The author's large Sheefish
August 2017
Species: Rainbow Trout, Dolly Varden, Sheefish, Arctic Grayling, Silver Salmon, King Salmon, Sockeye Salmon, Pink Salmon, Chum Salmon
Alaska is an absolutely incredible place to fish. Because of the short growing season, many of the fish species feed ravenously during the summer months. I had fished in Alaska before, but never in the rivers. It was an amazing experience, as I will attempt to describe below.
The Lodge
The Aniak River Lodge is located about an hour upriver from the small town of Aniak. Getting there was relatively easy; I took a direct flight from Houston to Anchorage, overnighted there, and then took a short flight to Aniak the next morning. The group of 12 of us were picked up at the airport by the lodge staff and taken to a house while they got stuff ready for the trip upriver. We headed up and got to the main lodge late in the afternoon.
The main lodge is a bit rustic but comfortable. There are 7 cabins and since I came alone I got my own cabin. Electricity went on and off throughout the week, and hot water was sometimes but not always available in the shower. The setting is absolutely beautiful and best of all there are no other lodges competing for the water like in so many other places. We saw one or two groups of rafters going down, but since their rafts were not motorized they couldn’t really stop on most spots so they basically just floated right past. Having the river to yourself is really a big plus.
Aniak River Lodge also operates a tent camp farther upriver where we stayed for two nights. It had seven large Weatherport tents for sleeping plus one for showering, one for eating, and one for drying stuff. It was cool to have another location to fish out of to add to the variety.
I was a little worried about mosquitoes, but fortunately they were not an issue at all at this point in the season. They are much worse early in the season in June/July. Weather was amazing; it was sunny and warm almost all of the time until the day we went back when it got cold and rainy. You definitely can’t count on that in Alaska, so we lucked out. On the downside, the water was high and muddy from heavy rains the prior week, so that made fishing a little tougher than normal. However, fishing was still excellent and got better throughout the week as the water cleared.
Main camp cabins
Tent camp
The Fishing
Like everyone else on this trip, my main focus was the fishing, and that did not disappoint. The Aniak River offers all 5 species of salmon (although Kings have been closed to angling for a while), very large and fat Rainbow Trout, Sheefish, Dolly Varden/Arctic Char, Arctic Grayling, and Northern Pike. I managed to catch all of them, as detailed below. There are very few places in the world where you can target Sheefish, as they only live in a couple of river systems in the US and Russia, so that was a draw for me. It is a big advantage to be able to target all of those species without having to do any flyouts. That also keeps the cost of Aniak River Lodge down compared to operations that rely on flyouts.
The fishing starts at the very gentlemanly hour of 9am every day and goes until 6pm. You fish 2 people to a boat and rotate guides each day so that you get to fish with all of the guides through the course of the week. All of the guides were familiar with all of the fishing styles there, and all were very hardworking and friendly. I don’t think I have been to a lodge with such consistently good guides from top to bottom. They each have stretches of river that they specialize in, so no boat is fishing the same water as you at any given time (unless you decide to fish for Sheefish since they are only found in a couple places). Every morning you tell your guide what you want to fish for and they make it happen. At no point in the six days I fished did I ask to target something and have the guide fail to deliver it, except one morning for the elusive Sheefish (although there were plenty in the spot that would periodically surface and taunt us). Amazing.
All fishing is done with barbless single hooks, on either spin or fly gear. All fish are released, although if you want to keep a couple of salmon to take home you can do that. I didn’t bother with that as it seemed pretty inconvenient, but a couple of people kept a few Silver Salmon.
I got paired up with a retired gentleman named George who also came alone. He was very affable and good to fish with. George came exclusively to fly fish, while I brought both spin and fly gear. I had done very little fly fishing before this trip, but after the first day I put my spin rod down and hardly touched it again. Over 80% of the fish I caught were on fly tackle, which was a cool new experience for me. I must say, I might be hooked on the fly fishing thing now.
