​The 2023 season got rolling a touch late for our traditional 4th late week of June opening, but as usual – the mighty Alagnak River just kept building!  The fishing got fast and furious by July 4th for sockeye salmon as record numbers of fish slammed into the river daily on high tides providing nonstop action for our guests.  Along with this near record numbers of sockeye salmon came a strong run of king salmon that was welcomed eagerly by our anglers.  Some of the largest kings came “on the swing” with spey rod anglers wading shallow sandbars in the lower river.  It is hard to beat the fight of a 25 pound+ king salmon on a fly rod covered with sea lice fresh from the salt! 

​Spring is finally here!  Thoughts of trout and salmon fishing are already on most angler’s minds - and especially the ones here at Angler’s Alibi!  The guides have been chatting it up - going over fly orders, new gear purchases, and just about every other thing surrounding the season and kicking off 2023!

As stated in previous communiques: The 2022 season was a solid one with strong runs of all 5 salmon species including a nice rebound on king salmon.  This influx of kings into the river led to some epic days chasing these giants!  We are optimistic that our efforts to practice catch and release on all kings; coupled with not targeting them up high in the river system (where they are trying to spawn) is now paying dividends with stronger returns.  Candidly, I don’t think we are completely out of the woods yet, but this uptick in king salmon was a welcome sight to everyone in camp and we can only hope that it will be further enhanced in 2023.  

​Hello anglers!

​The 2022 season was one for the ages!   I will do my best to recap all of the highlights from trout week 1 in early June right through to the nutty ending of the season in mid-September!  One thing I know for sure: every guest left the lodge with smiles, pictures, and memories that hopefully will be etched in their minds for years to come!  

​Before I dive into the fishing - we are all very grateful that two of our most tenured guides; Chris Emmons and John Landry safely survived Hurricane Ian as both call Fort Myers Beach home.  Certainly, this put a lot of things in perspective.

​The 2022 season is already off to a fantastic start. We have an excellent staff returning for another season. Additionally, we have a few new additions to the team. The first new edition is Chef John Lazard. Chef John is from Tucson, Arizona and has been cooking his entire life. Chef John’s experience comes from large catering events to fine dining. The Angler’s Alibi team has been nothing but impressed by Chef John’s culinary talents. The guest’s John has served thus far have nothing but raved about his food, specifically his desserts. It is astonishing what desserts Chef John can produce out here in the Alaskan bush. Lastly, we have an amazing Chef’s assistant who joined the team. Sandra Douglas is our new Chef’s assistant, and you can’t wait to try her cookies we provide in the lunch coolers. They are beyond good and her rotation of different baked goods for our lunch coolers keeps everyone on their toes for what is coming next. Sandra has a phenomenal background in managing kitchens and working in every position from server to Chef. Sandra and John are both wonderful new additions to the team and we are so incredibly lucky to have them join the team this season.  

​The holidays are again upon us, and I can’t help reflecting on what an incredible season we had on the Alagnak River this summer!  Naturally, we had some world-class salmon fishing; but this year we were also able to take advantage of multiple fly-out options (and at peak times), in what I can only describe as a “giant trout cycle” that we are experiencing here in Bristol Bay and nearby Katmai National Park.  This cycle is due to an overwhelming return of sockeye salmon numbering in the millions annually that is helping to provide a great food source for the trout population and keep average lengths of over 20” in many rivers!  

Candidly speaking, it was not all “peak” this summer, but it was definitely much better overall than our challenging 2020 season.  It started out immediately with a bang as we had a record sockeye return that started like clockwork on June 29th.  With this giant push of sockeyes came the king salmon, and thankfully we had a much better return of kings this summer than we have seen for many years!  We aim to continue our catch and release policy for all kings in our river systems with an attempt to one day bring it back to where it was in the 90’s and early 2000’s. This is exciting news!  The sockeye salmon limit was again raised this summer with the daily limit increased from 5 to 10 sockeye a day.  Our guests loved it!  I think we even set a new camp time record for 30 sockeye salmon harvested in less than 55 minutes!  Let me explain: The clock started when we left the dock.  We caught the salmon and were back to the dock in 55 minutes with 30 fresh sockeyes ready to clean!  Needless to say, our guide, “Thermo”, was a busy man for that very brief window of time.  These sockeyes were often running 15 to 25 fish wide, going nonstop and was absolutely incredible to witness!

​In other good news, our chum salmon run was also significantly better than 2020 where we saw the lowest numbers we have ever seen. The timing was also perfect with the peak chum run occurring in week 7.  It felt like “normal” again.  With this strong run of chums, you get the additional benefit of again having a solid food source for our resident rainbow trout in the Alagnak “braids”.

