Alaska: Aniak River Lodge

[jasonvilly]

Got the opportunity to head up to Aniak River Lodge in Western Alaska.  Home to 12 species and some of Alaska best mousing for big Rainbows.  

We were pretty lucky weather wise, only 5 minutes of rain on one of the days, rest of the days were very comfortable.

We got a goldilocks week, as we were the only paying guests, there was the dad of one of the guides and Todd Moen and Brian O'kiefe were up there doing some filming for the next issue of Catch Magazine and IF4.  If I am lucky, the back of my head might be in one of the videos....hahaha

But what this meant is that we had the 50 miles of Ania river to ourselves.  No other lodges, no floaters.  Just us, a guide, the wildlife and copious amounts of fish per mile.

The welcome committee:

When you get off the plane you are greeted by the guides, and taken to the welcoming lodge in Aniak.  You quickly wader up, get on your jet boat and head up the river for an hour or so to the main lodge.  The lodge is well appointed with a big dining hall.  

Heading up the kuskoswim to the mid lodge:  The Aniak river is a tributary to the MUCH larger Kusko.  Was worried when we were flying in at the color. But the Aniak itself is crystal clear.

 

 

The Mid River Lodge: We spent 4 days fishing out of this lodge:

 

Walking up to the dining hall

 

View from the lodge, looking at the Aniak

 

The Cabin: Outside

 

The Cabin: Inside

 

 

Up River Tent Camp: We spent 3 nights fishing out of the tent camp

Tents.  Very comfortable, and gives you more of that camping/rugged alaska feel.

 

Waiting on Supper, Chillin by the fire

 

Supper Time!!!  Breakfast and Suppers were amazing.  Chef Corey preparing the nights suasage, tri tip and brisket.  Every night left you fully satisfied!

 

Lots of wildlife around. Guides are packing the heat.  But we only saw one juvenile bear the entire time, and he was none to interested in sticking around.

 

The Daily routine.  Coffee is ready at 7, breakfast is served at 7:30, 9 you meet your guide and head off for the day.  Get back to the lodge around 6:30, supper waiting for you at 7:30.

Your Chariots waiting for you:

 

The fishing: Its not really fishing, but more like catching.   We caught UNGODLY numbers of fish, if I threw a number out there, you probably wouldn't believe me.  Most of my fishing was done with single handed 6 or 7wt rod.  No need for two handers or light tippet here. You primarily fish from the boat, as they back drift with the motor.  We fished most methods that they use up there: Streamers, beads and mousing.   Mousing is by far my favourite, but conditions arent always optimal for it.   Had one really spectacular day on the mouse, with about 15-20 big rainbows landed on the mouse and bunch of grayling in the mix.  When I wanst mousing in the front of the boat, you would kill time by catching dollys, chums, or grayling on every cast of your streamer.

 

They get get returns of all 5 species of pacific salmon ( everything except coho was in the system when we were there), leopard rainbows, grayling, sea run dollys, artic char, sheefish and pike.

Most days you caught 6 or 7 differebt species of fish.  Sheefish and Coho were the only ones that we were unable to catch while there.

 

Rainbows (These girls are the prettiest rainbows I have ever seen.  Their colors are just WOW.  That red streak....amazing.  They pull like tanks, get them up top of water column or you arent landing it.  They are all over, and when you got one on you know it right away.  We caught so many over 20" that I stopped counting the first day.  Getting out of the wood and on top on mouse patterns was my favourite way of targeting them)

 

Sight fished in a flat water spring.  Beautiful colors, and those shoulders are meant for pulling.

 

Hydroman with a a chunky Bow!

 

Double Rainbow......But what does it mean?

 

Sea Run Dolly (these girls are super abundant, you have to get past them and the grayling to catch the big bows.  They are in feeding heavily on eggs being dropped by the Chum)

 

Double Dolly Duty!!!  Look at those dorito mouths......   Lots of color variation in the Dollys, some are really light, some very dark

 

King Salmon ( you cannot target them, but you catch the odd one accidently.  Must stay in the water and be let go as soon as possible.  This was a little 15-20 pounder in her spawning colors)

 

Grayling (rub his head to get his fin up......lots of these guys, like the Dollys, they eat your fly as fast as possible, caught many the beat my PB grayling.  Ranged in colors from very light to very dark.  They will eat mice, streamers, eggs whatever)

 

Chum Dog.  Catch lots of these guys, awesome pull on the line.  They get a run of about 800,000 of these guys in the river.  As you jet up, it is a parting of the Chum.  But these guys provide a ton of nutrient for the entire ecosystem, whether that is their eggs or decaying bodies.  Everything feeds on them.  Which is why the Dolly, Bows and Grayling are so big.

 

Watch your fingers with this set of chompers.

 

Artic Char:  Tough to tell them apart from the Dollys sometimes.  But this is a good example of a more typical Char.

 

In the lower stretches and a trib called the Doestok, you can catch some very nice Pike..

 

 

Everyone should try to experience Alaska at least once.  Whether it be this lodge or somewhere else.  The time and money is worth the adventure that awaits you.

[TroutPanther]

Thanks for the photo essay Jason! Looks incredible. 

[ÜberFly]

Awesome! 

[PeteZahut]

Great post! 

[CROOKSIE]

OMG what a place!! Amazing, and well presented.

[Komp]

Fantastic stuff, thanks for sharing your trip!

[Sage]

Jasonvilly: Brilliant post and absolutely enjoyed the pictures and description!!!

[reevesr1]

Super jealous! Happy for you buddy.

[TightLinesJ]

Thanks for the post, looks incredible. Had to wipe the drool off my chin, the colors on those fish.........

[MattyTaylor]

Just incredible - thanks for taking the time to share with us!

[Swede]

Too cool my friend . Thank you for sharing that.

[PAV]

Awesome pictures! Alaska is my favorite place to fish hands down but sadly it's been far too long.....

[BigFoamy]

Awesome photos. Looks and sounds like it was the perfect trip!! 

[keet]

Will be cool to see Todd Moen's flick at IF4 tomorrow