Angler's Alibi Fishing Guides
We are very grateful to have a guide staff at Angler’s Alibi that does not experience a whole lot of turnover. Our guides have over 90 years of total guiding experience on the river, with a large majority of this time earned on Alaskan rivers. Fortunately for us, one of our guides gained experience at Branch River Lodge back in the 80’s, and is still on the river with us now. Angler's Alibi fishing guides usually start out within our program and work their way up to being a full-time guide. We have a 2-to-1 guest to guide ratio to ensure great attention to detail and guests' experience. Our guides rotate fishing with guests daily, allowing for new experiences for all of our customers.
Every guide has his or her own boat, and we keep them tidy and always ready for a quality day on the river. Our fleet includes 3 jet boats to utilize our upper braided sections of the Alagnak River for targeting trout, in addition to our 7 lower-river boats.
Every guide has his or her own boat, and we keep them tidy and always ready for a quality day on the river. Our fleet includes 3 jet boats to utilize our upper braided sections of the Alagnak River for targeting trout, in addition to our 7 lower-river boats.
Capt. John Perry, Owner/Manager
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John grew up in Michigan on Grosse Ile, an island 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. He 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.
Over the years he has enjoyed developing lifelong friendships with the guests and witnessing the most consistent, unbelievable fishing this planet has to offer. John will continue to offer a superior level of service to guests at Angler’s Alibi and will keep the fishing program the utmost priority. He resides in Colorado in the off-season with his two sons River and Grey. |
Capt. T.R. Rafferty
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T.R. is originally from Michigan, where he grew up fishing lakes and small streams for trout, pan-fish, bass, and pike. In his teen years, he started fishing the tributaries for lake run coho and chinook salmon both on the fly and with gear. He moved to Colorado in the late 70’s and began fishing for trout in the many rivers west of Denver around Summit County.
He began guiding in 1986 and fished rivers like the Blue, South Platte, Colorado, Eagle and high mountain lakes. He has been a certified Fly Casting Instructor since 1992 and still teaches fly-tying during the winter months. He guided on the Alagnak from 1993 to 1997 and helped start what is now Angler’s Alibi. T.R. now resides in Driggs, Idaho, just west of Jackson, Wyoming. During the summer months he fishes and guides on the Teton, South Fork, Henry’s Fork, Snake, and other streams and rivers in the Greater Yellowstone area. He spends his winter months chasing largemouth bass in East Texas and also fishes the Gulf Coast for redfish and speckled trout. TR is now an integral part of our spey casting program at Angler’s. TR is by far the best casting instructor we have and can help even beginner anglers throw tight loops on the single handed rod, or throw the “snap T” on the double handed fly rod. This has been a fun and new way to catch salmon on the fly at Angler’s Alibi the past couple of seasons. |
Capt. John Landry
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Captain John Landry will be returning to the Alagnak River again with Angler’s Alibi. John spends his summers with us and lives and guides in Southwest Florida the rest of the year. In Florida, John runs Sportfisha Guide Service for tarpon, snook, redfish, and permit. He has experience fishing all over the country, from stalking big browns and rainbows in Montana, to chasing bluefin tuna off Cape Cod. His reputation at Angler’s Alibi is one of high regard. John Landry is no doubt one of the best guides to ever work the waters on the Alagnak River with Angler’s Alibi in the past 20 years. He is highly requested, and every one of the customers wants a chance to spend some quality fishing time on the river with John. Captain Landry is our number one braids guide, and he spends most of his guiding days in the Alagnak Braids chasing his favorite rainbow trout from the trout opener through the end of our fishing season. He loves this river and is always ready to get back to the paradise we all call home for the summer.
John’s two favorite salmon are the king and silver salmon, which he loves to target on the fly. When he is not making his customers laugh and enjoy catching huge salmon on the fly, he can be found back at Angler’s utilizing his “bush” carpentry skills to add some great rustic touches to the place, like his custom made railing systems, and new cabin. |
Capt. Jeff Topp
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Jeff Topp is a Michigan native that not only guides in Alaska all summer and fall but also in Michigan for salmon, steelhead, and trout the rest of the year. He is a year round fishing guide and has 17 years experience on the Alagnak River starting way back in 1996. He even has experience guiding in Chile.
