I don’t have a good record in the fishing department. I’ve never liked it. Hate the heat of fishing in Florida and have had several near-divorce moments on fishing boats with my husband. I even spent the day horizontal on a fishing charter that the president of the company I worked for decided would be a great place for a board meeting. It wasn’t.

But all that has changed. I love fishing in Alaska.

It’s taken a while. My husband first went to Alaska fishing with a buddy after they bought a fishing trip at a charity auction. They caught lots of fish, but when I heard about the accommodations, I wasn’t signing up for the next trip. Dormitory rooms with shared bathrooms and food that was, at best, marginal. A couple more trips followed and the reports back were no better.

I finally decided I would like to see Alaska – but on my terms. So my darling husband, Ken, began the search for lodges that would be – shall we say – a step up.

Lucky for both of us, he found Rainbow River Lodge, a small fish camp, impeccably run by a former fishing guide and located just outside of Iliamna, Alaska (about an hour’s plane ride east of Anchorage).

Here, fishing takes on a whole new life. The lodge holds at most 12 people at a time. Everyone has a private cabin with a private bathroom. Each cabin has a refrigerator, instant hot water (that’s a necessity when you come back from a cold day of fishing) and plenty of space to hang the abundant gear and clothing you need for fishing in Alaska.

Food is prepared by an experienced chef and includes a variety of hot dishes for breakfast, sandwiches and homemade cookies or brownies for lunch and a four-course gourmet dinner, complete with appetizers, soup or salad, entrée and homemade dessert.

But, what about the fishing? Oh, yes, the fishing.

Well, that’s top-notch as well. As I’ve told many a friend. What’s not to like? You have a bevy of gorgeous young experienced fishing guides who gently teach you the ways of the rod. They bait your hook, throw your line and net the fish you catch. They bring you lunch, refill your drinks, offer you a chair and even build a fire if you might be temporarily grounded from your fly out due to bad weather.

Every evening, Chad, the owner of the camp, discusses the next day’s activities with you. He finds out what kind of fishing you like, suggests an itinerary and your guide checks in to see if you have any special requests for lunch. The next day you fly out via float plane to your selected location.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can fly fish in a nearby stream or river, do a float trip down a river complete with gorgeous waterfalls or fly to a nearby lake or river to fish for Salmon – again, depending upon the time of year you are there and what fish are “running.” Fly fisher-people can catch rainbow trout, arctic char, Sockeye salmon, Coho Salmon or grayling.

The weather is generally cool to cold, although we had two warm sunny days of 70-degree weather on our most recent trip.

When you’re tired of fishing, there’s plenty more to do

Fly to Katmai National Park to see the bears as they feed on salmon in a gorgeous waterfall – if you happen to be there at the right time in the summer.

Visit agate beach, a short boat-ride from Rainbow River Lodge, where you can collect handfuls of beautiful agate stones.

Fly to Dick Proenneke’s cabin on Twin Lake. Dick is the famous Alaska pioneer who built a wilderness cabin here in the late 1960s. He lived in this remote location and photographed and wrote about his time living here for 20+ years.

Getting there /logistics

We generally fly to Alaska via Seattle to avoid the direct red-eye flights. Alaska Air is a great airline and you can fly out of Tampa or Orlando to Seattle and then onward to Anchorage. We usually stay several nights in Seattle on the way out and a night coming home so we can get the early morning flight, putting us into Tampa or Orlando early evening.

From Anchorage we fly on Clark Air, a small charter service that flies into Iliamna. There, we are picked up by the Rainbow River crew, drive 10 minutes to a lake and load onto float planes for the 15 to 20-minute flight to Rainbow River Lodge, only accessible by float plane.

We like to stay two nights in Anchorage, since we return to Anchorage at 7-8 pm Friday night from the camp. Saturday morning — if we’ve been lucky enough to catch fish – we arrange for UPS or FedEx to ship our fish home to us. Be sure your hotel has a freezer to store your fish overnight.