Alaska 2024

My wife and I recently headed to Katmai on what has become an annual trip for us. She’s brown bear obsessed and I’m fly fishing obsessed, so the trip is a perfect marriage of our interests. As with previous years, we stayed at Kulik Lodge. There are a number of reasons we do so. First and foremost, they take my wife over to Brooks Camp daily for bear viewing/photography while I stay back and fish. Second, the location is ideal. Right on the Kulik river which gives you early on, late off privileges on an amazing fishery (fish until midnight after dinner anyone ;)). Not to mention the option to fly out to all the other amazing fisheries in the region. Finally, the staff and guides. I’ve fished here 5 of the last 6 years and cannot say enough good things about the folks working at the lodge. I am far from a guide expert. Besides tuna fishing with @Nick Clayton and a single trip to Belize, the Kulik folks are the only guides I’ve ever fished with. They’re all great though and I’ve fished with all of them over the years.

This trip, most of my time was spent on the Kulik. As a single angler, my fly out options are limited based on availability. This year, I did get out a couple of times though. Once to the lower American and once to Moraine Creek. None of the rivers disappointed.

The Kulik

I’ve fished this river a good amount. It’s a short, 2 mile river connecting Nonvianuck and Kulik lakes that can be lights out or pretty tough in July, depending on the year. My first year fishing it was insane. It didn’t matter what you threw, it caught nice fish. This year was tougher but there were plenty of fish to be caught. Lots of Rainbows and as many lakers as you wanted to catch…both in the river and the lakes (put many of my lingcod and tiger musky flies to good use). My best rainbow day was fishing a combo caddis/sockeye fry rig. Nearly every fish took the fry (dressed so it’s on the surface as well).

Best Kulik fish.

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Caught a bunch in this class.

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Plus a ton of these guys…

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The lower American.

I had not fished this river since 2021 so was excited to get back. We fished hard all day and got into some fish.

This rainbow was the biggest of the trip.



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Plus some char. This was my first of the trip so snapped a pic. Also caught a bigger one later in the day

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Got into some fish on dries as well. Nothing huge but fun.

Moraine Creek

This was my first time fishing this river. One I’ve read about since I was a kid. Overall, a solid day. A nice bow to hand. Some “mediums” (18-21), some smalls and a laker. Cool just fishing it though.

Biggest bow on Moraine

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Some others in this class.

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So that’s a wrap for 2024. I anticipate this trip 364 days a year and it’s over in a flash. 2025 can’t come soon enough. Once my wife digs through her bear pics, I’ll add some to this thread.

Some other random pics.

Bear in camp…

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Always fun to snag shotgun in AK…

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Excellent! Great report
Based on the images and the taped stripping finger it appears there were great days on the water with excellent pullage.

On the other hand it appears given the bear’s body language he/she either didn’t have as good a day as you or they’re following someone’s tracks thinking calories…calories….I need calories.
 
Great stuff! And a blast, I am sure.

Can you describe a little more the differences between the rivers and how you approach them? What kind of fry pattern did you rig up to ride on the surface and how? And finally, what’s the deal on the fly-outs? Do you have to “rent” the whole plane and so you need others to tag along or let you tag along because it is too pricey to do it solo, or how does that all work?
 
VAGABOND said:
Excellent! Great report
Based on the images and the taped stripping finger it appears there were great days on the water with excellent pullage.

On the other hand it appears given the bear’s body language he/she either didn’t have as good a day as you or they’re following someone’s tracks thinking calories…calories….I need calories.
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Most of the rainbows were caught on fry or swung patterns (Dali’s and sculpin). A few on stripped flies in slower water or at the bottom of the swing. One day early in the week, we spent a good amount of time looking for a large laker from the boat near the mouth of the Kulik. That’s where the stripping fingers started. Dozens of 2-8 lb lakers will do that! Bound to happen soon anyway with coho fishing starting up on the sound.

Matt B said:
Great stuff! And a blast, I am sure.

