Naknek River

[fivebucks]

In the planning stages of an AK trip this summer. Only been back there once since I lived there in the early 90's. I want to get off the road system and get into the Reds without combat fishing. I found a place on the Naknek River out in Bristol Bay that is reasonable and offers unguided fishing. They have an opening July 9-16th. Has anyone fished the Naknek during that time? I am wondering how bright the Reds will be then. I certainly don't want go there and find the fish a little too turned for my tastes. They only do 1 week bookings so if anyone knows a reasonable place that does shorter bookings please let me know.

Thanks for any input.

[traveler]

5...sure would like a follow-up report on that place. Sounds great:)

[fivebucks]

Traveler,

I am leaning to finding a different place cause I think I might have trouble getting bright fish. I've been emailing the AK fish and game and the run on this river will be 70% of projected the week they have an opening. It is a short river so the fish can make it to the lake in a day. Some spawn in the river also so there will be fish but they could be in the river a week or more - no sea lice left on those. If they had an opening over the 4th of July that would be ideal. Anyhow I'll fill you in more as I know more.

[Sherpa]

Wow it's been a long time since I have been to that area. I used to do some 5-7 day camping trips on the Naknek back in high school. This is quite possibly my favorite place on earth. We used to ship my dads' inflatable boat and his outboard to King Salmon in boxes that he built for them. We would just load up the boat head upriver and camp right next to the river. There is some great fishing out there. The Naknek has some huge rainbows in it. I would consider trying to hook into a few of those which may happen anyways while salmon fishing. You also could take a fly in trip to Brooks Falls on the other side of Naknek lake to see the bears. I have never been there but it is a renowned bear viewing area. If you see pics or videos of bears catching salmon as they try to swim up and jump the falls there is a good chance they were from there.

I don't think finding fish that are still fresh will be a problem for you. Some of them go all the way across Naknek lake to Brooks Falls and are still fresh when they get there. I looked at the ADF&G fish counts on there HSOforum for the past five years and early July looks like a good time to be there for reds. I'm not sure if he is still around but we used to deal with a guy from King Salmon named Dave Higdon. He rents boats ATVs and even used to have a couple cabins for rent across the river from town. We stayed in them once. They were pretty primitive but worked well for us. I found a number for him by googling "Dave Higdon King Salmon AK". He might be worth giving a call for any questions about the area.

I really hope to get back there someday. Wish I had some pics of the area to post but I only have old school pictures, no digital ones. I hope your trip goes well for you wherever you end up going. Take lots of pics and give us a report on your trip. I would be interested to hear about how it goes for you.

[fivebucks]

Thanks for your post and insight Sherpa. This place does the Brooks Falls deal also so that definately would be on the radar. I looked at the F&G HSOforum also and there still are fish showing up the week of July 9-16 but not nearly the numbers a week earlier. I'll keep you posted.

[Alagnak]

I've worked on and off the Nak since 99, along with many other area rivers (including my site name obviously). You likely won't find a 'red' fish in the river in July for the most part. The river is so short they shoot through it to the lake where they disperse to spawn around the lake or into tribs to even further/smaller lakes. As you mentioned the numbers aren't as high as the weeks leading up to. The whole river is what- 25-30 miles. Sockeyes don't get red swimming 30 miles. They're meat would be primo.

The main problem you'll find is the size of the Naknek and getting situated in a spot shallow enough with a sharp enough break to successfully even fish (floss) for them. The smaller/tighter/shallower water you can get them in running in front of you the easier. This being said- the big Nak is NOT the easiest river to target them on by any means! All of the really good spots are just that, and will be plastered by lodge guides I'm sure. There are a lot of lodges on that river.

You mentioned going to Brooks river. Thats great and its fun and very unique. It also is a pain in the *** to fish because of all of the park rangers making you get out of the river because of the constant bear action. Notice I said the park rangers are the problem. The bears won't bother you, they're there to fish too. But I've been there working day trips with people and maybe were wet in the water for 1-2 hours out of the day just due to rules. The other obvious problems are the travel to and from there, the fact that you can only keep 2 sockeyes while at Brooks and you have to take them IMMEDIATELY to their freezer facility so you don't have a fish on you. You also have to go back to eat lunch in certain area and oh, yeah- there are tons of people there. And thats is all after you have to go to the mandatory bear school LOL. Yeah its 'remote' but only by the fact you had to fly or boat to get there.

If I were you- and you did go to King Salmon/Naknek at that time I'd take the money you would have spend going to Brooks and charter a plane from Branch River Air to fly you down to Egigik river or something that is truly remote. A smaller river anywhere south of town that you can sight pods of fish from the plane. Have them drop you off on the fish for the day and you can fish the sockeye pods/train that swim by you all day. Whack em and stack em and bring your limit back to town. Just like fishing anywhere else, it's worth it to get away from the people AND just like fishing anywhere else.....you could get skunked. You could see 10,000 fish from the plane, land, fish, and they could move an by and quit running- or they could have the mouth plugged with nets too. Lots to think about. Either way you'll have a good time.

