brendan jones
Brendan Jones came to Alaska at the age of 19 to work in the commercial fishing industry. After finishing college at Oxford University, he returned to Alaska to work on crab and salmon boats, sea cucumber dive boats, and seafood processors. He has published work on the Alaska fisheries in The New York Times, The Guardian, Washington Post, and others. A teacher of creative writing at Stanford University, his novel The Alaskan Laundry won the 2017 Alaskana prize.
rachel jones
Rachel arrived in Sitka out of Berkeley Law School to clerk for a Superior Court judge. Since then she has served Sitka as a private attorney, City Municipal Attorney, and Magistrate Judge. She has also coached fifth-grade mock trial at Keet Gooshi Heen elementary school, served as a board member of the Sitka Food Co-Op, and currently works on the Board of the Sitka Community Land Trust.
Candace Rutledge
Candace first met the Jones family as a guest—and tsunami warning evacuee—aboard the M/V Adak. Candace provides both facilities management and guest service support for Finn Alley Fishing, as well as being an archaeologist working on the search for the 200-year-old wreckage of a Russian schooner. Originally from the state of Georgia, Candace has visited 18 countries, and counting. She came to Sitka on a visit, and fell in love with the town, and everything attached to it, enough to decide to stay for a season. Four years later she is Historic Preservation Commissioner, Girl Scout Troop Leader, gymnastics Coach, anthropologist. Candace has an adventurous, hardworking, and helpful nature, all of which make her an excellent host in the wilds of Alaska.
Erin Fulton
Erin came to Sitka in 2012 - fresh out of graduate school for forestry and environmental management at Duke University - to work on a 6-month project with the Sitka Conservation Society. She fell in love with Sitka, “forgot” to leave and has been here ever since. Erin has worked as a National Park Service ranger, a naturalist on small cruise ships, the morning news host at the local public radio station, a deck-hand for Eric Jordan on the I Gotta, and dabbles in Sitka’s community theater scene, too. As the development and marketing director for Finn Alley Fishing, Erin gets to share her passion for the wild beauty and unique history of Southeast Alaska, showing guests the very best that Sitka has to offer.
eric jordan
Born in Wrangell, and raised in Southeast Alaska, both Eric’s parents worked on the Salty, a 32-foot double ender troller. At the age of one they took Eric fishing - and he has been on the water every year since, longlining, seining, gillnetting, and trolling, which has been his primary gear class since 1978. Along the way Eric has founded or helped found fisheries and conservation groups as diverse as the Trout Fishing Association, The Alaska Marine Conservation Council, and the Chum Trollers Association. He has also served on federal and state leadership bodies, including the Alaska Board of Fisheries. He has been recognized as a National Fisherman Magazine “Highliner,” as well as a “Chum Troller of the Year.” He enjoys sharing the majesty of Sitka, along with the magic of salmon trolling.
karl jordan
The son of legendary fisherman Eric Jordan, Karl Jordan has been out on the water trolling since the age of four. Along with trolling, he has seined, gillnetted, and dingle-barred for ling cod. Brendan Jones and Karl have worked together on the fishing grounds since 2012. A shop teacher at Blatchley Middle School in Sitka, and father of two daughters, Karl plays a critical role in the Sitka community. A former college wrestler, he is a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
Caven Pfeiffer
Shipwright, fishermen, and activist, Caven fishes Alaska waters aboard the classic wooden troller Sword with his wife Camilla, and their three little mates: Ivy, age 6, and twins Annalise and Elias, age 4. Along with fishing halibut and salmon, Caven operates the Sword Seafood Company, which sends sustainably-caught Alaska fish around the world.
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