We’re delighted to share owner, Wayne McGee’s, report of the start of the 2025 season at ATA Lodge on the Alagnak Wild River in Alaska. Over to you Wayne:
For many “in the know”, June is the best time to come to Southwest Alaska and target big, hard-fighting leopard rainbow trout on the upper section of the Alagnak wild and scenic river. It may be a bold statement, but we stand behind it. Our home waters, at ATA Lodge, offer some of the most exciting fishing opportunities to catch plentiful, large average size rainbow trout at this time of the season in Alaska.
Don’t get me wrong, you can come up to other rivers in Alaska at other times of the season and catch bigger trout (even on our river). But in terms of the number of fish and the average size of trout, June at the ATA Lodge is a trout bum’s paradise. There is a good reason for this reality. In April and May, trout from throughout our watershed migrate down to our part of the river to spawn. Many of these trout are not resident to our “home waters” nearest the lodge, for the rest of the season. They are coming from our headwaters and tributaries, upstream of us, specifically to spawn.
These upstream waters are home to the most famous trout fishing streams of the Katmai region. Lodges from all over Bristol Bay, fly their guests out later in the season to fish for these large rainbows in August and September when they are feeding on sockeye salmon eggs after they have followed the sockeye salmon up to their spawning gravels.
BUT…in June, most of those big trout are right on our doorstep, as they have come down into our part of the system to spawn themselves. And after they have spawned, they are waiting for the out-migration of the salmon smolt that will come down from the lakes at the top of our system to go out to the ocean. These smolts are the primary food source for our trout this time of year. This bounty of food sustains the trout in our area as long as the smolt out-migration continues.
What that means for our guests is that there are a lot of hard-fighting, hungry trout in the waters nearest to our lodge after the river opens to fishing on June 8th every year.
Water levels have been perfect, and there has been a sublime combination of some sunny days offering superb dry fly fishing with caddis, chubbies and stimulators; together with some overcast days mixed in that have been perfect for swinging streamers. And of course, the Alagnak wild river provides plenty of “textbook” opportunities to skate mice patterns on the surface of the river, that deliver fantastic top water “eats” that are visually spectacular as the rainbows “blow up” on mouse patterns like the Pipsqueak, Moorish Mouse, and Mr. Hanky.
We have been seeing fish caught by all our clients every day, averaging around 20-22 inches, with some fish reaching up to 27 inches. But some of those bigger trout over 27 inches that have been hooked, have thus far escaped being slipped in to one of our nets. Those bigger fish (up to 29-30inches), seem to have the knack of exposing any weakness in your tackle or fishing technique. Although I’m sure it is only a matter of time before one of these Alagnak river monsters end up in a “grip and grin” photo.
This time of year, we catch a few lake trout and grayling as well. The lake trout follow the smolt out of the lakes and ambush them in deeper pools in the river as the smolt head out to the ocean. Grayling fishing is always good on the Alagnak River throughout the season. However, June is a great time to fish for them because there are no salmon in the river yet to crowd them out of their usual haunts.
There have been some fantastic wildlife viewing as well. Numerous sightings of cow moose with calves have been reported by guests, as well as a few brown bears, foxes, eagles, ospreys, and even wolverines, minks, and otters have been observed.
By June 25th we began to catch some salmon as well. A fly out to the Nushagak River produced a handful of chrome king salmon, including this beautiful specimen landed by Matt Duncan. We are expecting chinook salmon to be entering the Alagnak River from this point forward and hope to land more in July on our system.
We have even caught the first sockeye salmon in our river starting on the 24th of June. While the big pushes of sockeye have not yet begun to migrate upstream, they will be here in force by the first week of July. This is a bit early for the sockeye, as the last few years we haven’t been catching them until after the 1st July. But it seems like they may be coming in a bit early across the region from reports we have been hearing on other systems that get sockeye before we do.
All in all, it has been a fantastic start to the 2025 season, and we can’t wait to see what July, August, and September have in store for our guests as they come to taste the very best of what Alaska, and in particular Bristol Bay, in Southwest Alaska has to offer.
Our staff have done a fantastic job of taking care of our guests both on and off the water. Our experienced guide team brings skill, knowledge, and an almost childlike enthusiasm to helping our anglers achieve what they have come for, and make their Alaska trout dreams come true
If you are interested in visiting Alaska Trophy Adventure Lodge or would like information on any of our other destinations in Alaska please contact Alex Jardine. Alternatively call the office on to +44(0)1980 847389. for more details or visit our ATA Lodge web page.