Katmai Trophy Lodge

Naknek River, Alaska

August 2026

Species: Rainbow Trout, Silver Salmon, Pink Salmon, Grayling, Dolly Varden

In looking for a spot to take my daughter, who is new to fly fishing, I knew we couldn't go wrong with Alaska. The short feeding season leads to hungry fish and lots of shots. After much research, I decided on the Katmai Trophy Lodge on the Naknek River. Much more reasonably priced than nearby alternatives, the lodge provided a comfortable home base from which to explore.

Getting to Katmai Trophy Lodge was easier than many destinations, because we could take a commercial flight on Alaska Airlines to the town of King Salmon. Many Alaska lodges require a float plan ride, and these sometimes get delayed or cancelled due to weather. The large Alaska Airlines plane is much less likely to have issues. Upon arriving in King Salmon, we were greeted by James the owner, who drove us a short distance to the lodge.

Katmai Trophy Lodge was not luxurious, but was comfortable. My daughter and I shared a room in the main lodge. 

After a good sleep the first night, we headed out to Brooks Falls, an area famous for its salmon-hunting bears. We took a smooth boat ride of about an hour and then went through a short bear safety orientation from the park rangers. We then hiked a little over a mile to the falls in some beautiful sunny weather. Miraculously, we did not have any wait before heading to the main viewing platform. There, we observed the bears trying to grab sockeye salmon as they swam upstream to spawn. The bears displayed great patience, often putting their heads under the water to look for salmon. Occasionally a bear would catch one and bring its catch over to shore to enjoy.

After the bear watching, we hiked down into the creek to do some fishing. It was an odd feeling to watch bears from the viewing platform and then get right in the water near them. Whenever one came by, we had to get out of its way and try to stay at least 50 yards away. Not always easy to do when they appeared out of the brush nearby and came towards us.

Fishing in Brooks Creek was not easy, as it is heavily fished on a daily basis. However, I managed to catch a few Rainbows to 22" and my daughter caught one in the 24" range right as we were leaving that had to be hastily released without a photo when a bear took too much interest.

Beautiful weather greeted us on our second day, and we took advantage and flew out to Moraine Creek. I had been there once before on a previous trip and caught my biggest Rainbow in Alaska, so I was excited to show my daughter this beautiful place. We landed on a a nearby lake and inflated our raft to float down the river in. We stopped and fished at a spot a couple hundred yards from where we started, and right away we started hooking fish. Only a small percentage were under 22"; most were big fish. My daughter hooked one at the first spot that got into the current and made a screaming run well into her backing. Luckily she landed it, thanks to a long sprint by our guide Dylan.

It seemed like every spot on this magical day was firing. We caught and lost many big fish. When the dust settled, my daughter and I had landed something like 50 fish, including some Sockeye Salmon bycatch. This was the best day of trout fishing I had ever had from a quality/quantity standpoint. The bright sun allowed us to see the trout and target specific large fish. What an outstanding day.

The next day we decided to fish the Naknek River in front of the lodge for Silver Salmon to take home. The Naknek does not get large runs of Silvers, but it gets enough to target. Since we were trying to get as many fish as possible to bring home, we used spinning gear. My daughter used a spinner and I used a jig. The action was not fast and furious, but we got a Silver here and there in between all the Pink Salmon. A large run of Pink Salmon had invaded the river and they eagerly bit lures meant for Silvers.

Unfortunately, my daughter did not feel well and had to be taken back early. I went back out and got one more to bring our total for the day to 7.

On Day 4 my daughter was in no shape to go out, so I went on my own to Margot Creek to try to catch some Dolly Varden. Unfortunately, the weather had turned for the worse and the boat ride was a slow, long slog. Once we got to the creek, we fished the mouth and the Dolly Varden were biting. I caught 5, including a long and old 26 incher, and some trout.

I would have liked to fish more of Margot Creek, but the decision was made to head to Brooks Falls. It was a slow and wavy ride over there despite the short distance. I opted to not bring a rod to Brooks and instead photograph bears. The hike there and back provided relatively little time to fish, and the fishing had not been very good there anyway. After a broken rod, only one person in our party ended up fishing, and I did not see her catch anything. The bears entertained as always.

The next day my daughter was still recovering, so I opted to fish the main river in the hopes of boxing more Silver Salmon to take home. The Silvers ended up being quite elusive, as I only got two into the boat despite many follows and some hooked and lost. I did catch a mountain of Pinks to keep things interesting, as well as a couple of wayward Rainbows.

On our last day, my daughter felt well enough to go out and so we flew back to Moraine. As is often the case in fishing, this day differed substantially from our prior day there. Rains had muddied the water, and an overcast sky made spotting fish extremely difficult. The fishing was definitely tougher, but we still had a great day catching a couple of nice fish and losing some big ones as well. My daughter also caught the Grayling she had been hoping for all week. Our guide Avery worked very hard to put her on fish.

We did have some exciting encounters with bears on this day as we floated past. Thankfully they took no interest in us.

A wolf also came to watch us take off; a rare sight.

All too soon, it was time to head home. A big thanks to Katmai Trophy Lodge (www.katmaitrophylodge.com) and all their hardworking staff for making it such an enjoyable father-daughter experience.