day.
(24:25):
There are long days, there are long days and there are seven
days a week for five months. Wow.
Yeah. So.
It's and they're, they're putting a whole fish in the fish
hold or they're filleting it, OK, whole fish in the fish hold.
And would it be an FDA like is it like an FDA Rep on board the
whole time or how does that work?
There's not one on board, but they are audited by NOAA, the
(24:48):
Fishing Regularly Regulatory Board and in the United States.
So they have an on board inspection every year and then
daily they have to fill out logssaying they have to I think do
the temperature of the fish two or three times a day.
And then everything else from cleanliness like crew
(25:08):
cleanliness and the the working environment to make sure that
it's all up to par, that nothingis getting contaminated.
Yeah. So what is a really solid day of
fishing like? How many fish are brought in on
like a really good day? So it depends and there's two
different kind of phases, parts of the season and one is the jig
(25:31):
fishing. And so that is trolling a couple
lines behind the boat and you know, you catch your fish and
it's brought in. I would say a really good troll
fishing day, jig fishing days, maybe like 600 fish.
It's. A lot of fish.
It's a lot of fish, especially when you're doing it, you know,
hand over hand, one at a time. And then the other part is kind
(25:55):
of this centuries that they've been practicing this lift pole,
which is like a 9 or 10 foot pole with a 7 foot leader on the
end of it and then a hook that kind of looks like an L And they
use that. They're in a rack outside of the
boat. It's a little tricky to explain,
(26:15):
but outside of the boat. And so they're kind of standing
in the water and they use these lift poles, dip it in the water
and pull out of fish at a time, one at a time.
And those they can catch when it's really good.
They have a guy chumming the water with anchovies when it's
really good. I don't know what his best day
(26:37):
has been, but it's probably close to 1000.
Wow, I bet everybody on that crew is jacked reeling all those
fish in. Yeah, yeah.
It's interesting to see them because when he's getting ready
before the season, you know, thecrew's on the boat working,
getting ready to take off. It's always really interesting
for me to see the transformationfrom the beginning of the season
(26:57):
to the end of the season. Yeah, they they work very, very
hard and and it is, you know it.It is the the hard part about
it, like farming and so many other things is there, there's
no guarantee. So JJ leaves in June and, you
(27:20):
know, there's a lot of a lot of factors that go into fishing and
making a living Fishing and commercial fishermen don't have
the luxury of a, you know, it, it's, it balances, right?
Josie loves what he does, but there are some drawbacks to it
(27:40):
of there's no guarantee of income and there's a lot of risk
going up. So paying for a crew, paying to
provision the boat, paying for diesel, paying for, you know,
for fuel for the boat, all of these things which, you know,
some seasons it's fantastic and some seasons not so much.
(28:04):
So it's definitely he, JJ does areally great job of trying to
capitalize on the time he has. So those long days are kind of
what you have to do to be in theright place at the right time.
Can't catch fish on the dock? That's true, that's true.
When y'all pull the trigger and bought your own boat, was that
(28:26):
like a super scary moment? It's like, OK, we really hoping
for the best on this one. Yeah.
You know JJ has been has owned and he owned 2 sport boats
before this like commercial care, I'm sorry passenger
carrying boats. And so he had this is before him
and I were together. And so he, I think had that kind
(28:51):
of down and buying the commercial fishing boat.
Yeah, it was a little bit of a definitely career pivot for him.
But he had been in the sport fishing industry for so long.
I think he was ready for a new challenge, a new way and being
able to work hard and see the results of working hard.
(29:14):
Yeah, the the more fish you catch, the more money you're
going to make. And I think that that was really
attracted to him. But yeah, it's a boat.
Payment is a big a big one. How, how do you define sport
fish? And that is people coming in
wanting to fish on the blue water and just hiring y'all to
take them out. Or what's that look like?
Right. So sport fishing would be
anything for it like recreational.
(29:36):
So for instance, the last boat that JJ sport fishing boat that
he owned was a 65 foot boat and that carried, oh man, I'm trying
to remember now, I believe 24 passengers.
And so he would do anywhere fromtwo days to 8 day trips with
(29:57):
these passengers. So they would load on and he
would take, you know, anywhere from 16 to 22 people out fishing
for five days and and yeah, or, and then two day trips and so on
and so on. But any sport fishing would be
anything that he was the captainof the boat and he was taking
(30:17):
passengers out to catch fish. And there's a lot of regulations
and you know the amount you can catch and all of those rules
apply. Got you for that.
What's from a family dynamic standpoint, What is what is that
like in Yale's household with him being gone five months?
You got two kids, right? Yeah, we have two kids.
(30:38):
It's tricky. It how?
Old are the kids. My, my youngest just turned 3
two weeks ago and then I have a four year old.
So they're very close and they're little and, and it, it's
been changing. So in the beginning I think it
(30:59):
was hard because they were so little.
And for instance, when my daughter was born, JJ came home
for like 3 days. He actually happened to be there
when I went into labor, which was amazing.
So he was able to be there when our daughter was born, but he
had to go back to work immediately after that because
it was in the middle of fishing.It was July when she was born.
(31:19):
So then I had a 18 month old anda newborn, which was which.
It was very hard. And then as they got older, I
think in the beginning it was kind of like mom's the primary
caretaker anyways, not that where's Dad, but I think it was
(31:40):
not as big of a deal where this year our four year old boy was
like dad's going where, for how long?
And so that's hard. It makes it challenging for
them, but I have some help from family.
I family doesn't live near, but my mom will fly down and help
stay with me here and there and I try to visit family as well.
(32:06):
So, yeah, I mean, we're fortunate that I am able to stay
home with the kids and kind of work on the business at the same
time. And then our winters are very
fun because we're going to be asfamily and do a lot of
adventuring together, the four of us.
So does he have much work to do during the winter months or is
(32:29):
he able to be pretty much 100% there with y'all throughout the
other months of the year? I would say it's not 100%, but
it's pretty close. We have a lot of flexibility, so
he might have to go down to the boat for, you know, 3 hours one
day, but he can do that whenever.
So if we are, you know, if we want to go on a trip or we want
(32:51):
to do something else, we spend alot of time in Baja, Mexico down
there. So we're kind of able to, he
does have to work, but again, being that's like the great
benefit of being your own boss, right?
So he during those months, he can go in and come home or he we
can schedule it or we can go down there with him too, which
(33:13):
is it's kind of fun to do, yeah.I mean, we just had our second
kiddo and like I'm at at the office all the time, so
Crystal's wrangling both of themnon-stop.
And yeah, like she's whooped by the end of the day.
So the fact that you got to do it for five months at a time
like that is commendable for sure.
(33:34):
Yeah, it's a lot. And I it's definitely a
lifestyle choice, that is for sure.
We try to make the most of it bybeing really intentional with
our time when he is home. But it is a sacrifice that we
all kind of make to make it workfor our family.
You know, we had kids, it was really important that we were
(33:57):
raising them. And so prior to this, I was
working as a nurse practitioner and I couldn't continue to do
that in a full time capacity with having these little guys at
home, especially when dad's gonefive months out of the year.
But yeah, I know it's a lot. It's we, we try to it.
(34:20):
It also has its benefits, right?So before he leaves, it's like,
oh, we have to, you're leaving in a month.
We have to try to take advantageof every single day and every
single moment we have and let's do these fun things or let's
just hang out as a family and let's try to really soak up this
time. And then he's gone.
It's like, Oh my gosh, we miss each other so much and the kids
miss you and but we make it work.
(34:42):
And then when he comes home, it's like, hurray, you're home.
We can all, you know, go back tonormal.
And it's very exciting. So it kind of keeps it always a
little bit exciting for us. Yeah, I think, I think living on
the extremes and having those like deeper emotions is way
better than just having like an even keel, like kind of normal
(35:03):
drab life. I mean, I would think that
that's that's how we've approached things and I can't
imagine doing it any other way. Yeah, you know, I am.
I guess we're kind of in the middle of it now and you know
it. It is, I think as mom anyways,
you're on as a dad as well, but especially for moms in those
(35:24):
younger years, you're on 24/7. But not having your partner
there can make things a little bit more challenging.
And so when I start feeling thatway, I try to remember, you
know, if he had a more traditional job where he was
gone 8 hours a day and we just had the evenings, would I trade
that for these like fantastic month months we have when he is
(35:47):
home? So, you know, it's, it's, it's
an interesting trade off, but heloves what he does, the fishing
aspect of it. I think it's really hard for him
being away from our family as well, but being able to support
him in that career and then me being able to raise our kids and
(36:07):
do that while he's gone, It's been really critical for us.
And so we're trying to make it work and all those aspects.
What's it like raising the kids?Because you're not doing the
nurse practitioner on site anymore, so you're building the
business, launched the website earlier this year, rocking that
marketing, all that good stuff, packaging all the orders.
Now you've got the two kids. Like how does your day look on a
(36:29):
day-to-day basis now? I am everyday is different we
but I would say they are try to help as much as they can and and
I don't know if that is making it more challenging or less
challenging in the long run you're.
