This is my first time ever putting a fish on a hook like this.

They aren't the sharpest of hooks, but we did catch four halibut last week on them, so..... And then when this is sinking to the bottom, this will look like it's a fish going down.

Oh yeah.

So halibut can follow that.

Ah!

I'm sorry.

I don't know why I'm afraid of a dead fish.

(Laughing) Perfect.

Good work.

This is where we put our warrior paint.

I'm Chef Pyet DeSpain.

From winning Next Level Chef to cooking for A-listers.

I've made my mark with indigenous fusion cuisine.

I've chased my dreams to L.A., but I hit roadblocks.

I spent a year couch surfing, searching for identity and direction.

But what grounded me was food.

The traditional Native American and Mexican recipes of my ancestors.

Now I'm on a mission across the Americas to reconnect with indigenous foodways and bring their bold, beautiful flavors back to the table.

Today, I'm cruising Pacific waters off of Prince of Wales Island, Alaska.

Fishing with the Haida People, once known as the Vikings of the Pacific.

They've lived in this area for 10,000 years.

These waters are part of their DNA.

Beside me, is my friend from LA, Gabrielle.

Her ancestors come from this place.

Our guides today are Gabrielle's cousin, Claude, and Tony, local Haida mayor and master fisherman.

There's a bear and a cub on the beach there.

This island, Sukkwan Island, has some of the biggest bears on it.

Yeah, a lot of hunters come right here.

Look at this water.

This color is beautiful.

It smells, the air is so pure and clean.

Seeing the eagles.

So beautiful.

Such an amazing experience.

We've stopped in deep water, around 2 miles off shore.

We'll be fishing for halibut, which, as you can tell from the bait Buoy over!

is a really big fish.

But right here is a real good local spot.

Year round we catch halibut and king salmon and everything right out in here.

It's one of our it's a little Goldilocks zone.

So we got two buoys out.

We got our buoy over here, at the top of the water.

It goes down to the anchor.

From the anchor, all the way to this buoy line, is our hooks spread out.

So it's kind of set up like a clothes line of baited hooks.

Everybody spits on their hook.

Like I said, we speak to our fish.

Our spit is good luck, right?

For everything.

And then toss it over.

SinG1aay \'láa (Good morning) Xágw Háwiit!

Xágw Háwiit!

(Halibut come in!

Halibut come in!)

We got to talk to them, when we let go.

You got to speak good to your fish when you're fishing.

We're going to try to get about anywhere from a ten to twenty foot spread between hooks.

So as he's going forward, I'm letting this out.

And then you'll just stand on this side.

Just grab here and then hook on there.

As Claude lets out the long line, I'll clip the baited hooks on.

Thank you, fish.

I didn't spit on every hook like Tony did, but let's just say there's a few hooks down there with my blessing.

Migwech (thank you) How do you say it in your language?

Migwech Thank you.

It's Potowatomi.

We put out about 30 hooks.

We'll just come back tomorrow and see what we've caught.

That afternoon there's a totem pole raising event.

Babies in regalia get me.

I know, same.

And I get to meet more of Gabrielle's family.

That was my introduction to Haida culture.

Haida's are known, world renowned known, for their art, and for their totem poles and their wood carving.

I'm part of the Raven Clan so it's an honor to stand here today... As elder and mayor, Tony leads the proceeding.

...these functions to carry on our traditions.

Here's why we do it.

These guys are going to unveil the pole.

To see one up close and personal was so amazing.

And to see the way that their community receives it, it gave me, you know, some goosebumps.

What I learned about the totem poles is they represent a lot.

They represent family lineage.

They represent storytelling.

From what I've heard, Haida's are very strict about their artistry.

And if you don't get it right, the grandmothers will come and they'll tell you do it again.

No matter how much work you put into it.

Because that form of artistry is telling their stories of their people.

The next morning we're back on the dock.

And of course, it's raining.

The kind of slow east Alaska drizzle that soaks you slow but good.

We ready.

I heard this is good fishing weather, right?

A little bit of sprinkle, sprinkle.

Just last night, Tony caught over 80 sockeye salmon out in the sound.

When the salmon are moving, then the halibut are moving.

Buckle up buttercup.

It's going to be a wet ride.

It's another hour ride back out to the place we were yesterday.

Time to look for our buoys, right?

Yeah, I see, over there.

See the bouys?

The longlines have been out all night.

And I can't wait to see what's waiting for us on the ends of those fishing hooks.

All right, moment of truth.

Anybody want to pull?

Let's see what you're made out of, Pyet.

Let's see.

Look at that.

Atta girl!

She's getting an appreciation for the deep.

It was really heavy.

Hiya!

Hopefully that's a good sign.

A real workout.

I think it might be loaded.

What did you guys spit on the hook?

Plains Indian... Yeah.

Prairie Indian saliva on there.

They could taste it.

We're possibly going to have some fish.

When we finally saw what we were pulling in, I was actually shocked.

Take a good look in the water.

Whaaat??!.

That's how the creator works.

Oh my gosh.

Let's bring it around the front, bro.

That one we'll just pull over to bow.

Sheeesh!

Wow.

Just like that.

That was the weight you were pulling up.

Wow.

That's probably 110 pound fish there probably.

To think that there's a possibility there's more than one on this is crazy.

Oh, it's not a possibility.

It's a guarantee.

Guarantee.

Halibut after halibut comes over the rail.

Like the ocean's just offering them up.

It hits me how abundant this place is.

How generous it's been to the Haida people for thousands of years.

Whoa.

Thank you, fish.

Thank you, fish.

We went fishing, we got some fish.

An endless supply of fish and chips.

Native Alaskans don't live on reservations.

