Who said fly fishing is expensive.....

[goinoregon]

I’ve fished out of only one “dedicated” fishing lodge but have done so 7 or 8 times now. It’s in AK and it’s pricy. The lodge itself is great. The food is good but what you are paying for IMO is access. To their boats, planes, their privilege on certain rivers, and guides which are required most places you are fishing.

Is it worth it? I’ve gone a bunch so yes but honestly not just for the fishing. Catching big bows is great but not the only place you can do it. I’ve also had the chance to target char, Dollie’s, lake trout, grayling, pike and various salmon species from the lodge which is cool but also something you can do in a number of places.

One of the reasons we’ve coughed up that money is I have a non-fishing spouse and that lodge is good for her. They fly her out to do bear photography while I go my own way and fish. She enjoys the comfortable room but even she could do without the other amenities. We don’t need the open bar and there is too much food. Only fishing trip I ever come back from feeling heavier. We’ve also been going there awhile so I don’t get “over guided”.

Go forward though, we won’t be going annually. We can camp where my wife likes viewing bears. I can fish other places when we go to AK. Plus, I have other places in the world I’d like to explore where I’m not paying a premium for “luxury”.

1 week fishing AK or a rental in MT for 2 months where I can DIY fish all kinds of water and species. Honestly, cost is similar for MT and a lot of other great fishing destinations.

i like the idea of the mt rental, and spending a month exploring. with that amount of time, you can get in a few guided days to help figure places out. any recommendations on an area??

 

[jasmillo]

i like the idea of the mt rental, and spending a month exploring. with that amount of time, you can get in a few guided days to help figure places out. any recommendations on an area??

You’d have access to lots of water staying pretty much anywhere in western MT. I’d personally pick somewhere with easy access to Missoula, Bozeman or Kalispell, though I would not stay in town if possible. If there’s running water in that part of the state, it likely holds trout. Don’t really need a guide if you have fished rivers previously. Lots of access points and solid stream access laws too.

Just to be clear, not bashing guides either. I just don’t fish with them often. The lodge I stay at in AK and one trip where I fished a few days in Belize is it. Well, tuna trips in WA too. To me guides equal access to waters I cannot get access to myself. Good ones obviously have amazing knowledge to share as well, but figuring it out (if I have the time) is a big part of the fun of fishing IMO.

 

[fatbillybob]

One thing I see in AK a lot that drives me bonkers is the guides back trolling rivers. Outside of a physical ailment, I am not sure why you would pay that much to have a guide zig zag back and forth across miles of river while you drag a dalli llama off the back of the boat. Horriblly boring way to fish and shitty to those that want to get in the water and swing it after 4 boats with three clients each have literally bonked every fish in the run on the nose with their fly. You sometimes see a guide literally walking back and forth across the river holding the raft with clients in it dragging their flies downstream. It’s even more enjoyable when they stop in the run you are fishing right below you and start doing it.

It’s a weird dynamic. I think a lot of folks with minimal fly fishing experience go up there and spend a ton of money to fish AK. Based on what they are spending, the guides feel obligated to get them on fish so they resort to tactics like that. No wading and no casting needed. Just let out some line and wait for the tug.

That's a big thing. Before I hire a guide I ask questions like "how do you propose to fish this water!" I tell them how I like to fish and see if we could collaborate. There are times it wasn't going to work out and that honesty is good for both of us.

 

[Brute]

ok. so, do u recommend a lodge?

My favorite lodge has recently closed…Big Ku Lodge, at the mouth of the Big Ku River…I’m trying a new lodge this Sept on the Naknek…both are in the Katmai Peninsula…I’ll give a report…

 

[Brute]

One thing I see in AK a lot that drives me bonkers is the guides back trolling rivers. Outside of a physical ailment, I am not sure why you would pay that much to have a guide zig zag back and forth across miles of river while you drag a dalli llama off the back of the boat. Horriblly boring way to fish and shitty to those that want to get in the water and swing it after 4 boats with three clients each have literally bonked every fish in the run on the nose with their fly. You sometimes see a guide literally walking back and forth across the river holding the raft with clients in it dragging their flies downstream. It’s even more enjoyable when they stop in the run you are fishing right below you and start doing it.

It’s a weird dynamic. I think a lot of folks with minimal fly fishing experience go up there and spend a ton of money to fish AK. Based on what they are spending, the guides feel obligated to get them on fish so they resort to tactics like that. No wading and no casting needed. Just let out some line and wait for the tug.

In a decade visiting the Katmai, I’ve only seen that once…on Battle Creek, about 6 years ago. A drunk couple in a raft, guide outside of the raft wading, moving the raft side to side while they trolled flies…I’ve never seen this before or again…and hopefully never again.

 

[jasmillo]

In a decade visiting the Katmai, I’ve only seen that once…on Battle Creek, about 6 years ago. A drunk couple in a raft, guide outside of the raft wading, moving the raft side to side while they trolled flies…I’ve never seen this before or again…and hopefully never again.

At least two lodges that fish the Kulik River do it. If weather permits and they can get there, it’s basically all they do. Kulik Lodge itself does not. In fact, I think I have only fished from a boat in the river once while staying with them. A day when it was uncharacteristically slow and we wanted to cover water to find the fish. It was traditional casting and stripping though. Crazy because the lower 2/3rds of the Kulik is about as easy as it gets wading wise. Marble sized gravel sitting over and inch of soft sand is how I describe it. Not slippery at all and you sink in just enough to have great traction (it’s why those guides can walk boats back and forth across it). The good thing about the Kulik River is it’s short and it seems like fish move around in and out of the lakes frequently so even if the back trollers are there, if you wait a bit, you still get a shot at fresh fish. I also think the swinging action incites some fish not impressed with the dangle in front of their faces.

The other river I have seen it on multiple times is the lower Moraine.