(36:51):
Not as efficient, probably. Right, right.
Yeah. And but it's it's classic, you
know, my phone will go off the little Ding, Ding that.
We got an order in there, Bob, We got an order.
We got an order. You know, they're all fired up.
So it's exciting in that in thatway and we I just try to have
(37:11):
activities set up and ready to go for them when I am having to
step away and take care of the business stuff.
But I take care of a lot of it after they go to sleep or
during, you know, slower down times they're outside playing in
the backyard. I can bring my laptop out there
and work on stuff. And I feel fortunate that we're
(37:32):
able to that I am able to be there with them.
And so making it work. There's no where outside I'd
rather be with with my kids. We're starting to homeschool my
son this year. He'll be starting TK, which is
such a a funny thing. But and so we'll continue to
(37:53):
have him home that that's not going to change anytime.
What? Are you all going to do with the
homeschooling like he's like a specific curriculum?
Because Chris and I are going tobe doing that before long with
Rigel, and I'm trying to figure out what I want to do, how I
want to do it, all that good stuff.
Yeah, you know, it's, there's somany different ways that you can
go about it and so many options Now I think in San Diego County
(38:17):
there's like something like 20,000 families that are
homeschooling their kids. So, and there are a range of
ways to do it from putting your kids in like enrichment type
classes, doing that on one extreme and then the other
extreme being like the unschool method of just, you know, we are
(38:38):
learning what we do. And the way I have approached it
for, I guess preschool, we didn't really call it preschool,
but what we've done so far is just trying to find moments in
the day that we can learn, right.
So when he was really little andfor my younger daughter, we're
walking up stairs and we're counting 1234.
(38:59):
You know, we're counting the stairs and we're at the beach
and I say, hey, go find me 10 square rocks and 10 circle
rocks. And then we get all the rocks
together and we count them. And then if we take, if we add
these rocks with these rocks, how many rocks do we have?
And so my approach to it, and this may change, but has just
(39:21):
kind of been using our day-to-day life and even with
the business talking about moneyand different aspects of the
business, I talked to them aboutit.
They're super young and they probably don't understand the
thing and that I'm saying, but at some point I'm hope that they
are interested in it. And yeah, but there's a lot.
(39:42):
There's so much, there's a luckily so many resources now
because so many more people are doing it.
And it's kind of amazing. My Both my sisters have kiddos
and have homeschooled them and my nieces and nephews are
remarkable people and. Yeah, the best, hardest working
(40:02):
kids I've met as of late have all come from like homeschool
families, so it's OK. There's something to this for
sure. And it also allows you the
flexibility with your family too, which I think, you know,
our kids grow up so fast. We have a certain amount of time
to kind of be with them and be influential to them.
And I, I want that time and yeah, we'll see how it goes, but
(40:28):
that it's exciting. It's exciting to kind of be
going in that route. And I want to be able to do it
if I was working a more traditional full time job.
Totally. With them being three and four,
like do they have very differentinterests and like what they're
just drawn to naturally? Like what do they want to be
when they grow up? Like, like Rigel, he's all about
anything with wheels and engines, like tractors side by
(40:50):
side. Like that's, that's what he
lives and breathes. I don't know what Hayes is going
to be like because he's only a month old now.
But like with your two, do they have like definitive interest?
That's just stark contrast to one another.
Sort of. So my son is and you know, it
sounds quite a bit like Rigel, like typical traditional boy
(41:11):
things, right. So cars and trucks and going
fast and all of those things he is very into.
But my daughter being only 18 months younger, I see her
following him in those things. So it's cool that brother's
playing with his trucks and cars.
(41:32):
So I want to play with that as well.
But then she also has her, I want to dress up like a
Princess, you know, moments as well.
But it's cool that they are at in a phase now.
In the beginning, it was really challenging.
Newborn 18 months, she was stilla baby.
I felt like when I had her as a baby.
(41:53):
And and so it seems like they were in two totally different
phases of life. And now being 4 1/2 and three,
they, they are like buds. You know, they can, they, they
do things together. So I I see their interest more
aligned than different and they both love being on the water to
(42:17):
the beach, all of those things. But and I think my son is
definitely making my daughter tough because he is rough and
tumble as they get. So she is following suit.
Do they show any interest in like, you know, getting into
fishing and taking that over at some point?
Yeah, I, it's hard to tell if it's just cool because it's what
(42:41):
Dad does or if they really have an interest in it.
They both love fishing. We do a lot of fishing together
as a family and they love that. They love being on the boat,
They love being on the beach. They love everything, you know,
most things that we too are water centered, so in on around
(43:03):
the water. They love that.
And whether or not they'll go into it, I, I don't know.
I, I will see. And.
Yeah. Time will.
Tell. Exciting though, the world is
their oyster as they saying do anything that definitely y'all
based that up like where's the the boats not docked out of
season where y'all are at right?Or is it?
(43:24):
So, yeah, so we are, we live in San Diego, in California, and so
we keep the boat there during the year.
And then when he leaves, he fishes off of like Oregon,
Washington coast. So nice.
Yeah. During school, I used to live up
there. It's a, it's, it's pretty,
pretty country. It is.
(43:46):
It is. Yeah.
It's a we actually, we're visiting family.
We were visiting family in Idahoand he came in last week, I
think it was last week. And so I jammed over to the
coast with the kids and we got to see him for about 24 hours,
which was really cool. Is unexpected little treat for
(44:10):
us. Because normally when he's gone
for five months, like when they're getting supplies for 24
hours, like you don't typically get to see them during that
spin. Before we had kids, I would try
to come and I would just tag along right, like go to the
grocery store, go to offload, doall those things.
And he was busy running around. But I was, you know, we'd get a
meal together and be able to hang out for a little bit.
(44:32):
It was good enough. It was worth it.
And with the kids now it's a whole different, different fall
game. There's yeah.
And especially from San Diego, you know, it's a flight and it's
not just a flight. It's a flight and a car rental
and a three hour trip after the car rental for just such a short
amount of time. And my kids are button pushers.
(44:53):
So, you know, you let them on the boat.
They love being on the boat, butthey want to flip every switch
and they want to talk on every radio and all of the things
which we try to limit a little bit at least during the the
fishing season. How long does it take him to
leave port in San Diego and get to where he's fishing up in the
PNW? So I would say that time of year
(45:19):
the weather can be pretty trickyat some of the spots from San
Diego to the Oregon, Washington area with really bad weather.
So if there's no bad weather andhe can just go straight, I think
it's only about 5 days. The boat goes pretty slow and
you know, it's a big heavy steelboat, but it takes, I would
(45:42):
say typically about 7 days, fiveto seven days to get up there.
Where'd the name of the boat come from?
You know, the name of the boat is Pikey and it was the name of
the boat before we bought the boat in a kind of nautical, I
(46:03):
guess tradition. Changing the name of the boat is
bad luck and so that name was what it was.
JJ brought the boat from a really cool guy and and he was
not able to say where the name come from either.
So we don't know we. Don't know, I like it is a good
(46:25):
name. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Pikey, it's a yeah. How long have y'all had that
boat then? I believe 2013 is when that boat
was purchased. Yeah.
So a little over 10 years now. Wow.
Yeah. So with y'all having had the
boat that long and been fishing as long as you haven't just been
(46:47):
in that industry for as long as you have, but now having just
launched the business this year 2025, like what do you see
happening with it? What what's got you excited?
What? What's your blue sky thinking
trajectory of it all? I it's interesting you ask that
because I think traditionally and most people would say I want
(47:09):
to be in every Walmart, Target, Costco around.
I don't think that that's where this is going.
I hope to continue the direct toconsumer and I think that
getting into like specialty markets would be really neat.
Wineries are starting to carry different tinned fish.
(47:30):
And so I think that would be kind of a cool area to get into
like that and just kind of expanding maybe our product line
a little bit more and we have some ideas for that and just
getting the product out there tomore people and being able to
continue doing what we love and sharing our families kind of
(47:55):
life's work with with other people.
Yeah, I think I feel like when you're when you're creating
something of such high quality, something that's craft like,
like you are like getting into big box retail stores, like you
can't you miss the whole education component to the
consumer at that point. And that's for the same reason
we haven't gotten the bricks in the big bucks stores.
(48:16):
Like I've been approached by some of these stores like I've
intentionally moved away from itbecause it's like they're not
going to understand what it is they're getting.
And I would rather better serve the target demographic.
And I feel like there's definitely an audience for what
you offer. I mean, like I said, it's it's
delicious and being able to takethe regenerative agriculture
approach to the water, like it just makes it full spectrum.
(48:37):
So I think there's absolutely a need for it and certainly a
demand as well. Yeah.
And this is all, I mean, very new to us from the aspect of
starting a business, which I'm sure all people who start a
startup business know. It's been a learning curve from
so many different aspects, but really trying to keep a hold on
(49:03):
it too. You know, we're really proud of
the fact that we are a part of every step of it.