Pete

Alagnaklodge.com

[fivebucks]

Great info Pete - thanks. I did book the trip over the weekend verbally without paying yet. From your signature I can guess where you work. I will check that out. Good sockeye run there?

The Brooks Falls trip is via boat from their camp without fishing. They travel from camp thru Naknek Lake. They also have 3 day outpost camps that we can do. They set up in the Bay of Islands and do the Brooks Falls, fishing in the islands a day, and hiking up Idavain for reds, rainbows and grayling. Not sure if we'll do that but we'll see. I am glad to know the reds will be bright then. Thanks for your input.

[Alagnak]

Well it certainly sounds like they have a great game plan if you can do the 3 day trip. Ida is a great river and so is the bay of islands. You could easily catch the biggest rainbow you can imagine trolling around if you have the chance. Plenty of nice bows in the rivers too of course.

Yeah, we get a very good run of reds too. Only 5 lodges in 80 miles of river so there's plenty of room to stretch out which is nice. We're also the lowest lodge down river, just a few miles from salt.

The only concern with a Naknek lake trip is weather of course. You need a pretty seaworthy boat to go across there some days.

You'll have a trip of a lifetime no matter what you do, thats for sure!

[fivebucks]

Pete,

One thing I want to do is get away from the crowds. I get the feeling from you that the Nak can be crowed. I had my fill of combat fishing the Kenai and Russian Rivers. Please don't take offense but I want to stockpile some salmon and it almost sounded as if that was looked down on a little but maybe I'm reading more into it. Looking at the ADF&G HSOforum it looks like the Alagnak reds run a little later than the Nak. which would work better for my trip starting around July 9th.

Thanks!

[fivebucks]

Well - July can't come fast enough. I did not book a trip with Naknek River Camp and instead went with a place on the Alagnak River. "Alagnak" from above posts guides up there and it looks like he'll be stuck with me for 3 1/2 days of fishing. I will round out my trip with some halibut fishing out of Seward. We are also going to do a Brooks Falls bear deal. It's only late Feb. and I can't keep my mind on work - I'd hate to see what I'll be like in June

[jwmiller33]

fivebucks- what charter did you book with out of Seward for halibut? On our trip last year, we designated two days for halibut and rock fish, with the remaining 7 days left for kings and reds. Our first day for halibut, we went out of the Cook Inlet. The second day, we went out of Seward and did MUCH better, both in terms of size and numbers for halibut and rock fish as well. We had two fish that broke the triple digits mark, including my 105LBer and my step dad's 110LBer. Let me tell you, there is nothing like reeling in a 100+ LB halibut out of 200+ FOW in 6-8ft seas. You will have a blast! Make sure to take lots of pictures and report back to us how your trip went!

[fivebucks]

Haven't book the butt trips yet. Who did you use? I have a couple of friends still living in Seward so I will find out from them who they reccomend. They aren't fisherman so they may not know. I would like to break the 100# mark on the butt. I know I won't be keeping any 20# fish.

[jwmiller33]

do a google search for "Fish With Hill". Hill Norvell was the captain and it was his boat. Runs a first class operation and we are booked with him again for our trip this spring. The only thing I didn't like about the trip with Hill was the fact that we ran 2.5 hrs out to sea in 6 ft seas, which made for upset stomachs for all. This year we are making sure to bring a lot of dopamine. The long ride wasn't that bad and I'm glad we went out that far because Hill said we were targeting the "big ones". Anybody can go out there are catch 10-20LB halibut all day. Finding the 100+ LBers is much harder.

Hill has taken Larry Czonka out for halibut before and filmed a part of a tv segment for Larry's show. Hill is one of those high energy, loves everything about his job type of guys which makes the experience better in my opinion. He was light years better than the charter we used earlier in the same trip.

I'm sure if you talk to your buddies who live in Seward, they can recommend several other charters. There are so many different options out there for halibut fishing.

[jwmiller33]

here is my thread from last springs trip where you can see more details and the pics of the big halibut:

http://www.hotspotoutdoors.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2305700/1/my_2010_Alaska_trip

[DTro]

Well - July can't come fast enough. I did not book a trip with Naknek River Camp and instead went with a place on the Alagnak River. "Alagnak" from above posts guides up there and it looks like he'll be stuck with me for 3 1/2 days of fishing.

Good choice! Be sure you make him work for those fish.

Pete's a good guy you won't be disappointed.

