Rainbow River Lodge

Thanks for a Great Season!!!

2011-10-08T18:07:00.000-07:00

John with a 29" Rainbow!

Posted here are a few pictures of some big rainbow trout our guests landed the last week of our season at Rainbow River Lodge. We were very fortunate the weather held and the fishing continued to be phenomenal!

Ben holding a 31" Rainbow!!!

Another Hog!

The staff at Rainbow River Lodge would also like to thank everyone who had a chance to stay and fish with us this season! We are already looking forward to next year! Get in touch with Chad Hewitt soon if you would like to join us for the 2012 season. Our schedule is filling quickly. Keep checking the blog this winter and spring. We will continue to post throughout the off-season.

Picture perfect Rainbow!

Mo holding a Large Rainbow!

Jeff and Chris with a Nice buck!

Late Season Hog Bows!!!

2011-09-17T20:27:00.000-07:00

We are approaching the end of our season here at Rainbow River Lodge with one week left. The leaves on the trees are turning, the air is cooler, and some fresh snow has covered some of the higher peaks on the mountains. Even though winter is rapidly approaching, the rainbow trout are still feeding. The past few weeks our guests have landed some of the biggest rainbow trout of the year! The pictures below are the reason our guests brave the cold temps of September and try to bend a few rods on these big hogs. Check back next week as we will post a few more pictures of what the last week will bring us.

Hans Rudi and Chad with a toad!

Picture Perfect Rainbow!

Stu and Devyn with Chrome Buck!

Pat with a 29" Rainbow

Fred with a Nice Hen Rainbow

Eggs, Eggs, and more Eggs...

2011-09-03T13:48:00.000-07:00

Assortment of Painted Beads

We are rapidly approaching the end of our season here at Rainbow River Lodge. Throughout the next few weeks we will catch some of the fattest rainbow trout of the season on egg patterns. These protein packed eggs are everywhere in the rivers and the rainbow trout are on a feeding frenzy to beef up before winter arrives.

Sockeye Salmon Eggs on the Copper River

To match the natural sockeye eggs that are being dropped in the river we use a 6mm plastic bead. Our guides will take a plain orange plastic bead and paint them with a variety of fingernail polishes. We fish these eggs underneath a strike indicator and use a small amount of weight to get the egg down. The State of Alaska will allow anglers to fish these eggs in "fly fishing only" water but there are a few regulations. You must have some sort of material on your hook shank, and your bead must be no further than 2" from the hook.

Matt a guest at RRL fooled this Rainbow on Moraine Creek with a 6mm bead

Fishing a plastic bead is not the most traditional way to fly fish, but it has been proven to be much more effective than the classic glo-bug fly pattern. The mortality rate of the rainbow trout is also greatly reduced when fishing a bead rig. With a glo-bug the fish would sometimes swallow the fly and be hooked deep into the gills. The plastic bead setup ensures when a hook is set that the egg will slip and the fish is hooked on the outside of the mouth.

Tim with a beautiful Iliamna Rainbow

Click on the link below to read a fun article written by our guide Jonathan Streeter

Pro Beads: An argument for Gear Fishing with a Fly Rod

New Flags on the Golf Greens

2011-08-23T12:39:00.000-07:00

View of our Driving Range

The Renewable Resources Coalition sent over a couple of weeks ago some new flags for our golf greens. We felt they were very appropriate to place on our greens. If you get a chance please take a look at the following link regarding the proposed Pebble Mine that is endangering our wonderful land.

Fight the Mine

Our New Flags

Custom Club Rack

We are very fortunate here at Rainbow River Lodge to have the only floating driving range in the state of Alaska! Chris, and Ben are two of our fly fishing guides. They were golf professionals before starting work as guides in Alaska. Receive some instruction on your casting stroke during the day, and then take a quick evening golf lesson from our pros after dinner on the range.

Hitting Area

Silver Salmon on the Kamishak River

2011-08-13T23:02:00.000-07:00

A Beautiful Coho Salmon

We are excited here at Rainbow River Lodge! The rainbow fishing has been epic this past week, but the big buzz is the silver salmon that are moving thick into the Kamishak River. Last week we had a big push of fish move into the Kamishak, and the river is running at perfect flows! Typically around the middle of August is when the run peaks but will extend all the way into the second week of September. The Kamishak River is home to over 50,000 silver's annually! These strong runs might have a little to do with why they consider the Kamishak River to be one of Alaska's greatest coho fisheries!

Sea Lice on a fresh caught Coho

Coho salmon are beautiful fish. They enter freshwater dime bright and have a brilliant rosy gill plate. Coho's average 6-12 lbs but there are always a few big bucks caught throughout the season topping out at 15-16 lbs. Silver's move upstream very quick, and commonly we find silver's with sea lice still attached five or six miles up stream. When resting on their migration they tend to hold in backwater areas, and runs with slow moving current When you have located a pod of silver's the action can be intense! Two bent rods on silver's at once is common and hooking three fish in three casts frequently occurs.

A large buck Silver caught by Guide Chris Leeman

We enjoy fishing floating fly lines, weighted flies and 7-9 weight fly rods. A wide variety of flies will move silver salmon but we have found the most productive colors are pink and white. When the conditions favor we love to fish wogs on the surface. Watching a silver lock onto a wog and seeing him crush your fly will always get your adrenaline rolling!

Chrome Silver Salmon brought up on a Wog!