So, you know, from JJ catching the fish to bringing it in to
making sure where we're having it canned properly to then me
dealing with kind of the backside of things.
I imagine. And hopefully we do grow to a
(49:25):
point where we need some help from other people, but being
able to kind of keep a hand on all the things.
So we are ensuring that exceptional quality and being
able to provide something that is not you can't get on the
grocery store stuffs. I think it's way better that
way. Like I've done every part of our
business and we've got employeesdoing aspects of it now, but
(49:48):
it's like, I'm glad that I did everything because then I can
give them better direction. And we just have a like a
certain quality expectation thatwe don't deviate from as a
result of that. And like if you come in and hire
a bunch of people and then you just outsource everything and
you're removed from it all, likeyou're, you're blind to any
issues that arise and those often times become bigger
(50:09):
issues. So yeah, I think having your a
pulse on everything is is good. Yeah, it's really important.
And even from building the website and guy, I contemplated
should we hire someone to do this?
Should we, you know, collaboratewith, you know, maybe a
marketing firm or something to do this?
Like, no, we can do this, we cando this, and if we can't do it,
(50:32):
we'll take that step when we need to.
But let's try it. Let's you know we are not afraid
of hard work. This is ours.
This is our company. We want full ownership of it and
let's let's make a go of it. And, and it's really cool to be
able to kind of leverage not only J JS like expertise and
(50:55):
knowledge and everything he's learned up until this point in
his life on the water to producesomething.
But then I feel like I'm able tokind of, you know, I'm not
working as a nurse practitioner right now, but I'm able to use,
you know, my degree in nutrition.
And the experience with actual patients coming in and seeing
(51:16):
them and seeing where these kindof gaps and health and Wellness
are and kind of merging those two things and coming up with
something we're very proud of and proud to feed our family and
proud to share with other peopleis been very rewarding.
So it's super cool. Like I, I'm, I'm just amazed
(51:37):
I'm, I can talk business with you all day long, but I love
what you're doing and I think you're making a quality product
and you, you're all intertwined,interconnected and like he's
doubling down on his strengths and attributes and you're doing
the same on your end. And you're doing it in a way
that allows you to have a lifestyle at home with your kids
so that you're able to parent them and not ship them off to
someday care. So it's, it's cool.
(51:58):
And I think the business, both the fishing component of it and
like the, the business side of it, the administrative, the
marketing, all that, that'll be a good vehicle to teach your
kids lessons that they would never be able to pick up in a, a
public school setting. So I think they'll be way better
off for it as well. Yeah, yeah, I know.
I agree. And, and, and you know, at the
(52:19):
end of the day, we, we're a fishing family.
This is what we do. And we definitely saw a need for
this product and we're able, at least right now to make it work
with our family and hopefully can grow and survive and have a
(52:40):
kind of a when the fishing yearsare not as bountiful as other
years and be able to have this kind of in our back pocket as
well. So if you continue kind of doing
all of these things we like to do and yeah, it's exciting.
Totally, totally do you. I'm assuming you probably eat
(53:03):
seafood year round. I mean, you're on the coast.
I mean, it just makes sense, right?
We do. We eat and we're I guess
self-proclaimed kind of seafood snobs because we do have access
to so much of it and being in that industry of fishing for so
(53:25):
long, you know yourself what good fish is, what is not and
how to properly take care of allof the fish.
So for instance, when we are fishing just recreationally for
our family, we catch just enoughfor like 1 meal at a time and
we're able to do that because wehave so much access to it.
(53:49):
But it's great having this canned fish as well because it
as I mean, I can't really tell you how many times it is 5:00
and I'm like, holy smokes, I didn't pull any meat out for
dinner or what are we going to have for dinner?
And I will be able to open a canof tuna and do a tuna casserole
or tuna burgers. So my kids love tuna burgers.
(54:11):
Take about 5 minutes to put together in 3 minutes to cook.
When you when you pack it with it, you just do like beef and
the tuna together. No, I just do the tuna.
So I just do tuna and sometimes I'll use almond flour.
Sometimes I I like to make my own sourdough bread.
So sometimes I'll use like sourdough bread crumbs, mix in
(54:33):
with it with an egg and some seasonings and just kind of mash
it all up and cook it on each side for three minutes and it's
like a little tuna burger, little alacore tuna.
Burger. I'm going to try that.
I've been just eating it straight out of the can, but
that sounds delicious. Yeah.
And you know, because it's such high protein content, right?
There's 42 grams of protein in that little can for people
(54:56):
trying to meet those goals. And it's not exactly keto, but,
you know, you eat it with on avocado or put a little bit of
Mayo on there or something like that.
You can up the fat content in it.
But yeah, I know. And it's fun cooking with the
kids too, right? So they, they love it.
They, they can make their own tuna sandwich if they'd like it.
(55:19):
And yeah, it's been a little bitof a lifesaver for the not so
meal planning mom that, you know, I, I fall into that
category. Often times I get busy and it's
just something easy to grab for.But yeah, we eat a we eat a lot
of seafood and we love it and weknow what good seafood is.
(55:39):
And we wouldn't make something that we wouldn't eat.
Right, right. I love seafood.
I'm in Arkansas, so I'm not really coastal at all.
But my wife, and she is not a seafood snob at all.
She just doesn't eat fish. So I got to like, I don't know,
I got to figure out a way to make her like it because I want
(55:59):
to eat more of it and be easy. Try that tuna burger thing or
another thing that we really like and I can make it for
everyone is kind of like a tuna protein bowl.
So for the kids, I'll put rice in there and the tuna and like
shredded carrots or pickled onions.
My kids are pretty adventurous food eaters, but and, and, and
(56:22):
so we'll eat that and then mine,I'll add some like chili oil to
or, and make it spicy or I'll have it on lettuce instead of
the rice. And so, yeah, the, the, the like
protein bowls have been a big hit with them.
And I kind of mix it in sometimes.
But my daughter this morning, actually, she was refusing to
get dressed. She was saying, I want tuna, I
(56:44):
want tuna, I want tuna. She was carrying around a can of
tuna. True story.
And I'm like, get dressed 1st and I'll give you some tuna.
I want tuna first. I want tuna first.
I'm like, OK, I'm getting ready for this podcast.
Have the tuna. And she just sat there with a
fork and ate the tuna out of thecan.
And she did ask for onions. Halfway through.
(57:06):
She wanted some onions with her tuna.
Yeah. But anyways, it's I love that it
can be. She had it for breakfast this
morning. I don't know if I would
recommend it for breakfast, but it can be, you know, a
traditional tuna fish sandwich, tuna melt, or it can be turned
into a somewhat affordable, super high protein, packed with
(57:29):
nutrients, selenium, vitamin DB12, potassium, magnesium, all
of these amazing things that a lot of times they're turning to
supplements for. Omega threes are off the charts
in this fish. I think there's like 1500 to
2000 grams of Omega threes milligrams.
(57:51):
I'm sorry, Omega-3 in a can of tuna, a supplement, a
traditional omega-3 supplement is like 3 to 500 milligrams.
So you're hitting so many things.
But yeah, and, and there's a wayshe's going to like it.
Try the tuna burgers. Yeah, I'll try that for sure.
(58:12):
I mean, it's so cool. Like Rigel's the same way.
He'll wake up not wearing any clothes on, but he became around
a brick and then just being on on that all morning, no clothes
with a brick. But it's like, it's cool as
parents to see your kid like genuinely long for the thing
that you created. And it's OK if I get no
customers the rest of my life, but at least my kid loves it.
(58:33):
Like that's OK. Yeah, I know.
And and and you feel good, right?
It's not giving him opening up Fruit Loops or cornflakes or
whatever, like, you know that. OK, He's having a keto brick.
He's having. My kids love the keto bricks as
well, by the way. Yeah, yeah.
I had to start, like kind of putting them in smaller little
(58:55):
molds because they would just, yeah, gnaw on that thing.
And then I'd find it in the kitchen.
Somewhere you found some bricks in places where bricks shouldn't
be. Yeah.
Yep, me too. That's awesome.
Awesome. Well, very cool.
Jessica, what's the website for the the company?
Want people to go there and get some tuna?
(59:15):
Yeah, it's www.craftfishco.com and we actually want to offer
15% off for listeners with code SAVAGE.
Awesome. Awesome for people's first
there. Do you have to wait until he
comes back with more fish for inventory?
So we have somewhat limited inventory.
(59:36):
That's another thing we our small batch, you know, we can't
run these massive, massive orders at once and we are, yeah.
So we have the albacore in oliveoil right now.
Pretty soon we'll also have the just natural pack and the with
just the fish and just the salt available.
(59:59):
But yeah, I would say if if anyone's interested in getting
some sooner than later is probably better because
unfortunately our raw material is only available for very short
amount of time throughout the year.
So kind of forecasting that has been?
You know, we're, we're still getting used to that.
Yeah, Now that's awesome. I'm super excited for you.
(01:00:19):
There's all kinds of opportunityout there and you're doing it
right. So I'm 100% behind people that
are doing it the right way for the right reasons.
