Alaska West is the world-class fishing lodge in Western Alaska – home of legendary fly fishing for rainbow trout, silver salmon, king salmon and more.
You won’t need a coat and tie to wear to dinner, and you won’t have to worry about tracking mud on the carpet. No one will be offended by your cigar smoke or your drink spilled laughing around the campfire. You will catch fish till your arms are sore and your back aches.
You’ll spend quality time with quality people like yourself and you won’t believe what a special river you are fishing. You will leave camp a little heavier than when you arrived and if you’re like the majority of the anglers that visit Alaska West, you will return.
Our Operation
Alaska West is located on the Kanektok River in Western Alaska. We fish for all five species of Pacific salmon, as well as rainbow trout, dolly varden and grayling. Our guests stay with us at the lodge each night and go fishing each day with two anglers per guide fishing out of 18 foot jet boats.
Getting to Alaska West means flying to Anchorage and then taking a series of flights from Anchorage to the lodge (which we arrange for you).
Our Season
Our season runs from the third week of June through the end of August each summer. Our fishery is incredibly productive and folks who know call it a ‘fish factory.‘
Most of our guests like catching a variety of fish species – all season long we have trout, dolly varden and grayling available, and various salmon species as well. King salmon are available from the third week of June through end middle of July, and silver salmon are a target from late July through the end of August.
Our Fishing
Our fishing for silver salmon is really fast-paced and lots of fun for anglers of all backgrounds. Since we’re targeting them between 1 and 8 miles from the saltwater, they’re bright, very aggressive and fight hard – they’re known for going airborne during a fight. We use floating lines and brightly-colored flies – streamers as well as surface patterns like poppers and pollywogs.
Our trout fishing is amazing, with flesh, egg, sculpin and leech patterns all producing at various times. Our river is an excellent place to fish giant dry flies that imitate mice and voles – ‘mousing’ is about as fun as it gets.
When fresh king salmon are in the river, we target them with swung flies, and often with two-handed rods. These fish are hot and bright, and they crush swung flies – this fishing is totally different from the upriver nymphing techniques used to target kings in many other parts of Alaska.
In late July, many of our guests like to pursue the Salmon Grand Slam – all five species of Pacific salmon, all on flies, all on the same day. We use a variety of fly fishing techniques when we’re going for the Grand Slam, and that’s a big part of the fun – lots of techniques, lots of fish, lots of different water.
Our Accommodations
We call our accommodations ‘comfortable but casual.’ We pride ourselves on a very high level of service and on delivering a great experience during your stay, but we are not trying to be a ‘luxury lodge.’ The atmosphere is relaxing and a heck of a lot of fun.
Rates
Fishing at Alaska West costs $6,395 per person for a 7 night / 6 day trip during our 2019 season.
More on Alaska West
The best way to learn more about Alaska West is to contact us about fishing in Alaska.
We have a ton of information available here on our web site too. Here are some links to get you started.