Can you describe a little more the differences between the rivers and how you approach them? What kind of fry pattern did you rig up to ride on the surface and how? And finally, what’s the deal on the fly-outs? Do you have to “rent” the whole plane and so you need others to tag along or let you tag along because it is too pricey to do it solo, or how does that all work?
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There are definitely differences across rivers. I’ve only fished the area 5-6 weeks so I’m far from an expert. I know there are others on the board with more time or guiding experience up there that might chime in. In my experience though, and in talking with the guides, the approach taken varies across rivers dependent on conditions, pressure, time of year, etc. the Kulik is a great river for swinging streamers. It’s short but it’s almost one giant knee to belly deep run with perfect current to swing a fly in. There’s a short, boulder filled section at the inlet with faster current that fished really well too but most of your time is spent fishing long beautiful, wide runs. You can cover a ton of water doing so, especially with river levels where they were this week. We also did a couple of floats fishing streamers from the boat this week as well. Not something I’ve done a ton of there in the past. The river only had one other boat on it that day (rare) and fishing was slow the day before so we wanted to cover a lot of water. It was productive. The lower American is a slow meandering river with deep holes, slow runs and lots of cut banks down near the inlet. There are some giant rainbows and char in that section we through lots of stuff at. I caught most of my fish on Dali Lamas but a women in our group caught two beauts fishing nymphs under an indicator. As @Brute mentioned in his report, it’s a great dry fly river too though we only encountered that higher up, later in the day. This year we fished a couple runs down low early then ran up as high as we could and hiked a mile or so more fishing small pocket water with streamers and dries. In the past, we just fished the lower sections. Guides make that determination based on how it’s been fishing. The Morain was kind of a mix of the two. We fished streamers mostly but hit a couple spots for grayling with dries. Our group only got one grayling but it was a solid one just shy of twenty inches. Come later in the summer though, most of the rainbow fishing switches to beads as the sockeye start spawning. From what I’ve been told, the fishing is insanely good but….your fishing beads all day and the rivers are crazy crowded. I’d rather catch less on the methods you fish early in the season.

As far as fly outs, etc. it really is lodge dependent. At Kulik, fly outs are not part of the cost with the exception of fly outs to Brooks Camp in July to see bears. I imagine they do that because they have an amazing river literally feet away people choose to fish (and fly in from other lodges to fish). Due to that, it would not make sense to bake in the cost of flying out every day if folks are not. Other lodges require fly outs to get to the fishing so they bake in that cost. That makes Kulik a little cheaper than some others in the area but that’s a relative term. There are definitely more economically friendly ways to fish AK. The combo fishing/Brooks bear viewing available at Kulik is what makes it worth it to us though. At Kulik, they require at least two for fly outs for fishing (you might be able to pay double and go solo, I’ve never asked that). They will run you 500 per person. Since my wife is bear viewing, I am always solo so my options historically have been when a couple is visiting and one party decides they do not want to do a fly out that day. I’m the last second replacement guy (I always tell them I am available if needed when I arrive). This year though, they had me go out with a couple twice. Not sure if it’s a new thing or not.

Re: fry. They are essentially really small thunder head minnows:

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We fished them two at a time or as a dropper off a caddis. You fish them dressed with floatant, dead drifted but let them swing too because they hit them then as well. I’d say 70% were hit dead drifted with 30% taken on the swing.
 
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jasmillo said:
Most of the rainbows were caught on fry or swung patterns (Dali’s and sculpin). A few on stripped flies in slower water or at the bottom of the swing. One day early in the week, we spent a good amount of time looking for a large laker from the boat near the mouth of the Kulik. That’s where the stripping fingers started. Dozens of 2-8 lb lakers will do that! Bound to happen soon anyway with coho fishing starting up on the sound.



