Copper River salmon coming

The season's first Copper River salmon are expected to swim into stores on Friday, but the big question is what price the flavorful fish will catch.

Copper River salmon topped out around $50 per pound last year but is unlikely to fetch anything close to that this spring because of the economy.

"It's got to be less expensive than it was last year," said Harry Yoshimura, a representative from Seattle's Mutual Fish, although he couldn't say if that meant the fish would retail closer to $15 or $35 per pound.

The bulk of the catch probably will not be available until Saturday, so if you must have Copper River for dinner on Friday, be prepared to pay more, Yoshimura added.

Copper River salmon are unusually flavorful due to the amount of fat the fish put on to brave Alaska's tough-to-travel Copper River.

Approximately 20,000 pounds of Copper River salmon is scheduled to arrive in Seattle via air-cargo freighter Friday at 6 a.m. The season usually lasts a little more than a month.