So keep doing what you're doing for sure, Jessica.
OK. Thank you so much.
Appreciate it. Thanks for having us on.
For sure, let's keep the conversation going.
If you ever need anything from me, don't hesitate to reach out.
OK, will do. Thanks so much.
You'll get like a lot of pushback on, you know, mercury
in the fish. They test the fish monthly for
mercury, for radiation and also for histamines.
And we're also catching all of our fish in like the cold N
Pacific off the North Pacific coast.
And there's different stocks of albacore tuna.
These specific tuna are in the colder water, which is lower
(00:23):
mercury levels to begin with. And so they are younger, mature
albacore. And so that helps with a lot of
the health benefits that you're actually a nutrition value that
you're getting from this fish. The level that the FDA sets is
below 1 parts per million and ours.
(00:47):
At the last report I looked at, ours tested at .11 parts per
million in the fish. And we're live.
Jessica, how you doing this fineday?
I'm doing awesome, thank you very much.
How about yourself? I'm doing wonderfully well.
So just to give the listeners some context how you and I got
connected here, you DM D me on Instagram, I believe, and you're
like, Hey, can we send you some of our tuna to try?
(01:10):
And to be honest with you, I have kind of had burnt myself
out on tuna for years with my like bro bodybuilding days
because I was living off of canned tuna in water, like star
kissed tuna and it's like I can do sardines.
I can rock cod liver, but I'm kind of burnt out on tuna.
But this this try it. You sent me some and it's
amazing. It's super tasty and delicious.
(01:31):
So I've been eating that on a daily basis here.
Good. I'm glad you like it.
Yeah, it's very different than kind of the chicken that see a
lot of the traditional canned albacore tunas that you see on
the shelf. So we're trying to do something
different with it for sure. And it is a when we give it to
people to taste, they're like, wow, this is not what I'm used
to. This is not the tune I grew up
(01:53):
on. And like your packaging is, is
legit. Like, it's all like that craft
packaging and it just looks verynice, very appealing.
Thank you. Thank you.
Yeah, trying to do something that represents the craft piece
of it and the hands on. I personally wrap all the cans
at this point and do all the packaging.
(02:13):
So thank you. Very cool.
So I, I perused on your Instagram after you sent the,
the tunics. I want to kind of learn more
about the business. This is honestly the the
catalyst for this call because y'all are definitely doing it
differently beyond just the packaging.
I mean y'all are out there like with the boat, catching the fish
with a line, not a net like doing it the right way
organically, which is just awesome.
(02:35):
So I want to hear all about that, like the business, the
lifestyle, like how does one getinto the world of commercial
fishing to begin with? OK, Yeah, My, I started kind of
in the fishing industry and while I was going to college, I
worked on sport fishing boats tokind of put my way through the
(02:55):
financial piece of it, put my way through college.
I fell in love with it. By the time I was getting ready
to graduate, I had enough time to get a captain's license, so I
went ahead and did that. I have 100 ton captain's license
and continued working on sport boats after I graduated as a
captain, loved it and decided towalk away from it.
(03:19):
My other passion is health and nutrition.
My undergraduate degree from CalPoly was in nutrition and kind
of trying to decide how it was going to incorporate that into
my profession. And so I became a nurse
practitioner and that's kind of my side of things.
(03:39):
My husband JJ, who I own the company with, he has been
fishing since forever. It's the only job he's ever had.
He started in the sport fishing industry until about 15 years
ago and then transferred over into the commercial fishing side
of things. And yeah, so we are a fishing
(04:02):
family. It's what we do now.
He J JS fishing season is from about.
He leaves in about June and comes back end of October ish.
So he's gone fishing for those five months out of the year.
And yeah, it's it's definitely adifferent lifestyle, but we are
(04:25):
trying to do something differentwith the brand.
Like you said, we we kind of think of it almost like the
regenerative farming or that that kind of movement on land is
what we're doing on on the ocean.
So JJ are and we own the boat that JJ fish is on his
(04:47):
commercial fishing boat and every single fish that we put
into 10s is caught by him. So in his group, he does have a
small group crew that he works with, but he runs the boat.
And so, yeah, having that transparency of this fish that
you're eating, you know the nameof your fisherman, you know
(05:10):
exactly where it came from, you know exactly how it was
processed is something was our goal with starting this company.
Yeah, super cool. I've been diving deep into the
regenerative agriculture stuff. Like I've had Will Harris on the
podcast, went to his farm and I've tried to eat everything
that I consume in my family, stuff that we've, you know,
sourced regeneratively and or harvested or raised ourselves.
(05:34):
And it only makes sense to the same thing with what you're
eating from the water. So I would assume that what
y'all are doing is a far cry from what the standard is for
sure. But like, are there any others
doing what you're doing or is itpretty much a total outlier?
Yeah, so there are other people fishing in the way we fish.
So we fish and everything. Each fish is caught one at a
(05:58):
time, so there's no Nets, nothing like that.
So every single fish is caught with a pole and a line or jig
fishing, which jig fishing is running lines behind the boat.
But still each fish is caught one at a time and they're hand
lined, pulled in. The fish is taken off the hook
and then move on to the next fish.
(06:21):
And so it is a lot different. You know, there's a lot of
different methods for fishing albacore, but there's so many
benefits to doing it the way we do from a sustainability aspect.
First of all, we have no by catch.
We're not disrupting rain ego environments, you know with the
(06:43):
dragging Nets or anything like that.
We are only catching what we intend to catch and we're also
able to kind of target fish the size that we want.
So the fish that we're catching are in this like 10 to £20
range. We don't keep anything smaller
than 10 lbs. And so they are younger, mature
(07:07):
albacore. And so that helps with a lot of
the health benefits that you're actually in nutrition value that
you're getting from this fish. So it's kind of twofold.
So the way we're doing it is better for the environment.
It is considered the most eco friendly way of fishing because
there is no other disruption to the environment or to other
(07:31):
species and the nutrition benefits also are far and above
the other ways. The other methods of fishing to
give you an example and another popular way that albacore are
caught is on long lines. And that's a little bit of a
(07:54):
confusing thing I think for consumers because they're
looking for maybe pole caught orpole and line caught and and
some tuna is advertised as line caught.
What you would think is the samething with a line, the fish is
caught, but this is, you know, maybe 50 miles, 40 miles worth
(08:16):
of a line in the water with 5000hooks on it coming off of it and
it kind of sits there for a period of time and then the line
is pulled up. Well, it's very non
discriminate. You might catch some alacore,
you might catch some other fish,you might have turtles, sharks,
other things that are also beingcaught on that line.
(08:37):
But it's still considered lying caught.
So it's not using a net. And so I think people sometimes
get that confused, even some of my own family members who I talk
about this all the time and we're surprised to hear that
line caught and pull line caughtare not the same thing.
So. I like the whole thing with
(08:57):
eggs, like eggs marketed in the grocery stores.
I mean you get like your free range eggs, you get your open,
right? Yeah.
You see cage tree and you're like, oh, that's fantastic.
They're not in cages. Well, that doesn't mean that
they're pasture raised it there's a lot of confusion with
that. What do y'all get like a lot of
(09:19):
pushback on, you know, mercury in the fish?
Like what? What's response to that?
Cause like when people think of tuna they automatically default
to mercury if they're in the know about nutrition at all.
Right, Yeah. And so Mercury, it's been pretty
heavily tested. And so our fish, we are part of
AFA, the American Owl Court Fishing Association, which is a
(09:41):
fantastic organization. And one of the things that they
do is they test the fish monthlyfor mercury, for radiation and
also for histamines. And because of the smaller fish,
and we're also catching all of our fish in like the cold N
Pacific off the North Pacific coast.
(10:04):
And there's different stocks of albacore tuna.
These specific tuna are in the colder water, which is lower
mercury levels to begin with. And then because we're catching
the fish smaller, what you have to worry about mostly with
mercury is bigger fish and albacore can grow to, you know,
50 lbs. We're getting them at a younger
(10:28):
or smaller size and they don't have that time to accumulate
mercury. The the level that the FDA sets
is below 1 parts per million andours, the last report I looked
at ours tested at .11 parts per million in the fish.
(10:52):
So the mercury level is very, very low, which actually is
lower than some of the other tunas that are out there sold as
little mercury tuna like a skipjack or a elephant tuna.
Sometimes those are considered lower mercury than albacore, but
the albacore that are being talked about mostly are these
(11:14):
larger albacore caught in other parts of the world, maybe warmer
waters. There is a brand and that says
that you know they're the lowestmercury out of any other brands
out there. And I think their level of
acceptable mercury is .38. And again, ours is testing about
(11:36):
.11. So I don't worry about the
mercury content for my kids, formy family.
And I think it's it's really not.
It should be a concern, but withthis specific method of catching
fish, the size of fish and wherethey're being caught.
And it really mitigates all of those.
(11:58):
I would assume your family eats quite a bit of the tuna you
catch, so y'all haven't turned into thermometers yet.