Like everyone else on this trip, my main focus was the fishing, and that did not disappoint. The Aniak River offers all 5 species of salmon (although Kings have been closed to angling for a while), very large and fat Rainbow Trout, Sheefish, Dolly Varden/Arctic Char, Arctic Grayling, and Northern Pike. I managed to catch all of them, as detailed below. There are very few places in the world where you can target Sheefish, as they only live in a couple of river systems in the US and Russia, so that was a draw for me. It is a big advantage to be able to target all of those species without having to do any flyouts. That also keeps the cost of Aniak River Lodge down compared to operations that rely on flyouts.
The fishing starts at the very gentlemanly hour of 9am every day and goes until 6pm. You fish 2 people to a boat and rotate guides each day so that you get to fish with all of the guides through the course of the week. All of the guides were familiar with all of the fishing styles there, and all were very hardworking and friendly. I don’t think I have been to a lodge with such consistently good guides from top to bottom. They each have stretches of river that they specialize in, so no boat is fishing the same water as you at any given time (unless you decide to fish for Sheefish since they are only found in a couple places). Every morning you tell your guide what you want to fish for and they make it happen. At no point in the six days I fished did I ask to target something and have the guide fail to deliver it, except one morning for the elusive Sheefish (although there were plenty in the spot that would periodically surface and taunt us). Amazing.
All fishing is done with barbless single hooks, on either spin or fly gear. All fish are released, although if you want to keep a couple of salmon to take home you can do that. I didn’t bother with that as it seemed pretty inconvenient, but a couple of people kept a few Silver Salmon.
I got paired up with a retired gentleman named George who also came alone. He was very affable and good to fish with. George came exclusively to fly fish, while I brought both spin and fly gear. I had done very little fly fishing before this trip, but after the first day I put my spin rod down and hardly touched it again. Over 80% of the fish I caught were on fly tackle, which was a cool new experience for me. I must say, I might be hooked on the fly fishing thing now.
Guide Kyle and I with a Silver Salmon
The author fighting a Silver Salmon from the bank
The author fighting a Sockeye Salmon from the bank.
The Fish
King Salmon
King Salmon season has been closed on the Aniak River for a few years (even to catch and release), but you could still see them spawning all over the river. I think everyone in the group incidentally hooked one or two. The guides will not take them out of the water if they are incidentally hooked, so I don’t have a photo of the one I caught. This is not the place to come to fish for Kings (unless the season reopens), but it was nice to see them and you could fish behind them for trout, char, and grayling which were there to eat their eggs.
Silver Salmon
The Silvers were just coming into the river when I got there, and more came in throughout the week. They averaged about 8-12lbs and were the most acrobatic of the salmon when hooked. They were also the most aggressive about chasing flies and lures. They ate loud pink and orange flies or jigs or spoons pretty readily when located. I didn’t really focus on them, but dedicated an hour or so here and there and always managed to hook a few when I tried. One father/son duo focused on them one day and boated 51. They were definitely there for the catching if you wanted them. Being fresh from the ocean, many of them were still bright silver color and had sea lice still. Others who had been there a little longer were a pinkish color.
King Salmon
King Salmon season has been closed on the Aniak River for a few years (even to catch and release), but you could still see them spawning all over the river. I think everyone in the group incidentally hooked one or two. The guides will not take them out of the water if they are incidentally hooked, so I don’t have a photo of the one I caught. This is not the place to come to fish for Kings (unless the season reopens), but it was nice to see them and you could fish behind them for trout, char, and grayling which were there to eat their eggs.
Silver Salmon
The Silvers were just coming into the river when I got there, and more came in throughout the week. They averaged about 8-12lbs and were the most acrobatic of the salmon when hooked. They were also the most aggressive about chasing flies and lures. They ate loud pink and orange flies or jigs or spoons pretty readily when located. I didn’t really focus on them, but dedicated an hour or so here and there and always managed to hook a few when I tried. One father/son duo focused on them one day and boated 51. They were definitely there for the catching if you wanted them. Being fresh from the ocean, many of them were still bright silver color and had sea lice still. Others who had been there a little longer were a pinkish color.
