World Class Fly-Fishing on the Alagnak River
Being at mile marker 6 on the Alagnak River means the Angler's Alibi camp is in the prime location to intercept millions of salmon as they enter the river system on a daily basis. Angler's Alibi is a short float plane ride from the town of King Salmon that takes about 25 minutes. This location helps keep us remote and off the road system that so many people think of when fishing Alaska is brought up. No "combat" fishing here, we are very remote and it shows with our returning guests that have been to other river systems and now call Angler's Alibi their annual trip to Alaska. Salmon utilize the tides to migrate and they often come in “waves”! We typically fish with a guest to guide ratio of 2 to 1 and use a variety of methods when Pacific salmon. Although it is primarily a catch-and-release fishery - we do allow guests to harvest sockeye salmon for those that wishing to take them home. We filet the salmon right at the dock and offer a commercial vacuum packing system that makes transporting them easy.
We specialize in fly fishing for all five species of pacific salmon, trout, char, and grayling. While most lodges use conventional gear while targeting king salmon, we use all methods, but we always enjoy teaching clients to fly fish for kings. We use both single and spey fly rods for kings, but over the past several years we heavily encourage the very effective use of spey rods for king salmon now. The other species of salmon are targeted with both spey and single hand fly rods as well but also with spinning gear for those that are not interested in fly fishing. Again, while we encourage all guests to try fly fishing Alaska, it is always the clients choice as to the method of fishing.
Fly fishing the Alagnak River is what makes this river so specific unlike other rivers in nearby Bristol Bay. The Alagnak River is a fly fly fishing paradise! The Alagnak has several sand bars in the tidewater section that load up with salmon as they take a rest from the transition from salt to freshwater. These chrome bright salmon, fresh from the salt, are extremely eager to strike attractor fly patterns on the swing, strip, or even topwater! Yes, it is not uncommon to spend most of the day on one sandbar that stretches over a hundred yards catching salmon until your own arms dictate when you have had enough, and not from casting, but from catching!
The simple wading with a firm sand bottom and mild current are ideal scenarios for anglers that are a little uneasy about wading. As anglers quickly get comfortable with how wading conditions are, they are hard to get out of the water for a break with endless catching going on. It is really is a true fly fishing fantasy at times with how many salmon can be caught averaging 8 - 12 pounds at will.
The run times for the different species of salmon keep the Alagnak River full of angling opportunities from about the first of July through mid September. The season starts with sockeye salmon and king salmon, followed by chum salmon in mid July. Pink salmon on even years come in literally by the millions in late July. Chum, king, and sockeye salmon overlap for half of July and as August comes around, the silver salmon start to rush in. The second run of chum salmon is underway in early August and keeps the action red hot with a mixed bag of salmon on the sand bars. We start to target silver salmon from the boat utilizing the oars and fishing drift boat style as we target the banks in deeper water where silver salmon congregate. Using single hand rods and a fast strip retrieve, silvers will pounce on flies and become airborne within seconds of feeling that hook set! This acrobatic frenzy is what makes silver salmon a preferred species amongst the fly anglers.
The fly rods used to target salmon are typically 8 or 9 wt. rods fitted with either a floating or a light sink tip line when fishing these sand bars. The Alagnak River sand bars are ideal for fly fishing and one can catch up to, and even more than, 50 salmon a day on the fly! This task is something many arms could not handle, but one that can certainly be achieved during the chum, pink, and silver runs. For anglers wanting more of a challenge, our season goes into September, when we target chrome silver salmon on the fly as well as the largest rainbow trout of the season. The trout are at their peak size with a full summer of gorging on eggs and flesh and can weigh-in at over 10 pounds!
We specialize in fly fishing for all five species of pacific salmon, trout, char, and grayling. While most lodges use conventional gear while targeting king salmon, we use all methods, but we always enjoy teaching clients to fly fish for kings. We use both single and spey fly rods for kings, but over the past several years we heavily encourage the very effective use of spey rods for king salmon now. The other species of salmon are targeted with both spey and single hand fly rods as well but also with spinning gear for those that are not interested in fly fishing. Again, while we encourage all guests to try fly fishing Alaska, it is always the clients choice as to the method of fishing.
Fly fishing the Alagnak River is what makes this river so specific unlike other rivers in nearby Bristol Bay. The Alagnak River is a fly fly fishing paradise! The Alagnak has several sand bars in the tidewater section that load up with salmon as they take a rest from the transition from salt to freshwater. These chrome bright salmon, fresh from the salt, are extremely eager to strike attractor fly patterns on the swing, strip, or even topwater! Yes, it is not uncommon to spend most of the day on one sandbar that stretches over a hundred yards catching salmon until your own arms dictate when you have had enough, and not from casting, but from catching!
The simple wading with a firm sand bottom and mild current are ideal scenarios for anglers that are a little uneasy about wading. As anglers quickly get comfortable with how wading conditions are, they are hard to get out of the water for a break with endless catching going on. It is really is a true fly fishing fantasy at times with how many salmon can be caught averaging 8 - 12 pounds at will.
The run times for the different species of salmon keep the Alagnak River full of angling opportunities from about the first of July through mid September. The season starts with sockeye salmon and king salmon, followed by chum salmon in mid July. Pink salmon on even years come in literally by the millions in late July. Chum, king, and sockeye salmon overlap for half of July and as August comes around, the silver salmon start to rush in. The second run of chum salmon is underway in early August and keeps the action red hot with a mixed bag of salmon on the sand bars. We start to target silver salmon from the boat utilizing the oars and fishing drift boat style as we target the banks in deeper water where silver salmon congregate. Using single hand rods and a fast strip retrieve, silvers will pounce on flies and become airborne within seconds of feeling that hook set! This acrobatic frenzy is what makes silver salmon a preferred species amongst the fly anglers.
The fly rods used to target salmon are typically 8 or 9 wt. rods fitted with either a floating or a light sink tip line when fishing these sand bars. The Alagnak River sand bars are ideal for fly fishing and one can catch up to, and even more than, 50 salmon a day on the fly! This task is something many arms could not handle, but one that can certainly be achieved during the chum, pink, and silver runs. For anglers wanting more of a challenge, our season goes into September, when we target chrome silver salmon on the fly as well as the largest rainbow trout of the season. The trout are at their peak size with a full summer of gorging on eggs and flesh and can weigh-in at over 10 pounds!