They live on ancestral lands that stretch back beyond recorded history.

My people don't always have the same unbroken tie to the land that they call home.

Being a native that comes from a tribe with a reservation, That reservation land is not where we come from.

It's where we were displaced to.

These Haida people have been here for nearly 10,000 years.

This is their ancestral land, and they have such a powerful connection to it.

Now we can count them one, two, three, four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

We did a good job.

Well, we got plenty to feed everybody.

So we don't have to worry about not having enough food.

It's so awesome.

We take it for granted sometimes.

You know, a lot of people only dream of lifestyles in which you could just take a gallon of gas and go get all the food you need for a whole year.

We're so blessed to be able to do this.

By the time we get back to the shore, the sun has come out and it's time to filet these gifts from the sea.

So the first cut I make is the one from here just to separate the fin.

And do the same here.

Just right up above the top of that fin.

Then you just follow the center line right down to the end.

I've fileted a few fish before.

But nothing this big.

Access to fish is what's survived us here for thousands of years, right.

So our value system, our wealth, is based off of the knowledge we share.

Access to resource, ability to harvest in abundance and then have food security.

Sharing it with our younger generations.

We need to keep that lifestyle alive.

We need to keep our youth out here knowing they have resources they can rely on annually, year in, year out.

Able to say, hey, look, we're still a living, vibrant culture and that it keeps the cycle going.

In all, were leaving the docks with seven halibut, yielding nearly 300 pounds of fresh halibut filets.

Now to cook up a special dinner with our halibut catch to serve to the Haida elders inside a traditional longhouse built by the community for the community to gather and celebrate.

I want to make this corn cake because I want to have the elders try something that they've never had before.

I'm starting with coconut oil, so I need to melt it.

And I'm using blue corn.

I know they don't get a chance to eat blue corn very often in these parts.

Alaska isn't really known for its corn.

And blue corn itself is one of my favorites because it has a really nice, sweet taste to it.

And it's a traditional food for us, so I like to use that as much as possible in my cooking.

And I feel like it pairs really well with maple, so I brought some maple with me.

I love the flavor of maple.

Just feel like it enhances the flavor of blue corn a lot.

And I have some berries here that came from summer pickings of last year.

I'm going to try a little bit.

Just a little bit.

Yeah, that's good.

Now, the other thing that I like to do is I just like to line it with corn husks.

It kind of steams.

It adds a little bit more of that corn flavor.

And then when you peel it off the top, it has like these really cool looking lines.

And then I'm going to put this in the oven.

And let it bake off.

So, how do you guys normally cook your halibut?

So one of the most simplest ways and fastest ways that people do it around here, they'll just take their chunk of halibut and they'll put, they'll mix half sour cream, half mayo.

Like coat it with that and then into the oven.

It's really good.

Also a lot of people will just cut it up and fry it.

Fried fish is a pretty, pretty big deal around here too.

Okay, cool.

But it would be nice to give the elders a different taste of some other sort of recipe you might have in mind.

I think the best for me, like the best way to enjoy halibut is just really embellishing its own like freshness.

I mean, we just caught this today so it doesn't get any more fresh than that.

It really don't.

Yeah, those are chunkers.

That's a big chunk.

Wow.

I'm thinking to go pretty simple with this amazingly fresh halibut.

Starting with a lot of fresh herbs.

Normally people get really weird about using stems and stuff.

But as long as it's not branches and woodsy, sometimes the stems have most of the flavor on herbs.

Fresh produce don't come, you know, come around these parts that often, especially good produce.

So I want to bring some freshness to the elders here.

I didn't bring my zester with me.

But when life gives you lemons, you just gotta make do.

Into like little strips, Just do a little quick little mince on them.

Okay.

Salt.

Pepper.

Just a little bit.

Nothing to crazy.

I normally like to do cheeks, what I call them.

You can get more juice from the lemon and then you're going to squeeze it in.

Squeezing them cheeks.

Olive oil.

I'm just going to use all of this.

Because I want this to be flavorful.

I'm going to add some panko crumbs on top.

Regular breadcrumbs?

They're for the birds.

Panko is the upgrade.

Japanese bread crumbs that are light and airy.

Nice little crust.

But just enough crunch to honor the fish without covering up its spirit.

She's going to go in the oven.

I'm also going to make simpler version with just olive oil and lemon.

Because she said she's not sure about spice.

And some salt and pepper.

There going to cook 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

We're also making beach asparagus salad, basically coleslaw, but with beach asparagus harvested right off the beaches around here.

And we've got tomatoes and cucumbers.

So it's pretty simple.

Nice little crunch on there.

Perfect.

Now to make the berry dressing for the blue corn cake.

The berries will help add some softness to it.

The berries are really good.

And the fish is ready.

Look at that.

Good?

Perfect.

I love those big flakes.

So simple.

So good.

Wow.

Good.

That's really really.

Good too.

I think this is my favorite here.

It's good fish.

So good.

Yeah.

As well as fresh too.

We also have some roasted potatoes and salmon.

And seaweed white rice.

Not bad, sous chef.

Yeah, that's good.

We pulled it off.

We'll see what the reaction is.

Soon, 35 Haida elders have filled the lodge.

Their smiles, and how fast the food goes tells me everything we need to know.

This meal was meant as a gift to the tribe.

But honestly, I feel like the lucky one.

Being here, cooking alongside Gabrielle's family, reminds me of the beauty at the heart of indigenous life: The bond with the land and the sea.

Outside the longhouse, bags of fresh halibut are handed out to the elders.

Wow.

Thank you.

Watching them carry it home reminds me of the other treasured value that is the true spirit of this place.

Taking care of one another.