Chrome Silver Salmon caught on fly gear
Sockeye Salmon
Sockeye Salmon undergo perhaps the most striking transformation when they enter the rivers of any salmon, going from a generic salmonoid shape with silver sides to bright red and green monsters with huge humped backs and gnarly hooked jaws (males). You could easily spot them milling around in pools getting ready to spawn because of their bright red color. They would not bite super aggressively, but could be coaxed to chase a loud pink fly on occasion. The males are a little easier to hook because they are more aggressive. Once hooked, they put up a solid fight. I didn’t spend much time on these either, but it was cool to get a few. It’s all sight fishing so you get to watch the fish chase your fly.
Sockeye Salmon undergo perhaps the most striking transformation when they enter the rivers of any salmon, going from a generic salmonoid shape with silver sides to bright red and green monsters with huge humped backs and gnarly hooked jaws (males). You could easily spot them milling around in pools getting ready to spawn because of their bright red color. They would not bite super aggressively, but could be coaxed to chase a loud pink fly on occasion. The males are a little easier to hook because they are more aggressive. Once hooked, they put up a solid fight. I didn’t spend much time on these either, but it was cool to get a few. It’s all sight fishing so you get to watch the fish chase your fly.
Large male Sockeye. Note the big hump and kype.
A female Sockeye. It was rare to hook these.
Chum Salmon
Chum Salmon were all over the river, and many of them had already spawned and died. Others were listlessly swimming in a zombie-like state while their bodies slowly decayed. However, there was a run of them that had come in more recently and had not yet spawned, and those were willing biters whenever they were located. They all had a Green Goblin-like coloration. Chum Salmon get a bad rap for some reason, but they were fun to catch and got to some hefty sizes. I spent no time targeting them, but sometimes caught them when they were mixed in with the other salmon.
Chum Salmon were all over the river, and many of them had already spawned and died. Others were listlessly swimming in a zombie-like state while their bodies slowly decayed. However, there was a run of them that had come in more recently and had not yet spawned, and those were willing biters whenever they were located. They all had a Green Goblin-like coloration. Chum Salmon get a bad rap for some reason, but they were fun to catch and got to some hefty sizes. I spent no time targeting them, but sometimes caught them when they were mixed in with the other salmon.
Pink Salmon
The smallest of the Pacific Salmon, Pink Salmon are much more plentiful in even numbered years, but we still saw quite a few of them. Apparently in even years they are there in plague proportions. I never fished specifically for them, but caught three or four incidentally. This is another salmon that undergoes a dramatic physical transformation, as seen below.
The smallest of the Pacific Salmon, Pink Salmon are much more plentiful in even numbered years, but we still saw quite a few of them. Apparently in even years they are there in plague proportions. I never fished specifically for them, but caught three or four incidentally. This is another salmon that undergoes a dramatic physical transformation, as seen below.
Rainbow Trout
To me, these guys are the real stars of the Aniak. I didn’t really target them until the second half of the week because I was trying to catch everything, but if I ever go back I will fish primarily for these. The average size is tremendous, probably around 20 inches, and they are incredibly fat and strong. Fighting them on a 6wt fly rod in the fast current was no joke. I have never had a trout pull like that. My biggest one was a 28 inch beast and I caught quite a number of 22-24 inch beauties. I have done a fair amount of trout fishing, but have never seen trout that compared to these in terms of looks and fight.
The Rainbows were found in two primary places – behind the spawning salmon and in wood piles. On the spawning beds, they wait behind the salmon for eggs to drop out to eat. Apparently the big ones will headbutt the salmon in order to get them to drop eggs sometimes. The best way to fish for them in that situation is to drift a plastic bead that looks like a salmon egg through the spawning salmon. That was incredibly effective in generating strikes, but resulted in a lot more Dolly Varden/Arctic Char than trout. It was about a 4:1 ratio.
In the wood piles, the Rainbows were primarily waiting for the dead salmon to pile up so they could feast on their carcasses. For this type of fishing, we used puffy flies that looked like salmon flesh and drifted them through the wood piles. This resulted in a lot of snags, but it also resulted in some nice big trout with very little bycatch. When hooked, these big Rainbows would try to bulldog back into the woodpiles and you really had to put a lot of effort into keeping them out. That was probably my favorite type of fishing for the week.
