Michelle Dockins was living in Durango, Colo., and planning to start a career in public health when she met Micah Ess, a second-generation fisherman. They knew each other for just a few months when Ess invited Dockins to go to Alaska for salmon fishing season.
She said yes, but when she got up there, she was surprised. "I went, ‘Why in the world did I think I could commercial fish?’ I was born and raised in Colorado," Dockins says. "I was learning the difference between port and starboard on the fly!"
Seven years later, Dockins and Ess are married and they have a start-up fish business out of their house in Paonia, Colo. Every Tuesday in August they are selling frozen salmon filets and smoked salmon at the Glenwood Springs Downtown Farmer's Market.
