THE NAKNEK

FISHING THE NAKNEK RIVER

The Naknek is our home river and we believe it is the best in Alaska.  With 5 species of pacific salmon, sea-run dolly varden, grayling, northern pike, and some of the largest rainbow trout in the world, there is always something to chase. The season starts on June 8th, with excellent fishing for trophy rainbow trout.  These fish have spent the winter under the ice and aggressively feed on anything that comes by them.  In some areas of the river, rainbow trout hunt out-migrating salmon smolts.  Packs of hungry rainbow’s smash the small salmon on the surface, creating a scene typically reserved for saltwater fish.

By late June, the first king and sockeye salmon will have arrived.  The king salmon run at this time is modest, though we do catch them consistently.  The sockeye salmon, on the other hand, come by the thousands, and by the first week of July, tens of thousands of sockeye will swim the river daily. The peak of the king salmon run occurs from early to late July.  We target the fish in the tidally influenced section of the Naknek, just a few minutes from King Salmon Lodge.  Anglers that choose to fish the Naknek during this time often choose to split their days fishing for sockeye and king salmon as they are both arriving daily.

During the last week of July, while fishing for king salmon, we encounter our first silver salmon of the season.  For the first few weeks of the run, we can expect to catch them, though not in high numbers, and by the middle of August, there are thousands of fish moving through the river system.  Tactics for silver salmon include: fly fishing, casting spinners, and twiching jigs.  The clear water of the Naknek makes for very interesting sight fishing opportunities, and we make every effort we can to sight fish for aggressive silvers on a daily basis.

From late June through the end of August, there are rainbow trout in the river, but the big push of rainbows drops out of Naknek Lake in September.  These are very large, and very old fish who will test even the most experienced angler.  Our favorite method for fall rainbows is to swing flies, though at times we fish for them with egg patterns under indicators.  Rainbow trout will be available until the river freezes again, but we fish it until late October.