Spring has sprung and it appears we may have finally made it through a tough fall and winter full of unknowns, shut downs, and cancelled events.  The vaccines are clearly on an accelerated schedule and it’s hard not to be optimistic that travel restrictions are going to continue to be lifted and so it appears there is light at the end of the tunnel for a return to normalcy! Boom!

I have visited with most of the guests scheduled this season and I am pleased to report that I do not know of one that will not have the vaccine by the time of their trip this summer - creating an even safer environment at Angler’s Alibi!

Calendar wise - silver salmon are the last species of salmon to migrate into their spawning rivers in Alaska and begin to arrive in late summer and keep right on pushing into the rivers well into early fall.  They are no doubt the most sought-after species by anglers seeking a superior fight by an aggressive acrobatic fish that will crush both top-water flies, lures and other sub-surface patterns with reckless abandonment!  There is no doubt that silver salmon will strike a rapidly retrieved fly or lure faster than any other species in the Alaskan fisheries!
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Silver salmon return to their rivers to spawn after 3 years in the ocean and average 6 –15 pounds in our river system (and eat great!).  There are some rivers in Alaska where silver salmon return to their rivers up to the 20-pound range, and while these silver salmon are pretty rare in Alaska - some anglers stay on the hunt for these “silver of a lifetime” every year!

Who would have thought back in March, April, and even May that Anglers Alibi would even open for business this year?!  Thanks to some fortuitous last-minute decisions by the State of Alaska and some very patient clients – we had an epic 2020 season!  We ran at 90% occupancy, and those who made the trip were rewarded with a fantastic fishery this year. Our staff and guides could have very easily bailed on this season as things were looking very dubious in mid-May, but instead took a leap of faith with me and to them I owe a huge debt of gratitude.  (More on that later.)  Let’s talk fishing…
 
Early July saw our first guests and a huge run of sockeye salmon.  Clients who tired of sockeye fishing or king fishing often audibled and fished rainbow trout on mouse fly patterns.  If you have not experienced seeing a big rainbow whack a mouse pattern on the surface – that alone should inspire you to return.   Guests who came later in the summer had great silver salmon fishing and the best big, TROPHY rainbow trout that we have ever seen at Angler's Alibi!  This season will go down in the books as one to remember for sure!​

​What makes Alaska trout fishing different than trout fishing in the lower 48? Despite the fact that these fish are all native and seem to be just like a steelhead, the Alaska trout are more like sharks at times than your typical lower 48 trout.  Imagine having several thousand pounds of salmon flesh as part of your annual diet source.  Imagine having thousands of protein-rich salmon eggs in the river system for months, which makes up the majority of the trout ‘s nutrition during Summer, Fall, and Winter. This super protein rich diet is like taking steroids for this amazingly healthy and strong species.  

Come Spring, the salmon source is all but dried up so they are redirected to more “normal” trout foods like sculpins, leeches, aquatic insects, and mice.  Yes, mouse patterns are a favorite way of enticing Alaska trout into a vicious surface strike—no doubt an angler’s favorite method.

Trout season begins on June 8th every Summer in Bristol Bay. This helps protect the trout during their Spring spawning period. Trout have been a catch and release species in Bristol Bay for some time now, and it helps keep the species thriving.  

One of the fabled and enigmatic rivers in Bristol Bay. Few have ever mastered it completely. It takes dedication and love for the river itself. Some guides that work there never leave it. Other guides that do leave, always find a way to come back. The Branch River (known on maps as the Alagnak River) could be clinically diagnosed as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. To fish it successfully, you must understand its nature and what makes it so fickle.

The origin of the Branch (Alagnak) River is debatable depending on which map you look at. Some maps show the origin as the outlet of Kukaklek Lake. Other maps designate the origin as the confluence of the Kukaklek River and Nonvianuk River. Either way, both rivers are outlets of two very large and deep, natural fresh water lakes with many tributaries feeding them. The vast capacities of booth these lakes give the Branch its almost always clean, clear waters desired by all five species of Pacific Salmon, leopard rainbow trout, arctic char and arctic grayling. 

Given its agreed upon origin being the outlets of two elephantine sized lakes, these lakes freeze in winter. When the ice begins breaking apart in spring, its descent down river causes catastrophic results. Trees are wiped from the river banks, river banks are sloughed off into the river, temporary ice dams are formed. All this chaos creates new passage ways for the flowing water. New branches of flowing water every year; thus giving the Branch River its local namesake. To operate jet boats in the most heavily braided section of the river is not for the weak or simple minded. It takes constant focus and an ability to read water  that doesn’t apply to any other river in the region. In other words, if you don’t know what good water looks like on the Branch, it looks like there is no where to safely go. Rookies crash boats every year. Fact.