by Pete Gray

I am fortunate to have spent a lot of time fishing in Alaska.  I have been to enough places and resorts to know the ones I really want to return to.  Katmai Lodge in Bristol Bay is certainly one of them.  I have been to Katmai ten times, and every trip is a different adventure.  One thing is always consistent- you are going to catch fish!

This year’s trip was July 16 to 23 for part of the group- the full 7-day adventure, and some of the group choose the 4-day adventure July 16 to 20. Harold Davis co-hosted the trip with me and is always a pleasure to travel with.   Many in the group had been to Katmai before, but several had not.  We also had several couples too.  The expected record run of Sockeye Salmon certainly did not disappoint.  Myself and my fishing partner Doug filled our 50-pound box of filets in less than 1 ½ days.  Sockeye fishing is interesting.  Best tool for the job is an 8 weight fly rod with a hook, bead and pinch weight.  The technique is a short 10-foot cast repeatedly as the fish schools swim by right in front of you, and “flossing” the fish with the hook. Sockeye do not actively feed as they are moving up the river, so you just want the line to go into their mouth as they swim by.  Once you hook one, it is quite an exciting fight!  They pull hard and jump.  The fish we were fishing from probably just entered the Alagnak River from Bristol Bay just hours before. Many of these bright and silver fish still have sea lice still attached.  You do not need to know how to fly fish to be successful with sockeye!  Every day for lunch our guide would fire up the bar b q on the boat and cook fresh Sockeye for us.  Sockeye Salmon are considered by many to be the best eating of all salmon, and nothing is better to be riverside eating it fresh!

We could have chosen to fish wide open Sockeye every day, but Doug and I wanted to explore the other fisheries too.  King salmon were also in, and there were some very impressive catches.  Bobby in our group caught a king that was 42 inches and estimated over 35 pounds.  There were several large fish caught during the week.  Doug and I had fun catching “jack king” which are under 20 inches and “magnum kings” which are under 25 inches.  We did not land any “adult” kings but hooked a few.  The best method was using a light spinning rod set up and throwing spinners and lead head jigs.  Katmai gets the reputation of being just a fly-fishing destination, but the fact is we spent more time throwing spinners at salmon and trout.  In fact, the largest trout we caught were on the spinner.  We also spent 2 days in the upper river know as “The Braids” chasing salmon and trout.  Trout fishing was very slow, but salmon fishing was good.

One of the bonus’ for anglers is the amazing scenery and wildlife.  Alaskan Brown Bears were abundant, especially up in “The Braids”. We had one bear “fishing “right across the river from us for 2 hours while we fished a bank…amazing watching him jump in and nail the sockeye.  We saw a pair of moose…they were scarce due to the abundance of bears.  Tons of bald eagles and huge Alaskan beavers too.

Katmai Lodge is a fantastic experience.  Our trip next July is already sold out, so we added new dates, August 12 to 19,2023.  This is my favorite time of year.  Lots of salmon and unbelievable giant trout fishing.  There are other spots available next year, so if you want to go check Katmai.com and give them a call soon to book!  Check the “trips” page at letstalkhookup.com for details on our trips.  I can’t wait to go back!