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. Scott Struznik
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Scott, aka "Scotty", is Angler's Alibi's most tenured guide. He is the only one working the river that has more years than I do on the Alagnak. Scotty started guiding on the Alagnak for Branch River Lodge back in the 80's. At the time, it was one of the most premiere lodges in all of Alaska with celebrity guests not at all uncommon. Scotty grew up in Washington and moved to the Olympic Peninsula at an early age where he fell in love with steelhead fishing. He guided in the winters out of his home town of Forks, Washington and the summers in Alaska. He has never missed a summer on the Alagnak (formerly known as Branch) River. Branch River Lodge folded with the early departure of their owner, and Scotty went down river to manage Alagnak Lodge. We were fortunate to add Scotty to our guide staff and have his years of experience in aiding our customers to not only incredible fishing, but also providing spey casting lessons. Spey fishing and custom flies are his specialities. In fact, I don't think I have seen Scotty cast a single hand rod since I have known him, starting in the early 90's. Scotty has a passion like we all do for swinging up kings in July and topwater swinging for any salmonoid that is willing to strike the topwater fly. He is a master spey caster and instructor, all-around easygoing guy, and we look forward to many more years with Scotty as our mentor on the Alagnak.
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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. |
Capt. Russell Owen
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Russell Owens is no newcomer to the Alagnak River. He cut his teeth working for another lodge above the braids, fishing the upper stretches of the Alagnak River system daily and even piloting jet boats up and over the falls of the Big Ku River to reach tributaries we only fly to! Needless to say, with our third jet boat being added to the fleet this summer, Russ will be a welcome guide to the already successful braids fishing program we offer. Russ was featured in the spring Filson catalog as not only a model, but he also played the lead role in two short films made at Angler's Alibi called "Life of a guide" as well as "Filson life- a normal life". Watch the Filson films here.
In our off-season, Russ is a hunting guide for primarily sea ducks in the middle of the Bering Sea on Island X. Russ has a huge passion for waterfowl, specifically king eiders, and he hand carves his own decoys. Russ is our go-to man for fixing anything and everything that can possibly need repair. He is a mechanical genius and is able to strip things down like an on-demand diesel fired water heater and have it back together and running in no time. It's amazing to see in action when Russ disassembles, studies, then assembles the various parts and nuts and bolts laying around in the shop, resulting in a new and improved motor or other piece of machinery. |
Captain Logan Fox
Logan came to work with Angler's Alibi several years ago and worked his way up the ladder within the business. I have always said that these guides are special in that they not only know the river well but also know how the entire business runs on a day to day scenario. Logan took on the challenge of guiding a few years back and has never looked back. His laid back attitude and ability to find and target fish has proven well amongst the guests. He is now working on his pilot license in the off season in Montana and may be flying a bush plane in the near future.