At certain times of the year, the trout aggressively take mouse flies skated on top, but there was too much salmon egg/flesh around to make that very effective this week. One guy put in several hours of effort and only managed one or two. Staying with the tried and true egg beads and flesh flies, you could stick some nice ones. All were carefully released.
To me, these guys are the real stars of the Aniak. I didn’t really target them until the second half of the week because I was trying to catch everything, but if I ever go back I will fish primarily for these. The average size is tremendous, probably around 20 inches, and they are incredibly fat and strong. Fighting them on a 6wt fly rod in the fast current was no joke. I have never had a trout pull like that. My biggest one was a 28 inch beast and I caught quite a number of 22-24 inch beauties. I have done a fair amount of trout fishing, but have never seen trout that compared to these in terms of looks and fight.
The Rainbows were found in two primary places – behind the spawning salmon and in wood piles. On the spawning beds, they wait behind the salmon for eggs to drop out to eat. Apparently the big ones will headbutt the salmon in order to get them to drop eggs sometimes. The best way to fish for them in that situation is to drift a plastic bead that looks like a salmon egg through the spawning salmon. That was incredibly effective in generating strikes, but resulted in a lot more Dolly Varden/Arctic Char than trout. It was about a 4:1 ratio.
In the wood piles, the Rainbows were primarily waiting for the dead salmon to pile up so they could feast on their carcasses. For this type of fishing, we used puffy flies that looked like salmon flesh and drifted them through the wood piles. This resulted in a lot of snags, but it also resulted in some nice big trout with very little bycatch. When hooked, these big Rainbows would try to bulldog back into the woodpiles and you really had to put a lot of effort into keeping them out. That was probably my favorite type of fishing for the week.
At certain times of the year, the trout aggressively take mouse flies skated on top, but there was too much salmon egg/flesh around to make that very effective this week. One guy put in several hours of effort and only managed one or two. Staying with the tried and true egg beads and flesh flies, you could stick some nice ones. All were carefully released.
The author's giant 28 inch Rainbow
Sheefish
Known as the Tarpon of the North, Sheefish are a rare member of the Whitefish family. They look kind of like a Tarpon and some of them jump when hooked. They are only found in a small handful of rivers in the world, so I wanted to make the most of this special opportunity to catch one.
Sheefish feed on small smolt about 2-3 inches long. They were only found in a couple of spots and could periodically be seen rising to eat baitfish. However, seeing them and hooking them were two very different things. The first morning I tried for them I didn’t even get a bite. However, the next morning I managed to hook 4 (2 on fly and 2 on spin) and landed two. Those two were the only two landed by our whole group of 12 for the entire week, despite various people dedicating chunks of time to target them. You need to have some patience for those guys. I was really stoked to have the good fortune to get these.
Known as the Tarpon of the North, Sheefish are a rare member of the Whitefish family. They look kind of like a Tarpon and some of them jump when hooked. They are only found in a small handful of rivers in the world, so I wanted to make the most of this special opportunity to catch one.
Sheefish feed on small smolt about 2-3 inches long. They were only found in a couple of spots and could periodically be seen rising to eat baitfish. However, seeing them and hooking them were two very different things. The first morning I tried for them I didn’t even get a bite. However, the next morning I managed to hook 4 (2 on fly and 2 on spin) and landed two. Those two were the only two landed by our whole group of 12 for the entire week, despite various people dedicating chunks of time to target them. You need to have some patience for those guys. I was really stoked to have the good fortune to get these.