No, no, no, we're doing good. My kids are super healthy and
yeah, and they love it. We eat a lot of fish.
We we also, you know, eat other animals and stuff.
But like you said, we are prettyparticular about where we source
(12:20):
it from and between JJ does somehunting and then buying from the
local rancher. Nice, nice.
So like from a business standpoint, I mean, I guess I
mean the regenerative market hasgrown especially in the last
three years it seems. And they're like the direct to
consumer meat companies have kind of found a pathway going
(12:41):
direct to consumer as opposed togoing through the beef commodity
systems that have always been inplace.
Is it kind of like the same thing for the fishing industry?
Like are y'all able to have a a niche market for people that
want to source food doing what y'all are doing?
Or is it like just super cutthroat with all these big
fish fishing companies that are,you know, have the larger
volumes thing can drive down themargins?
(13:03):
Yeah, our margins are are prettysmall, but yeah, it is.
We know that there are people out there looking for this.
We are looking for this. This is what we look for in our
food. So we know there's a market for
it. I think one of the biggest
challenges is educating people on the differences and getting
(13:28):
through those kind of barriers. But we fish, that's what we do.
We, I think that J JS expertise in fishing has helped to kind of
steer us in the right direction.And we, yeah, I, I think a lot
(13:54):
of what drives down the price isa lot of fish is not caught in
US waters. So that's one thing a lot of
it's caught overseas and in using different methods, right.
So being able to harvest larger amounts and then we are fully
domestic supply chain. So our fish is caught here in
(14:15):
the United States, We have it canned here in the United States
and then it's all shipped and taken care of here.
And a majority of the fish, if not I, I don't know the exact
percentage, but I would bet to say 9597% of the fish that is
sold is canned in other countries.
(14:38):
So that can also lower the cost pretty drastically.
So coming up against that and trying to figure out how we can,
I mean, we know we also can't. It has to be affordable.
It has to be able to make sense for people.
And so that has kind of been inserting this business a little
(14:59):
bit of a challenge of not compromising on any of our
standards and not going to a less expensive cannery.
And the cannery we use as an artisanal cannery in Oregon.
And it's going to be more expensive than in Thailand or
(15:20):
some of these other places wherethe big companies are able to
are are getting their fish processed.
Yeah, it's tough when you're doing it all, but you can in
house. I mean, you're like I said,
packaging and shipping the orders yourself, but man, it's
like so much more fulfilling when you're doing something that
you know is making a difference and you can like see the fruits
(15:41):
of your labor unfold. I mean, like same thing with the
keto brick. Like we don't have very good
margins either, but I'm proud ofwhat we're putting out into the
world. And like that means something.
You know, I can go to sleep at night exhausted, but feel good
about how I live my day that day.
And I, I just love talking to other business owners that are
creating something that they, that they personally had a need
for, like to feed your own family.
(16:03):
And then just, yeah, I think, I think the cream always rise to
the top, as they say. And the margins may never be
there, but you'll have a demand from people that understand why
you're doing what you're doing and appreciate it and are
willing to pay for it. And hopefully that demographic
of people is always there to getthat quality.
Yeah. And you know, I think an
(16:23):
advantage that we do have is that we're hitting a lot of
marks that from a nutrition standpoint, from it being really
an easy kind of packable proteinthat you can take.
And there's it's so versatile, you can use it in so many
different ways. And then also the sustainability
(16:44):
piece of it. I think it's pretty amazing
where we're going as a country. I think a lot of people are
looking for more solutions to sustainable, whether it's
farming or fishing and the traceability.
People want to know where their food's coming from, at least a
certain population and trying towhich like you said about the
(17:05):
eggs, you can be attempting to do all these things, attempting
to buy the right things for yourfamily to find out, OK, tree
doesn't mean I've been spending an extra $3 on these eggs to get
pretty much the same thing. So it is a bit of education and
(17:27):
I don't think that there's many people doing what we're doing.
So it is kind of trying to go out there and spread the word.
Yeah, and you'll package it in, like, olive oil, too, so you're
not cutting corners there as well.
I mean, I was amazed at how manybecause I haven't bought tuna in
a long time because, like I said, I was burned out on it.
But I, out of curiosity, just was flipping over cans the other
day. And that's like an oddity these
(17:47):
days. Like most of them are packaged
in soybean oil. And it's like, why?
Why? Why?
Why? Right.
Yeah. And so we also what the the some
of the fish we're getting processed right now, we'll be
doing it at just albacore. So just the fish, no water
added. There is a lot of soybean oil
(18:07):
added to a lot of these fish notin ours.
We have nothing added to it. And then just the fish and the
salt. And one thing that makes it us
able to do that is most canned albacore comes into a processing
facility. The entire fish is cooked skin
(18:31):
on everything it's cooked, it's taken out of whatever they cook
it in. They fillet it, they cut it into
chunks, they put it into your can and then your can is cooked
right to get the to make it a canned fish.
Our process is very different. The fish is filleted before it's
cooked and so that filet, it's hand, it's hand cut.
(18:56):
There's a person with a knife ona cutting board cutting that
fish, cutting it into flay. So that whole steak is going
into the can and then one time is getting cooked.
So all of the natural oils and omega-3 fatty acids and all of
those, the high nutrient contentis depleted a lot of times by
(19:18):
cooking it twice where our fish is only cooked once.
That makes a big difference. A lot of times if you cook the
fish 1st and then you're cookingit a second time, you need to
add broth or these other things to make it palatable.
Our fish is just cooked once. So it is, you know, it maintains
(19:40):
that high nutrient density that it, you know, as eating it fresh
and, and that's another reason. And we do use the olive oil as
kind of our premium product. And I don't know if you've tried
it just plain or what you've been doing with it, but you
know, we love to just open it upand have it on crackers just
(20:03):
like that or just plain or it istender and has enough flavor and
not dry to just put it on a salad or put it, you know, add
it to whatever you going to add protein to.
Yeah, would definitely taste better.
I mean, there's like a notable difference in taste from that
and other cans of tuna. So you're doing something right
(20:25):
for sure. What what does the I actually
just watched Captains courageousthe other day with my three-year
old son. The the old captain's
courageous. He was he was digging in.
So what is a a day in the life of being on the water fishing
for five months look like like when he leaves.
When when did y'all start the business?
(20:47):
We, so just this year is when we've actually started like
launched our website and we've been canning it for a while and
just kind of friends and family and everyone's been pushing us.
You need to sell this. Where could I get more?
When can I get more? Oh, we don't have any more.
So everyone's kind of been pushing us, but we just actually
(21:09):
launched our website a couple ofmonths ago.
So it's very new. Exciting, very cool.
So he he takes off, you said in March.
He's taking it in June. Sometime in June, yeah.
And then what? What does that look like?
Like he's on the water for five months straight?
Like what does a day-to-day in the life of commercial fishermen
(21:29):
look like? So he, it, it kind of fluctuates
throughout the season, but he comes in about every, he
provisions the boat for about 30days.
So before the boat leaves, it's basically packed, you know,
going grocery shopping and eating all of those things to
(21:51):
get provisions for the boat. All the supplies are going to
need for about 30 days at sea and about every, depending on
how fishing is, some trips couldbe as short as like 2 weeks.
So sometime between two weeks and 30 days he will come into
port and offload his fish and get groceries, reprovision, get
(22:14):
fuel, all of those things. So he's not out out for the five
months. But again, those trips in the
port are just 24 hours or so, asfast as he can get fish off the
boat and get back out there day-to-day, I would say.
And in the Pacific Northwest, days are really long in the
(22:37):
summer. And so I think they're getting
up around 4430 and kind of goingthrough their morning routine,
making sure temperatures, right.And the boat is AFDA regulated
facility as well. So there's a lot that has to
happen in take making sure temperature and of the fish and
(23:01):
everything is on par. So they kind of go through that
routine in the morning and as soon as it starts cracking Gray,
they have jigs out in the water.They're they're fishing.
And so JJ uses different methodsfrom water charts to binoculars,
(23:23):
everything in his power to and just kind of that 40 years of
knowledge on and to figure out where he can be in best position
to capitalize on the day. And so he has a crew down there.
And so they will be jig fishing,they're catching fish, they're
(23:43):
pulling them in one at a time. At some point, some guy makes
breakfast, they eat and and that's kind of it.
They go through the whole day, they catch fish, they process
and they're getting them into their hold, their fish hold,
which is recirculating refrigerated seawater.
(24:04):
So the fish are down to six degrees.
So they're frozen on the boat. Also really great for keeping in
that freshness and all the nutrients.
And I would say depending again on the day, he probably goes
down maybe about 11 O clock at night, long day.
(24:25):
There are long days, there are long days and there are seven
days a week for five months. Wow.
Yeah. So.
It's and they're, they're putting a whole fish in the fish
hold or they're filleting it, OK, whole fish in the fish hold.
And would it be an FDA like is it like an FDA Rep on board the
whole time or how does that work?
