​Angler’s Alibi, an  Alagnak River fishing lodge, is getting ready for another great summer in 2014.  We have added an additional week to take advantage of the fabulous silver salmon fishing that has been happening the past several seasons while we are leaving the river for with what was  the end of our summer.  This new week will take advantage of not only silver salmon fishing, but also the fabulous Alagnak River braids and what they have to offer in regards to numerous rainbow trout eagerly taking egg imitations during the salmon spawn.

​Like all of Bristol Bay, we were more than ready for some normal Alaska weather with wind, rain, and the need to wear more than a t-shirt. The month of August came, and with it the rain….and the silvers! Our first day of August was a nice rainy day which seemed to draw in the first big push of silver salmon of the season. Sure, we had caught a few up to this point, but August 1 was definitely the start of the best silver salmon run the Alagnak River has ever had in my 20 years on the river.

​The Alagnak River in July of 2013 lived up to it’s glory, despite the heat that raised the river temperature to almost 70 degrees.  The season started off with a bang.  In the pre-fishing time of June, before the guests arrived on July 1, we had a friendly competition amongst the guides to see who could catch dinner in an hours time.  This was June 25, and the weather had been very hot all of June. Hopes of catching a jack king salmon or maybe a big jack king near 2o pounds was all that we could expect. In an hour, our boat landed 2 king salmon, 1 at 37 pounds, and 1 at 32 pounds. This was incredible, and a sign of how our first week of the season was going to start.

​It is amazing to me that there is always diversity from year to year with how the Alagnak River produces, including the fly-out streams we are fortunate to visit as well.  With each new season, I can honestly say that I have not witnessed a drop in catch rates at all.  We have had slower years and banner years, but all in all, the fishing is so darn consistent on the Alagnak River and Bristol Bay watershed from year to year that it still remains one of the strongest fisheries in the world!

​Angler’s Alibi Week 4 continued to have very strong fishing for both Kings, chums, and the continued start of the pink run. Most guests elected to target kings this week due to the great catch rates we were still seeing from around the fourth of July.  It was amazing but sad at the same time to be having another great king run while the famous Kenai River was closed to sport fishing on the mainland. I am sure they will recover soon with the help of the sport anglers.

​Week 7 is toted as our best silver week of the year. With the late start of the pinks, and the continued sunny weather, we were still catching huge pink salmon all day long with having to go deep to target the silver salmon from the boat, or sink tips from the drop offs of bars as they were staying deep in the bright weather.

​Week 5 saw the end of the King season on the 31st and the start of some amazing catch rates on fresh chrome bright silver, pink, and chum salmon. The last day of king season saw all 5 boats landing over 10 kings, and filling out many tags for the cooler home for the season. With the end of the king run under our belt, we were pleased to see yet again some “out of this world” salmon fishing on the fly. On top, on the strip, or on the swing…..it was amazing to catch fish all day long any way you wanted!

​Angler’S Alibi Week 6 continued to have great fishing for fresh dime bright pink, chum, and silver salmon. The bright sunny weather we had all week seemed to put the silvers off the bite just a bit and keep them deep, but we were still catching salmon on the fly all day long without any issues averaging well over 30 per day per guest…..and some in the 70 to 90 a day caught range!!

​Angler’s Alibi fishing has picked up significantly, with several boats enjoying landing over 15 King Salmon daily, and some in the 20 to near 30 mark for the day on conventional gear. Our fly fishermen also had a good week with the Kings, finishing with over 8 Kings landed on flies for one angler with a combined fishing time of 15 hours.

​Wow!  The Kings have moved up the River in large numbers, and several boats landed over 30 King salmon a day on conventional gear, while the average was in the respectable 10-15 a day range.  The 1st run of Chum Salmon has arrived, and provided 2 guests extremely hot action, with over 60 Chums landed via Angler’s Alibi fly fishing in a single day…pass the Advil!