We reserved the peak weeks of the Kodiak Island King salmon run months ago to secure spots for our Epic guests. Our guests will be fishing the Ayakulik River staying at a camp run by Alpenview outfitters. They are the only licensed operator allowed to overnight with guests in the park in which the camp lies (Kodiak National Wildlife refuge). Fish in Solitude on our epic trips. Over a 4 month season the camp only sees 6-8 private groups float through in rafts. This allows for very exclusive access and fishing to an incredibly rich and productive river. Guests will be hunting the king of Pacific Salmon, chinook salmon on swung flies.
On Kodiak your Uber is a floatplane. The float plane ride to Ayakulik is an adventure in itself and worth keeping your eyes peeled and your camera handy. Humpback whales and Orcas are regular, spectacular sights around the islands’ coast and grizzlies and mountain sheep dot the mountains and valleys.
As if Kodiak Island isn’t special enough, your river, the Ayakulik is a phenomenal system about 30 miles long fed by a lake. It has a big run of kings but also the sockeye run is quite amazing to witness. Like Bristol Bay, Kodiak has a dense Brown bear population. Although it is important to be bear aware on the river, the bears are so happy eating salmon they don’t give anglers much thought. Watching the bears meander up and down the river is worth the trip alone.
Keeping your fly in the water swimming correctly, hoping it is in the right place at the right time, is how you shift the odds in your favour to catch kings. Anyone who has fished kings knows watching fresh pushes of fish roll in can heighten the senses. Nerves already on edge, an eruption of splashing, as a 40- pound free-swimming fish leaps its way up a still pool, is enough to make you jump clumsily in your waders. Each day on the Ayakulik you will see fresh fish arriving into your waters on the tides
Epic Waters worked hard to open up this prime king salmon week for our guests. We are proud to offer such a peak week and not a typical shoulder week offered to most. As those of you who have fished with us before know, we target the worlds best fisheries that lie in the worlds most stunning environments. Whether it be the great bear rainforest, the finest steelhead rivers of the Skeena, or Alaskas most unique ecosystem in Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, we want to be there.