There's not one on board, but they are audited by NOAA, the
(24:48):
Fishing Regularly Regulatory Board and in the United States.
So they have an on board inspection every year and then
daily they have to fill out logssaying they have to I think do
the temperature of the fish two or three times a day.
And then everything else from cleanliness like crew
(25:08):
cleanliness and the the working environment to make sure that
it's all up to par, that nothingis getting contaminated.
Yeah. So what is a really solid day of
fishing like? How many fish are brought in on
like a really good day? So it depends and there's two
different kind of phases, parts of the season and one is the jig
(25:31):
fishing. And so that is trolling a couple
lines behind the boat and you know, you catch your fish and
it's brought in. I would say a really good troll
fishing day, jig fishing days, maybe like 600 fish.
It's. A lot of fish.
It's a lot of fish, especially when you're doing it, you know,
hand over hand, one at a time. And then the other part is kind
(25:55):
of this centuries that they've been practicing this lift pole,
which is like a 9 or 10 foot pole with a 7 foot leader on the
end of it and then a hook that kind of looks like an L And they
use that. They're in a rack outside of the
boat. It's a little tricky to explain,
(26:15):
but outside of the boat. And so they're kind of standing
in the water and they use these lift poles, dip it in the water
and pull out of fish at a time, one at a time.
And those they can catch when it's really good.
They have a guy chumming the water with anchovies when it's
really good. I don't know what his best day
(26:37):
has been, but it's probably close to 1000.
Wow, I bet everybody on that crew is jacked reeling all those
fish in. Yeah, yeah.
It's interesting to see them because when he's getting ready
before the season, you know, thecrew's on the boat working,
getting ready to take off. It's always really interesting
for me to see the transformationfrom the beginning of the season
(26:57):
to the end of the season. Yeah, they they work very, very
hard and and it is, you know it.It is the the hard part about
it, like farming and so many other things is there, there's
no guarantee. So JJ leaves in June and, you
(27:20):
know, there's a lot of a lot of factors that go into fishing and
making a living Fishing and commercial fishermen don't have
the luxury of a, you know, it, it's, it balances, right?
Josie loves what he does, but there are some drawbacks to it
(27:40):
of there's no guarantee of income and there's a lot of risk
going up. So paying for a crew, paying to
provision the boat, paying for diesel, paying for, you know,
for fuel for the boat, all of these things which, you know,
some seasons it's fantastic and some seasons not so much.
(28:04):
So it's definitely he, JJ does areally great job of trying to
capitalize on the time he has. So those long days are kind of
what you have to do to be in theright place at the right time.
Can't catch fish on the dock? That's true, that's true.
When y'all pull the trigger and bought your own boat, was that
(28:26):
like a super scary moment? It's like, OK, we really hoping
for the best on this one. Yeah.
You know JJ has been has owned and he owned 2 sport boats
before this like commercial care, I'm sorry passenger
carrying boats. And so he had this is before him
and I were together. And so he, I think had that kind
(28:51):
of down and buying the commercial fishing boat.
Yeah, it was a little bit of a definitely career pivot for him.
But he had been in the sport fishing industry for so long.
I think he was ready for a new challenge, a new way and being
able to work hard and see the results of working hard.
(29:14):
Yeah, the the more fish you catch, the more money you're
going to make. And I think that that was really
attracted to him. But yeah, it's a boat.
Payment is a big a big one. How, how do you define sport
fish? And that is people coming in
wanting to fish on the blue water and just hiring y'all to
take them out. Or what's that look like?
Right. So sport fishing would be
anything for it like recreational.
(29:36):
So for instance, the last boat that JJ sport fishing boat that
he owned was a 65 foot boat and that carried, oh man, I'm trying
to remember now, I believe 24 passengers.
And so he would do anywhere fromtwo days to 8 day trips with
(29:57):
these passengers. So they would load on and he
would take, you know, anywhere from 16 to 22 people out fishing
for five days and and yeah, or, and then two day trips and so on
and so on. But any sport fishing would be
anything that he was the captainof the boat and he was taking
(30:17):
passengers out to catch fish. And there's a lot of regulations
and you know the amount you can catch and all of those rules
apply. Got you for that.
What's from a family dynamic standpoint, What is what is that
like in Yale's household with him being gone five months?
You got two kids, right? Yeah, we have two kids.
(30:38):
It's tricky. It how?
Old are the kids. My, my youngest just turned 3
two weeks ago and then I have a four year old.
So they're very close and they're little and, and it, it's
been changing. So in the beginning I think it
(30:59):
was hard because they were so little.
And for instance, when my daughter was born, JJ came home
for like 3 days. He actually happened to be there
when I went into labor, which was amazing.
So he was able to be there when our daughter was born, but he
had to go back to work immediately after that because
it was in the middle of fishing.It was July when she was born.
(31:19):
So then I had a 18 month old anda newborn, which was which.
It was very hard. And then as they got older, I
think in the beginning it was kind of like mom's the primary
caretaker anyways, not that where's Dad, but I think it was
(31:40):
not as big of a deal where this year our four year old boy was
like dad's going where, for how long?
And so that's hard. It makes it challenging for
them, but I have some help from family.
I family doesn't live near, but my mom will fly down and help
stay with me here and there and I try to visit family as well.
(32:06):
So, yeah, I mean, we're fortunate that I am able to stay
home with the kids and kind of work on the business at the same
time. And then our winters are very
fun because we're going to be asfamily and do a lot of
adventuring together, the four of us.
So does he have much work to do during the winter months or is
(32:29):
he able to be pretty much 100% there with y'all throughout the
other months of the year? I would say it's not 100%, but
it's pretty close. We have a lot of flexibility, so
he might have to go down to the boat for, you know, 3 hours one
day, but he can do that whenever.
So if we are, you know, if we want to go on a trip or we want
(32:51):
to do something else, we spend alot of time in Baja, Mexico down
there. So we're kind of able to, he
does have to work, but again, being that's like the great
benefit of being your own boss, right?
So he during those months, he can go in and come home or he we
can schedule it or we can go down there with him too, which
(33:13):
is it's kind of fun to do, yeah.I mean, we just had our second
kiddo and like I'm at at the office all the time, so
Crystal's wrangling both of themnon-stop.
And yeah, like she's whooped by the end of the day.
So the fact that you got to do it for five months at a time
like that is commendable for sure.
(33:34):
Yeah, it's a lot. And I it's definitely a
lifestyle choice, that is for sure.
We try to make the most of it bybeing really intentional with
our time when he is home. But it is a sacrifice that we
all kind of make to make it workfor our family.
You know, we had kids, it was really important that we were
(33:57):
raising them. And so prior to this, I was
working as a nurse practitioner and I couldn't continue to do
that in a full time capacity with having these little guys at
home, especially when dad's gonefive months out of the year.
But yeah, I know it's a lot. It's we, we try to it.
(34:20):
It also has its benefits, right?So before he leaves, it's like,
oh, we have to, you're leaving in a month.
We have to try to take advantageof every single day and every
single moment we have and let's do these fun things or let's
just hang out as a family and let's try to really soak up this
time. And then he's gone.
It's like, Oh my gosh, we miss each other so much and the kids
miss you and but we make it work.
(34:42):
And then when he comes home, it's like, hurray, you're home.
We can all, you know, go back tonormal.
And it's very exciting. So it kind of keeps it always a
little bit exciting for us. Yeah, I think, I think living on
the extremes and having those like deeper emotions is way
better than just having like an even keel, like kind of normal
(35:03):
drab life. I mean, I would think that
that's that's how we've approached things and I can't
imagine doing it any other way. Yeah, you know, I am.
I guess we're kind of in the middle of it now and you know
it. It is, I think as mom anyways,
you're on as a dad as well, but especially for moms in those
(35:24):
younger years, you're on 24/7. But not having your partner
there can make things a little bit more challenging.
And so when I start feeling thatway, I try to remember, you
know, if he had a more traditional job where he was
gone 8 hours a day and we just had the evenings, would I trade
that for these like fantastic month months we have when he is
(35:47):
home? So, you know, it's, it's, it's
an interesting trade off, but heloves what he does, the fishing
aspect of it. I think it's really hard for him
being away from our family as well, but being able to support
him in that career and then me being able to raise our kids and
(36:07):
do that while he's gone, It's been really critical for us.
And so we're trying to make it work and all those aspects.
What's it like raising the kids?Because you're not doing the
nurse practitioner on site anymore, so you're building the
business, launched the website earlier this year, rocking that
marketing, all that good stuff, packaging all the orders.
Now you've got the two kids. Like how does your day look on a
(36:29):
day-to-day basis now? I am everyday is different we
but I would say they are try to help as much as they can and and
I don't know if that is making it more challenging or less
challenging in the long run you're.
(36:51):
Not as efficient, probably. Right, right.
Yeah. And but it's it's classic, you
know, my phone will go off the little Ding, Ding that.
We got an order in there, Bob, We got an order.
We got an order. You know, they're all fired up.