Dolly Varden/Arctic Char
These are two incredibly similar species so I’m lumping them together. Even the guides had a hard time telling them apart and I got conflicting reports on the differences between them. They were generally caught on egg beads fished through the spawning salmon, and they were very numerous. I landed 115 for the week and could have tripled that number easily if I had focused on just fishing beads through spawn. They ranged from silver with faint pink spots to having the most striking coloration of any fish in the river when spawning as seen below. They averaged about 18 inches and my biggest was a beast of 24.5”. They were fun to catch and provided a lot of action. The big ones provided some good fights. We had some smoked back at the lodge and ate them on crackers and they were delicious. If they weren’t so common, they would probably be highly revered due to their brilliant coloration.
Many of the Dolly Varden/Arctic Char we caught had big gashes in them from salmon biting them. Occupational hazard of being an egg-stealer.
At one point George left his fly in the water next to the boat while we were on shore and an aggressive Dolly ate it and pulled his rod into the water. Luckily I happened to be in the water behind the boat and was able to grab it as it got taken away. You can’t leave flies in the water on the Aniak.
These are two incredibly similar species so I’m lumping them together. Even the guides had a hard time telling them apart and I got conflicting reports on the differences between them. They were generally caught on egg beads fished through the spawning salmon, and they were very numerous. I landed 115 for the week and could have tripled that number easily if I had focused on just fishing beads through spawn. They ranged from silver with faint pink spots to having the most striking coloration of any fish in the river when spawning as seen below. They averaged about 18 inches and my biggest was a beast of 24.5”. They were fun to catch and provided a lot of action. The big ones provided some good fights. We had some smoked back at the lodge and ate them on crackers and they were delicious. If they weren’t so common, they would probably be highly revered due to their brilliant coloration.
Many of the Dolly Varden/Arctic Char we caught had big gashes in them from salmon biting them. Occupational hazard of being an egg-stealer.
At one point George left his fly in the water next to the boat while we were on shore and an aggressive Dolly ate it and pulled his rod into the water. Luckily I happened to be in the water behind the boat and was able to grab it as it got taken away. You can’t leave flies in the water on the Aniak.
A brilliant large male Dolly Varden in spawning colors
A more silver-colored Dolly Varden recently in from the ocean
Arctic Grayling
Known as the Sailfish of the North because of their large dorsal fin, these little guys were primarily caught when fishing beads through the spawning Salmon. They tended to nip at the eggs rather than inhale them, so I missed a lot of strikes from these guys. I only landed 8 for the week, with the biggest being a very respectable (for Grayling) 18”. They didn’t put up much of a fight, but were an interesting bycatch and were a new species for me so that is always a plus.
Known as the Sailfish of the North because of their large dorsal fin, these little guys were primarily caught when fishing beads through the spawning Salmon. They tended to nip at the eggs rather than inhale them, so I missed a lot of strikes from these guys. I only landed 8 for the week, with the biggest being a very respectable (for Grayling) 18”. They didn’t put up much of a fight, but were an interesting bycatch and were a new species for me so that is always a plus.
Northern Pike
The slow waters off of the main river held good numbers of Northern Pike. I only fished for them the first day since they were unaffected by the high and muddy water. I landed around 30 of them in about 4 hours of fishing, and probably could have really whaled on them if I had been less stubborn about trying to get them on topwaters. Five of them were over 30 inches, with the biggest being around 33-34 inches. They apparently get up to 40 inches, which is a substantial fish, but ones that big are pretty few and far between in this river system. They provided some spectacular strikes in the clear water and were very aggressive. I even saw one jump out of the water and grab a bird on the bank. It flopped around on the bank for a bit with the bird in its mouth and then flopped into the water.
You would never go all the way here to fish for pike, especially when the nearby Innoko River has much, much larger ones. However, they can be a fun diversion for a little while if conditions are bad for other things.
The slow waters off of the main river held good numbers of Northern Pike. I only fished for them the first day since they were unaffected by the high and muddy water. I landed around 30 of them in about 4 hours of fishing, and probably could have really whaled on them if I had been less stubborn about trying to get them on topwaters. Five of them were over 30 inches, with the biggest being around 33-34 inches. They apparently get up to 40 inches, which is a substantial fish, but ones that big are pretty few and far between in this river system. They provided some spectacular strikes in the clear water and were very aggressive. I even saw one jump out of the water and grab a bird on the bank. It flopped around on the bank for a bit with the bird in its mouth and then flopped into the water.
