Dry Fly Dreams Come True: A Record-Breaking Start to the 2025 Season in Alaska

If there was ever a time to chase dry flies in Alaska, 2025 is proving to be it. The season kicked off with two weeks of unreal dry fly action — the kind most anglers only dream of. Every single day delivered rising fish, eager trout, and wide-eyed guests experiencing the very best of Alaska’s early summer magic.
Before the salmon arrive and fill the rivers with competition, Alaska reveals a short, extraordinary window where trout are dialed in on bugs and looking up. This is our lodge’s favorite time of year. Fly-out streams are uncrowded, hatches are thick, and the trout are hungry.

​Highlights From the Early Weeks

Our first group of guests couldn’t believe their luck — dry fly fishing with incredible action every single day. Hatches of caddis, mayflies, and stoneflies had the trout feeding hard, and our anglers took full advantage. From skated dries in glassy eddies to foam lines stacked with risers, it was nonstop topwater eats.
One night, a pair of anglers overnighted on a remote fly-out stream that turned into something out of a fishing fairytale:

• 25+ trout landed in two days
• Every single fish caught on a dry fly
• Smallest fish measured 20"
• And the grand prize? A 30-inch trophy rainbow trout on a size 14 dry fly — not just the biggest dry fly fish in our lodge’s history, but a true fish of a lifetime.

The Second Group Keeps the Momentum

The next group picked up right where the first left off, fueled by a week of blue skies, glassy water, and bug-choked banks. With a Beaver floatplane at their disposal, anglers accessed multiple rivers daily — some so remote they didn’t see another angler the entire day.
Picture this: you're on a riverbank watching multiple heads rising in a pool, sipping caddis and mayflies with abandon. You cast, your fly disappears in a swirl, and seconds later you’re into your backing from a trout that pulls like a steelhead. This isn’t a fantasy — this is Alaska in early season!
 
"These trout fight harder than anything I’ve caught in the Lower 48 — hands down," said one of our seasoned guests.
 
These weeks are not for anglers looking to throw egg patterns under an indicator, but for those willing to see what it’s like before the salmon arrive.  This is THE window to catch these Alaskan beauties on dry flies, and the window is short!
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In 2026 we will be doing the same program with a maximum of 8 guests per week and a plane at their disposal allowing for flexibility to fish more than one river per day.  Please get in touch with us soon while there is still space for the June trout weeks in 2026.  I hope you enjoy some of these photos.
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Cheers,
JP

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About the Author

John Perry grew up in Michigan on an island called Grosse Ile, in the mouth of the Detroit River and Lake Erie. It was here, surrounded by great fishing and waterfowl hunting that John developed a passion for the outdoors. John moved to Colorado to chase trout in the summers and ski patrol in the winters. John had the privilege to start guiding for Angler’s Alibi with his fly fishing mentor TR Rafferty the second year it was in business. He left a head guide job in Colorado to pursue bigger and better fish.