So it's exciting in that in thatway and we I just try to have
(37:11):
activities set up and ready to go for them when I am having to
step away and take care of the business stuff.
But I take care of a lot of it after they go to sleep or
during, you know, slower down times they're outside playing in
the backyard. I can bring my laptop out there
and work on stuff. And I feel fortunate that we're
(37:32):
able to that I am able to be there with them.
And so making it work. There's no where outside I'd
rather be with with my kids. We're starting to homeschool my
son this year. He'll be starting TK, which is
such a a funny thing. But and so we'll continue to
(37:53):
have him home that that's not going to change anytime.
What? Are you all going to do with the
homeschooling like he's like a specific curriculum?
Because Chris and I are going tobe doing that before long with
Rigel, and I'm trying to figure out what I want to do, how I
want to do it, all that good stuff.
Yeah, you know, it's, there's somany different ways that you can
go about it and so many options Now I think in San Diego County
(38:17):
there's like something like 20,000 families that are
homeschooling their kids. So, and there are a range of
ways to do it from putting your kids in like enrichment type
classes, doing that on one extreme and then the other
extreme being like the unschool method of just, you know, we are
(38:38):
learning what we do. And the way I have approached it
for, I guess preschool, we didn't really call it preschool,
but what we've done so far is just trying to find moments in
the day that we can learn, right.
So when he was really little andfor my younger daughter, we're
walking up stairs and we're counting 1234.
(38:59):
You know, we're counting the stairs and we're at the beach
and I say, hey, go find me 10 square rocks and 10 circle
rocks. And then we get all the rocks
together and we count them. And then if we take, if we add
these rocks with these rocks, how many rocks do we have?
And so my approach to it, and this may change, but has just
(39:21):
kind of been using our day-to-day life and even with
the business talking about moneyand different aspects of the
business, I talked to them aboutit.
They're super young and they probably don't understand the
thing and that I'm saying, but at some point I'm hope that they
are interested in it. And yeah, but there's a lot.
(39:42):
There's so much, there's a luckily so many resources now
because so many more people are doing it.
And it's kind of amazing. My Both my sisters have kiddos
and have homeschooled them and my nieces and nephews are
remarkable people and. Yeah, the best, hardest working
(40:02):
kids I've met as of late have all come from like homeschool
families, so it's OK. There's something to this for
sure. And it also allows you the
flexibility with your family too, which I think, you know,
our kids grow up so fast. We have a certain amount of time
to kind of be with them and be influential to them.
And I, I want that time and yeah, we'll see how it goes, but
(40:28):
that it's exciting. It's exciting to kind of be
going in that route. And I want to be able to do it
if I was working a more traditional full time job.
Totally. With them being three and four,
like do they have very differentinterests and like what they're
just drawn to naturally? Like what do they want to be
when they grow up? Like, like Rigel, he's all about
anything with wheels and engines, like tractors side by
(40:50):
side. Like that's, that's what he
lives and breathes. I don't know what Hayes is going
to be like because he's only a month old now.
But like with your two, do they have like definitive interest?
That's just stark contrast to one another.
Sort of. So my son is and you know, it
sounds quite a bit like Rigel, like typical traditional boy
(41:11):
things, right. So cars and trucks and going
fast and all of those things he is very into.
But my daughter being only 18 months younger, I see her
following him in those things. So it's cool that brother's
playing with his trucks and cars.
(41:32):
So I want to play with that as well.
But then she also has her, I want to dress up like a
Princess, you know, moments as well.
But it's cool that they are at in a phase now.
In the beginning, it was really challenging.
Newborn 18 months, she was stilla baby.
I felt like when I had her as a baby.
(41:53):
And and so it seems like they were in two totally different
phases of life. And now being 4 1/2 and three,
they, they are like buds. You know, they can, they, they
do things together. So I I see their interest more
aligned than different and they both love being on the water to
(42:17):
the beach, all of those things. But and I think my son is
definitely making my daughter tough because he is rough and
tumble as they get. So she is following suit.
Do they show any interest in like, you know, getting into
fishing and taking that over at some point?
Yeah, I, it's hard to tell if it's just cool because it's what
(42:41):
Dad does or if they really have an interest in it.
They both love fishing. We do a lot of fishing together
as a family and they love that. They love being on the boat,
They love being on the beach. They love everything, you know,
most things that we too are water centered, so in on around
(43:03):
the water. They love that.
And whether or not they'll go into it, I, I don't know.
I, I will see. And.
Yeah. Time will.
Tell. Exciting though, the world is
their oyster as they saying do anything that definitely y'all
based that up like where's the the boats not docked out of
season where y'all are at right?Or is it?
(43:24):
So, yeah, so we are, we live in San Diego, in California, and so
we keep the boat there during the year.
And then when he leaves, he fishes off of like Oregon,
Washington coast. So nice.
Yeah. During school, I used to live up
there. It's a, it's, it's pretty,
pretty country. It is.
(43:46):
It is. Yeah.
It's a we actually, we're visiting family.
We were visiting family in Idahoand he came in last week, I
think it was last week. And so I jammed over to the
coast with the kids and we got to see him for about 24 hours,
which was really cool. Is unexpected little treat for
(44:10):
us. Because normally when he's gone
for five months, like when they're getting supplies for 24
hours, like you don't typically get to see them during that
spin. Before we had kids, I would try
to come and I would just tag along right, like go to the
grocery store, go to offload, doall those things.
And he was busy running around. But I was, you know, we'd get a
meal together and be able to hang out for a little bit.
(44:32):
It was good enough. It was worth it.
And with the kids now it's a whole different, different fall
game. There's yeah.
And especially from San Diego, you know, it's a flight and it's
not just a flight. It's a flight and a car rental
and a three hour trip after the car rental for just such a short
amount of time. And my kids are button pushers.
(44:53):
So, you know, you let them on the boat.
They love being on the boat, butthey want to flip every switch
and they want to talk on every radio and all of the things
which we try to limit a little bit at least during the the
fishing season. How long does it take him to
leave port in San Diego and get to where he's fishing up in the
PNW? So I would say that time of year
(45:19):
the weather can be pretty trickyat some of the spots from San
Diego to the Oregon, Washington area with really bad weather.
So if there's no bad weather andhe can just go straight, I think
it's only about 5 days. The boat goes pretty slow and
you know, it's a big heavy steelboat, but it takes, I would
(45:42):
say typically about 7 days, fiveto seven days to get up there.
Where'd the name of the boat come from?
You know, the name of the boat is Pikey and it was the name of
the boat before we bought the boat in a kind of nautical, I
(46:03):
guess tradition. Changing the name of the boat is
bad luck and so that name was what it was.
JJ brought the boat from a really cool guy and and he was
not able to say where the name come from either.
So we don't know we. Don't know, I like it is a good
(46:25):
name. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Pikey, it's a yeah. How long have y'all had that
boat then? I believe 2013 is when that boat
was purchased. Yeah.
So a little over 10 years now. Wow.
Yeah. So with y'all having had the
boat that long and been fishing as long as you haven't just been
(46:47):
in that industry for as long as you have, but now having just
launched the business this year 2025, like what do you see
happening with it? What what's got you excited?
What? What's your blue sky thinking
trajectory of it all? I it's interesting you ask that
because I think traditionally and most people would say I want
(47:09):
to be in every Walmart, Target, Costco around.
I don't think that that's where this is going.
I hope to continue the direct toconsumer and I think that
getting into like specialty markets would be really neat.
Wineries are starting to carry different tinned fish.
(47:30):
And so I think that would be kind of a cool area to get into
like that and just kind of expanding maybe our product line
a little bit more and we have some ideas for that and just
getting the product out there tomore people and being able to
continue doing what we love and sharing our families kind of
(47:55):
life's work with with other people.
Yeah, I think I feel like when you're when you're creating
something of such high quality, something that's craft like,
like you are like getting into big box retail stores, like you
can't you miss the whole education component to the
consumer at that point. And that's for the same reason
we haven't gotten the bricks in the big bucks stores.
(48:16):
Like I've been approached by some of these stores like I've
intentionally moved away from itbecause it's like they're not
going to understand what it is they're getting.
And I would rather better serve the target demographic.
And I feel like there's definitely an audience for what
you offer. I mean, like I said, it's it's
delicious and being able to takethe regenerative agriculture
approach to the water, like it just makes it full spectrum.
(48:37):
So I think there's absolutely a need for it and certainly a
demand as well. Yeah.
And this is all, I mean, very new to us from the aspect of
starting a business, which I'm sure all people who start a
startup business know. It's been a learning curve from
so many different aspects, but really trying to keep a hold on
(49:03):
it too. You know, we're really proud of
the fact that we are a part of every step of it.
So, you know, from JJ catching the fish to bringing it in to
making sure where we're having it canned properly to then me
dealing with kind of the backside of things.
I imagine. And hopefully we do grow to a
(49:25):
point where we need some help from other people, but being
able to kind of keep a hand on all the things.