We look forward to having Jeff on our staff this coming season in 2020. He will no doubt bring plenty of knowledge with his many years of experience fishing the Alagnak River from top to bottom. Jeff has always been a great friend on the river to us at Angler's Alibi while he was working for another lodge up river from our location. He is proficient in many angling disciplines, and I can attest as he at times was able to make me feel a little silly. On one occasion, he was pulling king after king out of a run in front of me on the fly with his customer. He was out fishing my boat while we were using conventional gear! I will never forget that day! He is a rock solid guide and has a passion for the Alagnak River like few others have. |
Capt. Chris Emmens (Thermo)
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Chris Emmens has been with Angler’s Alibi for 6 seasons now, and will be a welcomed returning guide in 2019. Chris brings incredible fly fishing skills as well as fly tying skills to the table. He was featured in the January’s issue of Fish Alaska Magazine in 2015 as THE guide that took out world renowned angler Cecilia “Pudge” Kleinkauf. (read Pudge's article here) Chris guided Pudge to several incredible days of fishing at Angler’s Alibi and it really showed just how much she liked his guiding skills in the article.
It is no doubt that Chris is a not only a great guide, but also a great employee willing to do anything to help our team or assist in customer service for our guests. He has done everything at our camp, and we are all so excited to have him join our guide staff yet again this coming summer on both the Nushagak River and the Alagnak. Chris is one of our main fly-out guides with not only great fishing skills, but also a lot of "bush" skills that are very important to have when getting dropped off for a day of fishing and bear viewing in remote spots in Alaska. During the rest of the year, Chris can be found in Bozeman, Montana, studying Fisheries Biology, skiing, fishing, hunting, and occasionally hitting the frozen pond for some stick and puck. |
Captain John Popp
Captain John Popp was a customer for years. Fishing harder than any customer we had, even coming up for 2 weeks at a time chasing trophy king salmon. This was just not enough and Captain John Popp decided guiding with Angler's Alibi would be the answer for him. John Popp keeps our guests entertained on the river just as much as he does tending bar at night making sure nobody has an empty glass in the lodge. His passion for fishing is second to none and it shows with all the requests he gets through the season from guests that want to fish with him. We look forward to many more years with John Popp on our staff!
Captain Jackson Gilmore
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Jackson Gilmore started his career with Angler's Alibi in High School coming out of a competitive cooking team to be an assistant chef his first year with us. He then became head chef the following season at 18 years of age, handling all ordering and managing the kitchen like a seasoned veteran...at 18. His desire to create amazing meals for the guests was just the start for him as his passion to fish was still his number one drive to be here in Alaska. He would take guests out fishing after dinner service and realized the next step was to become a guide. That did not take long, and after a few more years as chef, Jackson progressed to guide status with a Captains license and a desire to make every day an amazing memory for our guests. Its no secret that his shore lunches are one of the best on the river still executing some of his culinary delights on the river! His next step is becoming a bush pilot. He already has his license and is continuing to rack up hours this offseason in hopes of flying a float plane in Alaska soon and being a pilot/guide in the near future. The sky is the limit with this guy!
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Will Evans started out with Angler’s Alibi in college from the ground up much like some of the current guide staff. Will is a passionate outdoorsman with a love of hunting, fishing, and skiing, a common theme amongst the guide staff. His desire to continue to learn all he can while keeping his guest’s priority number one has been a huge asset to the guide team. Will has taken it upon himself to be part of the Brooks River Guide program this season and has been part of some super successful guide trips there. This river is world famous for its brown bears and the number of salmon jumping the falls, so guiding here is like being in the cage at the zoo! Will is also quickly gaining proficiency in the Alagnak River Braids assisting when he can on jet boat guide trips. He will no doubt be a part of our braids team soon. Will has embraced this with a great attitude and will be graduating soon with a degree in fisheries biology from Montana State. We look forward to many more years with Will on our staff!
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