Connection Over Convenience
Coast to Coast Salmon is led by John and Courtney Sidik, partners in life both on land and at sea. On land, Maine is home. At sea, we are privileged to participate in the largest sustainable salmon fishery in the world in Bristol Bay, Alaska! The 2025 season will mark John’s seventh and Courtney’s second season commercially set netting of what they hope to be many more, so long as the fish return in abundance and their bodies will allow.
For us, salmon fishing is more than a job, it’s a way of life that imparts invaluable lessons and guides us towards a more harmonious relationship with nature and our food. We started Coast to Coast salmon to connect Maine with a fishery and fishermen they can trust, and to promote sustainably sourced wild protein!
Where it all started! Our first fish caught for Coast to Coast salmon.
Every spring we set out for Southwest Alaska, destination Dillingham, usually in our homemade Tacoma pop-up camper with our two pups Porter and Goose, in tow. We cross countries and borders and cap off the journey in a 9-seater plane because no roads lead to Dillingham AK! By the end of our journey our pups are more excited to get there than we are.
Between June and July, we commercially set net with the Crimp family and friends crew, who have two generations and over 50 years of dedicated salmon fishing experience collectively on the crew (not all featured in photo!). We fish on two small but mighty 22-24 ‘ aluminum skiffs on the shoreline of Nushagak Bay alongside many other family fishing operations. Most of our fish are sold to Silver Bay Seafoods, one of several large local processing facilities in Dillingham, AK. We carefully select a few hundred pounds of the best-looking fish in the net to bring home to Maine. We love salmon fishing. It’s an honor and thrill to connect our home with such a brilliant fishery and resource and to promote wild protein. We hope you enjoy eating the salmon as much as we enjoy catching it!
Stay tuned for more information on our fishing crew and fishing process!
John grew up in Lincolnville, Maine where he developed a deep respect for nature, fueled by his love for rock climbing and backcountry skiing. These passions shaped his adventurous spirit, leading him to Alaska where he started commercially fishing in 2012 as a drifter. In 2020, after becoming good friends with James Crimp, our crew’s Captain, he started set netting and has been every year since. John brings more than just a passion for fishing, he is also the mechanic, welder, electrician and carpenter for the crew’s operations. A “John of all trades” as Courtney puts it, for the many indispensable skills he brings. What keeps John coming back year after year is his love for the fishing lifestyle and the local community. For about five weeks each season, there’s not room for much else…eat, fish, sleep, repeat. Despite the rugged conditions of set netting, there is nothing quite like aligning yourself with the tides and the salmon. To say it simplifies life, doesn’t quite capture it, rather it hones the heart and mind to what truly matters.
Courtney's love for the sea started in a swimming pool in Montreal, Canada where she grew up. As a competitive swimmer, she earned an athletic scholarship to The University of Maine, where she completed her bachelor's degree in Marine Biology. Over the last decade, she’s deepened her appreciation for coastal communities in Midcoast Maine, working in aquaculture, cultivating oysters, micro-algae, clownfish, and seaweed. Building a life in rural Maine and joining Alaska’s timeless salmon fishing traditions alongside her best friend and partner is a dream come true. Courtney’s journey from growing up in a more urban area to building a more rural life in Maine and Alaska has profoundly reshaped her connection with food. In a world that prioritizes convenience over connection she is grateful salmon fishing has enabled her to live with greater intention and integrity, and to respect the process, the people, and the places that sustain us. For Courtney, salmon fishing reconnects you not only to your food but also to the rhythms of the natural cycles and something bigger than yourself.