So we are ensuring that exceptional quality and being
able to provide something that is not you can't get on the
grocery store stuffs. I think it's way better that
way. Like I've done every part of our
business and we've got employeesdoing aspects of it now, but
(49:48):
it's like, I'm glad that I did everything because then I can
give them better direction. And we just have a like a
certain quality expectation thatwe don't deviate from as a
result of that. And like if you come in and hire
a bunch of people and then you just outsource everything and
you're removed from it all, likeyou're, you're blind to any
issues that arise and those often times become bigger
(50:09):
issues. So yeah, I think having your a
pulse on everything is is good. Yeah, it's really important.
And even from building the website and guy, I contemplated
should we hire someone to do this?
Should we, you know, collaboratewith, you know, maybe a
marketing firm or something to do this?
Like, no, we can do this, we cando this, and if we can't do it,
(50:32):
we'll take that step when we need to.
But let's try it. Let's you know we are not afraid
of hard work. This is ours.
This is our company. We want full ownership of it and
let's let's make a go of it. And, and it's really cool to be
able to kind of leverage not only J JS like expertise and
(50:55):
knowledge and everything he's learned up until this point in
his life on the water to producesomething.
But then I feel like I'm able tokind of, you know, I'm not
working as a nurse practitioner right now, but I'm able to use,
you know, my degree in nutrition.
And the experience with actual patients coming in and seeing
(51:16):
them and seeing where these kindof gaps and health and Wellness
are and kind of merging those two things and coming up with
something we're very proud of and proud to feed our family and
proud to share with other peopleis been very rewarding.
So it's super cool. Like I, I'm, I'm just amazed
(51:37):
I'm, I can talk business with you all day long, but I love
what you're doing and I think you're making a quality product
and you, you're all intertwined,interconnected and like he's
doubling down on his strengths and attributes and you're doing
the same on your end. And you're doing it in a way
that allows you to have a lifestyle at home with your kids
so that you're able to parent them and not ship them off to
someday care. So it's, it's cool.
(51:58):
And I think the business, both the fishing component of it and
like the, the business side of it, the administrative, the
marketing, all that, that'll be a good vehicle to teach your
kids lessons that they would never be able to pick up in a, a
public school setting. So I think they'll be way better
off for it as well. Yeah, yeah, I know.
I agree. And, and, and you know, at the
(52:19):
end of the day, we, we're a fishing family.
This is what we do. And we definitely saw a need for
this product and we're able, at least right now to make it work
with our family and hopefully can grow and survive and have a
(52:40):
kind of a when the fishing yearsare not as bountiful as other
years and be able to have this kind of in our back pocket as
well. So if you continue kind of doing
all of these things we like to do and yeah, it's exciting.
Totally, totally do you. I'm assuming you probably eat
(53:03):
seafood year round. I mean, you're on the coast.
I mean, it just makes sense, right?
We do. We eat and we're I guess
self-proclaimed kind of seafood snobs because we do have access
to so much of it and being in that industry of fishing for so
(53:25):
long, you know yourself what good fish is, what is not and
how to properly take care of allof the fish.
So for instance, when we are fishing just recreationally for
our family, we catch just enoughfor like 1 meal at a time and
we're able to do that because wehave so much access to it.
(53:49):
But it's great having this canned fish as well because it
as I mean, I can't really tell you how many times it is 5:00
and I'm like, holy smokes, I didn't pull any meat out for
dinner or what are we going to have for dinner?
And I will be able to open a canof tuna and do a tuna casserole
or tuna burgers. So my kids love tuna burgers.
(54:11):
Take about 5 minutes to put together in 3 minutes to cook.
When you when you pack it with it, you just do like beef and
the tuna together. No, I just do the tuna.
So I just do tuna and sometimes I'll use almond flour.
Sometimes I I like to make my own sourdough bread.
So sometimes I'll use like sourdough bread crumbs, mix in
(54:33):
with it with an egg and some seasonings and just kind of mash
it all up and cook it on each side for three minutes and it's
like a little tuna burger, little alacore tuna.
Burger. I'm going to try that.
I've been just eating it straight out of the can, but
that sounds delicious. Yeah.
And you know, because it's such high protein content, right?
There's 42 grams of protein in that little can for people
(54:56):
trying to meet those goals. And it's not exactly keto, but,
you know, you eat it with on avocado or put a little bit of
Mayo on there or something like that.
You can up the fat content in it.
But yeah, I know. And it's fun cooking with the
kids too, right? So they, they love it.
They, they can make their own tuna sandwich if they'd like it.
(55:19):
And yeah, it's been a little bitof a lifesaver for the not so
meal planning mom that, you know, I, I fall into that
category. Often times I get busy and it's
just something easy to grab for.But yeah, we eat a we eat a lot
of seafood and we love it and weknow what good seafood is.
(55:39):
And we wouldn't make something that we wouldn't eat.
Right, right. I love seafood.
I'm in Arkansas, so I'm not really coastal at all.
But my wife, and she is not a seafood snob at all.
She just doesn't eat fish. So I got to like, I don't know,
I got to figure out a way to make her like it because I want
(55:59):
to eat more of it and be easy. Try that tuna burger thing or
another thing that we really like and I can make it for
everyone is kind of like a tuna protein bowl.
So for the kids, I'll put rice in there and the tuna and like
shredded carrots or pickled onions.
My kids are pretty adventurous food eaters, but and, and, and
(56:22):
so we'll eat that and then mine,I'll add some like chili oil to
or, and make it spicy or I'll have it on lettuce instead of
the rice. And so, yeah, the, the, the like
protein bowls have been a big hit with them.
And I kind of mix it in sometimes.
But my daughter this morning, actually, she was refusing to
get dressed. She was saying, I want tuna, I
(56:44):
want tuna, I want tuna. She was carrying around a can of
tuna. True story.
And I'm like, get dressed 1st and I'll give you some tuna.
I want tuna first. I want tuna first.
I'm like, OK, I'm getting ready for this podcast.
Have the tuna. And she just sat there with a
fork and ate the tuna out of thecan.
And she did ask for onions. Halfway through.
(57:06):
She wanted some onions with her tuna.
Yeah. But anyways, it's I love that it
can be. She had it for breakfast this
morning. I don't know if I would
recommend it for breakfast, but it can be, you know, a
traditional tuna fish sandwich, tuna melt, or it can be turned
into a somewhat affordable, super high protein, packed with
(57:29):
nutrients, selenium, vitamin DB12, potassium, magnesium, all
of these amazing things that a lot of times they're turning to
supplements for. Omega threes are off the charts
in this fish. I think there's like 1500 to
2000 grams of Omega threes milligrams.
(57:51):
I'm sorry, Omega-3 in a can of tuna, a supplement, a
traditional omega-3 supplement is like 3 to 500 milligrams.
So you're hitting so many things.
But yeah, and, and there's a wayshe's going to like it.
Try the tuna burgers. Yeah, I'll try that for sure.
(58:12):
I mean, it's so cool. Like Rigel's the same way.
He'll wake up not wearing any clothes on, but he became around
a brick and then just being on on that all morning, no clothes
with a brick. But it's like, it's cool as
parents to see your kid like genuinely long for the thing
that you created. And it's OK if I get no
customers the rest of my life, but at least my kid loves it.
(58:33):
Like that's OK. Yeah, I know.
And and and you feel good, right?
It's not giving him opening up Fruit Loops or cornflakes or
whatever, like, you know that. OK, He's having a keto brick.
He's having. My kids love the keto bricks as
well, by the way. Yeah, yeah.
I had to start, like kind of putting them in smaller little
(58:55):
molds because they would just, yeah, gnaw on that thing.
And then I'd find it in the kitchen.
Somewhere you found some bricks in places where bricks shouldn't
be. Yeah.
Yep, me too. That's awesome.
Awesome. Well, very cool.
Jessica, what's the website for the the company?
Want people to go there and get some tuna?
(59:15):
Yeah, it's www.craftfishco.com and we actually want to offer
15% off for listeners with code SAVAGE.
Awesome. Awesome for people's first
there. Do you have to wait until he
comes back with more fish for inventory?
So we have somewhat limited inventory.
(59:36):
That's another thing we our small batch, you know, we can't
run these massive, massive orders at once and we are, yeah.
So we have the albacore in oliveoil right now.
Pretty soon we'll also have the just natural pack and the with
just the fish and just the salt available.
(59:59):
But yeah, I would say if if anyone's interested in getting
some sooner than later is probably better because
unfortunately our raw material is only available for very short
amount of time throughout the year.
So kind of forecasting that has been?
You know, we're, we're still getting used to that.
Yeah, Now that's awesome. I'm super excited for you.
(01:00:19):
There's all kinds of opportunityout there and you're doing it
right. So I'm 100% behind people that
are doing it the right way for the right reasons.
So keep doing what you're doing for sure, Jessica.
OK. Thank you so much.
Appreciate it. Thanks for having us on.
For sure, let's keep the conversation going.
If you ever need anything from me, don't hesitate to reach out.
OK, will do. Thanks so much.
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