There are definitely differences across rivers. I’ve fished the area 5-6 times so I’m far from an expert. In my experience though, and in talking with the guides, the approach taken varies across rivers dependent on conditions, pressure, time of year, etc. the Kulik is a great river for swinging streamers. It’s short but it’s almost one giant knee to belly deep run with perfect current to swing a fly in. There’s a short, boulder filled section at the inlet with faster current that fished really well too but most of your time is spent fishing long beautiful, wide runs. You can cover a ton of water doing so, especially with river levels where they were this week. We also did a couple of floats fishing streamers from the boat this week as well. Not something I’ve done a ton of there in the past. The river only had one other boat on it that day (rare) and fishing was slow the day before so we wanted to cover a lot of water. It was productive. The lower American is a slow meandering river with deep holes, slow runs and lots of cut banks down near the inlet. There are some giant rainbows and char in that section we through lots of stuff at. I caught most of my fish on Dali Lamas but a women in our group caught two beauts fishing nymphs under an indicator. As @Brute mentioned in his report, it’s a great dry fly river too though we only encountered that higher up, later in the day. This year we fished a couple runs down low early then ran up as high as we could and hiked a mile or so more fishing small pocket water with streamers and dries. In the past, we just fished the lower sections. Guides make that determination based on how it’s been fishing. The Morain was kind of a mix of the two. We fished streamers mostly but hit a couple spots for grayling with dries. Our group only got one grayling but it was a solid one just shy of twenty inches. Come later in the summer though, most of the rainbow fishing switches to beads as the sockeye start spawning. From what I’ve been told, the fishing is insanely good but….your fishing beads all day and the rivers are crazy crowded. I’d rather catch less on the methods you fish early in the season.

As far as fly outs, etc. it really is lodge dependent. At Kulik, fly outs are not part of the cost with the exception of fly outs to Brooks Camp in July to see bears. I imagine they do that because they have an amazing river literally feet away people choose to fish (and fly in from other lodges to fish). Due to that, it would not make sense to bake in the cost of flying out every day if folks are not. Other lodges require fly outs to get to the fishing so they bake in that cost. That makes Kulik a little cheaper than some others in the area but that’s a relative term. There are definitely more economically friendly ways to fish AK. The combo fishing/Brooks bear viewing available at Kulik is what makes it worth it to us though. At Kulik, they require at least two for fly outs for fishing (you might be able to pay double and go solo, I’ve never asked that). They will run you 500 per person. Since my wife is bear viewing, I am always solo so my options historically have been when a couple is visiting and one party decides they do not want to do a fly out that day. I’m the last second replacement guy (I always tell them I am available if needed when I arrive). This year though, they had me go out with a couple twice. Not sure if it’s a new thing or not.

Re: fry. They are essentially really small thunder head minnows:

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We fished them two at a time or as a dropper off a caddis. You fish them dresses with float at and dead drifted but let them swing too because they hit them then as well. I’d say 70% were hit dead drifted with 30% taken on the swing.
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I’m with you…I now only go early or late to avoid fishing beads. I’ve been alternating between late June and September for the last couple trips and will continue to do so…
 
mcswny said:
So cool. I’d love to fish up there one day. What weight rod you are you fishing, 7wt?
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6’s (fry and dry) and 7’s. I also brought an 8 for lakers specifically. The guides bring 10’s
for lakers too. Though most will be in the 2-8 lb ranger they catch double digit fish up to 20 or more every year. Most of those are on trolled spoons which they do with some guests not familiar with fly fishing and not interested in learning. My biggest was 12-13 a few trips back on a fly.
 
jasmillo said:
6’s (fry and dry) and 7’s. I also brought an 8 for lakers specifically. The guides bring 10’s
for lakers too. Though most will be in the 2-8 lb ranger they catch double digit fish up to 20 or more every year. Most of those are on trolled spoons which they do with some guests not familiar with fly fishing and not interested in learning. My biggest was 12-13 a few trips back on a fly.
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Thank you!
 
Yup...6wt for drys...and I usually bring my 10'4" 7wt with a 275 Commado smooth skagit head to swing with...along with my 11'11" 3wt trout spey
 
Kulik had some lodge spey rods available for those interested this year. The Kulik in particular is a great river to fish with a spey rod and they have a number of guides on staff who fish and guide with them in the lower 48 during the offseason. My Spey casting is for shit so I did not partake this year but have in the past a couple of times using a guides personal rod. If you visit and enjoy fishing spey, I’d bring them for sure.
 
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