[Alagnak]

Good choice! Be sure you make him work for those fish.

Pete's a good guy you won't be disappointed.

Dtro- you've been in my boat enough so just tell this this poor guy the truth you don't have to bee-ss em! ;-) The fish Nazi!

The truth is sometimes you certainly have to work for sockeyes since they're the only species of salmon that don't actually BITE anything- they are plankton eaters at sea. In that case it's strictly run timing and a numbers game (and a little casting and patience). There's a big difference between a day there is a couple hundred thousand fish that have entered the river vs a couple thousand. It's always nice when they're running into your waders and you're swinging a fly at whole schools of them instead of sight fishing to singles. Between one of the largest wild sockeye runs left in the world, little pressure and hundreds of miles of your own water, huge chums that slam baits, and kings that will be in the river too- there should be a few fish around. Plenty of options if the bears don't run you off the best spots (or the dock when you're filleting fish). There's always those pesky little rainbows too. Here's a couple pics to drool over while we still have too much ice. Is it July yet?

[jwmiller33]

awesome pictures!!!! reminds me of being up in Alaska. I can't wait to go back there this year. I think I am going to try and swing two trips this year. One for Kings, Reds and Halibut, and a second trip for the Silvers. I have yet to catch a silver, dolly varden, and arctic char.

what is the recipe for that grilled salmon? i have a bunch of alaskan salmon and am always looking for new ways to cook it up

[fivebucks]

You guys are killing me. How am I supposed to work today, let alone the next few months. I remember when I lived up there people were always saying which colors of Russian River flys worked best for the reds and nobody would believe me when I said it doesn't matter. You basically snag them in the mouth. I always made my own flys and found that keeping the hair to a minumim was the best cause it had less drag and gave you more surface area of line in which to run thru their mouths. I'm hoping the run is later this years so we can wack and stack some reds for bringing home and then have some more fun. Thanks for the butt tips JW and thanks for posting those great pics Pete. I am looking forward to fishing with you!

[jwmiller33]

fivebucks, where did you used to live? and more importantly, why did you ever move back? haha just kidding. I just graduated college last May and tried really hard to find a job in Wasilla or Anchorage so I could move up there, but with the job market the way it is, I didn't even get one call back. There are a ton more fishing jobs in Alaska than there are accounting/finance jobs. I still would move up there in a heart beat if I could, and when I go on my trip this June to Anchorage, Wasilla, Soldotna and Seward (in that order) I will be doing some job hunting while I am there and passing my resume out to whoever will take it.

[fivebucks]

Jake,

I spent my summers when I was going to school working at the salmon plant in Seward. It was a great job for a college kid, fishing until work started and then come home for school with some money in the pocket. I worked in the acct field auditing for 5 years, got burned out on it and moved back to Seward in 1990. I stayed there working in a seafood plant until Sept. 1992. The seafood industry was going to a quota system which would eliminate a lot of overtime so I was looking for something else. My wife to be was in MN so put 2 and 2 together. I found out after a couple years of being married that she would have moved up there. What a simple twist of fate that was. Things have worked out good except I don't get back up there nearly enough.

Good luck finding something up there. The best thing I did was spend some winters up there.

[Alagnak]

Sockeye run estimate (however they figure that) is 1.77 million on the Alagnak. WHEN the peak of the run is of course the real mystery. :-)

[fivebucks]

My deposit is in and here's to a late peak run this year

[JBone]

Solid Pictures!

[TommyJ33]

It will be great to hear from 5bucks upon his return. He will have a great time with Pete. Pete is a stand-up guy! Anyone that gives you a cold 12 pack of beer after a 7 day wilderness float trip is all right with me. He even took us fishing for awhile, on his OFF time, no less. I am sure 5 bucks got sick of the Reds and enjoyed the big Chums slamming his flies instead.

Hi Pete! Hope all is well with you!

Tom J.

[Alagnak]

Hey Tom! I almost forgot about that. It's been a while.

I actually had to leave up there already and fly back for a class at SDSU I HAVE to take for my real job. :-( Unfortunately the sockeye run was really dwindling when I flew out just a few minutes after 5bucks and his wife flew in. Yes, the chums were going nuts and the king fishing was pretty hot when I left and the bears were around pretty thick already. I left them with good hands and experience so I hope they had a good time and hope to hear about it soon.

It will be great to hear from 5bucks upon his return. He will have a great time with Pete. Pete is a stand-up guy! Anyone that gives you a cold 12 pack of beer after a 7 day wilderness float trip is all right with me. He even took us fishing for awhile, on his OFF time, no less. I am sure 5 bucks got sick of the Reds and enjoyed the big Chums slamming his flies instead.

Hi Pete! Hope all is well with you!

Tom J.