You would never go all the way here to fish for pike, especially when the nearby Innoko River has much, much larger ones. However, they can be a fun diversion for a little while if conditions are bad for other things.
Scenery/Wildlife
They don’t call this The Great Land for nothing. What an amazing place. There are few places in the country that can rival Alaska for natural beauty without the crowds. Every so often I would pause from fishing and just look around and enjoy it.
In terms of wildlife, I spotted some eagles and ospreys hunting fish, a couple of mink, some river otters, and a lynx. The lynx was really a highlight as I had never seen one in the wild before. We lucked into seeing it swimming in the river, so we got a good look at it when it got to the bank and bounded away. Of course I wasn’t able to get to my camera in time, but it was still cool to see. Overall I didn’t get many good scenery/wildlife shots; I was too busy fishing.
There are apparently a lot of moose and bear in the area, but I didn’t see any this trip. The bears were hunted pretty extensively a few years ago in an effort to help the moose population, so the bears are very wary of people. We saw evidence of them everywhere by the river bank – fresh footprints, scat, half eaten salmon carcasses, etc. However, apparently when they hear the boats they head into the woods to hide until you pass. All of the guides carry guns just in case, but none of the ones I spoke with had ever had to draw their gun on a bear.
Probably the coolest part about the trip from a wildlife standpoint was just to watch the salmon go through all of the phases of their spawn – heading upriver, congregating in pools preparing to spawn, building nests and guarding them, and then dying. It’s an amazing wonder of nature that is incredible in so many ways that I didn’t fully appreciate before this.
In summary, this trip exceeded even my high expectations in every way. I highly recommend the Aniak River Lodge to anyone who likes to fish.
Gear
In terms of rods, 8wt rods for the salmon and 6wt rods for the trout are the way to go if you are fly fishing, while a medium 6-12lb spinning outfit can be used for pretty much anything. Personally, I used G Loomis Cross Current fly rods and a St. Croix Legend Trek spinning rod.
They don’t call this The Great Land for nothing. What an amazing place. There are few places in the country that can rival Alaska for natural beauty without the crowds. Every so often I would pause from fishing and just look around and enjoy it.
In terms of wildlife, I spotted some eagles and ospreys hunting fish, a couple of mink, some river otters, and a lynx. The lynx was really a highlight as I had never seen one in the wild before. We lucked into seeing it swimming in the river, so we got a good look at it when it got to the bank and bounded away. Of course I wasn’t able to get to my camera in time, but it was still cool to see. Overall I didn’t get many good scenery/wildlife shots; I was too busy fishing.
There are apparently a lot of moose and bear in the area, but I didn’t see any this trip. The bears were hunted pretty extensively a few years ago in an effort to help the moose population, so the bears are very wary of people. We saw evidence of them everywhere by the river bank – fresh footprints, scat, half eaten salmon carcasses, etc. However, apparently when they hear the boats they head into the woods to hide until you pass. All of the guides carry guns just in case, but none of the ones I spoke with had ever had to draw their gun on a bear.
Probably the coolest part about the trip from a wildlife standpoint was just to watch the salmon go through all of the phases of their spawn – heading upriver, congregating in pools preparing to spawn, building nests and guarding them, and then dying. It’s an amazing wonder of nature that is incredible in so many ways that I didn’t fully appreciate before this.
In summary, this trip exceeded even my high expectations in every way. I highly recommend the Aniak River Lodge to anyone who likes to fish.
Gear
In terms of rods, 8wt rods for the salmon and 6wt rods for the trout are the way to go if you are fly fishing, while a medium 6-12lb spinning outfit can be used for pretty much anything. Personally, I used G Loomis Cross Current fly rods and a St. Croix Legend Trek spinning rod.
In terms of gear, probably the most important items for any Alaska trip are the right pieces of clothing. Weather can change in an instant from warm and sunny to freezing and rainy, and having the clothing to stay comfortable is critical to having a good trip.
Baby mink hanging out under the lodge