Guide Ben Todd with a thick Coho Salmon

During your stay here at Rainbow River Lode you may want to consider taking a day break from rainbow trout fishing and fly over to the coast and experience the thrill of bringing a coho to a fly. Besides the stellar fishing at the Kamishak the whole experience is a day you will never forget. The flight down the coastline with the morning sunrise and Mt. Augustine in the background is spectacular. Following the flight we quickly load the jet boats up with our gear and commute upriver to our favorite pools. The jet boat ride up is a great chance to view a little wildlife, bears cruising up and down the riverbanks, and eagles perched in the tree limbs always makes for a few good pictures. It is likely you will see more bears than other fisherman on the Kamishak.

Mmmmmmm....looks good!

For lunch there will be no sandwiches served here. Our guides will fillet up a fresh caught silver from the morning and grill it to perfection for a wonderful shore lunch. It will be the freshest fish you will ever taste! Throw on the side some of Mel's crazy beans and Leeman's famous fried potatoes you may need a little nap before you get back to fishing.

Bears of the Moraine River

2011-08-04T14:26:00.000-07:00

Photo by Monty Thierry

Guiding on the rivers in Alaska we encounter some very special moments with mother nature. Sometimes we are fortunate enough to be able to capture these on film. The photos below were taken by our guide Monty Thierry. He had a chance to spend the entire day just bear viewing with two of our guests on Moraine Creek. Monty has a unbelievable eye for capturing photographs. Click on the pictures to see the full image!

Photo by Monty Thierry

Moraine Creek is known for two things its bears, and big rainbow trout. On a given day you may see over thirty different bears in a couple miles of river. Bear viewers will travel from all over the world to spend a few days hiking its banks and photographing its wildlife.

Photo by Monty Thierry

Monty has worked for Rainbow River Lodge for 2 years and is heading back to his hometown here in a few days to continue guiding for summer steelhead in Washington. Look him up at Reel Advenures Guide Service if you are interested in chasing some of these monster sea-run rainbows on his local rivers. Below are a few pictures of what he can show you back in his home state!

Klickitat River Summer Steelhead

Sol Duc Winter Steelhead

Early Season on the Coast

2011-07-30T19:37:00.000-07:00

Fresh Chum salmon w/ sea lice caught in tidal water

Around the middle July we start flying down towards Kamishak Bay in anticipation of the chum salmon beginning their migration out of the salt. Kamishak Bay is a magical place filled with wildlife. While fishing, it is not uncommon to see bears, eagles, moose, wolfs, and seals. We focus on three rivers that flow into Kamishak bay. The Kamishak being the biggest of the three has the strongest runs of fish. But Strike Creek and the Little Kamishak river is where we spend most of our time in July before the Silver Salmon arrive.

Ben Todd with a bright Chum

Chum Salmon are a very underrated sport fish especially on fly rods. These fish are big, weighing around 8-12lbs with a few topping out at 15lbs. They pull hard, love to head shake and readily eat flies. Thousands of chum enter into the coastal streams for one main reason-to spawn. Quickly they move up the river systems and find their beds and begin to dig.

Waterfall on Strike Creek our favorite lunch spot!

A bright sea run Dolly Varden caught behind spawning chum

Just behind the migrating chum are sea run Dolly Varden. They follow the chum out of the salt and up the rivers. These dolly's will spend most of the summer beefing up on chum and silver eggs. Dolly Varden can be a blast on fly rods. Indicator fishing with bead patterns is the most productive way to target these fish.

A big sea run Dolly Varden fooled on a egg

Video of John Burton landing on the Kamishak River

Usually around the first week of August we start running up the main Kamishak river to chase the highly anticipated Silver Salmon. Below is a preview of what is to come! Be sure the check back in a couple of weeks to see some of the action these Silver Salmon provide.

Chris Leeman with a nice Silver caught on a wog!

Sockeye Salmon Have Arrived!

2011-07-23T20:21:00.000-07:00

Chrome Sockeye harvested from the Kvichak River

Around the 1st of July the world's largest run of sockeye salmon begin their migration from Bristol Bay into the Kvichak River. After exiting the Kvichak River they enter into Lake Iliamna and follow the shore lines to their home rivers. Sockeye salmon enter freshwater chrome bright and within a couple of weeks they transform into their spawning colors. Its tough to explain to someone the numbers of fish that flood these rivers until you see it with your own eyes. Click on the link below to see this years fish counts on the Kvichak river.
Fish Counts

Young Brown Bear having a midday snack

Sockeye eggs in the river

Brown bear on the Kulik river enjoying a sockeye

Towards the end of July sockeye salmon will move out of the deep pools and onto the gravel to begin spawning. This is when the rainbow trout slide into position and start gorging on the thousands of eggs being laid into the river. During the first week or two of the spawn the fishing can be spectacular. Sight fishing for big rainbows behind paired up sockeye is something we all look forward to. We fool these big trout by using 6mm and 8mm beads in various colors. Our guides hand pick fingernail polish and paint these beads to create different shades and tones.

Jess Furo landed this nice rainbow on a dead egg!

Ben Todd fooled this hog bow with a bead

If you get a chance please click the link below and spend a little time reading about the proposed Pebble Mine that is threatening this magical area and its fish. We are all very scared this mine will go through and in time will devastate our fisheries and lands. Without the sockeye runs this entire area will fall apart.

Renewable Resources Coalition

Underwater video of sockeye salmon staging in a deep pool

Stonefly Madness on the Copper River

2011-06-25T21:23:00.000-07:00

The stonefly hatch is in full swing on our local Copper River this week. Towards the end of June the stoneflies begin to migrate from the bottom of the river towards the banks to hatch as adults. These big bugs provide some of the most exciting dry fly fishing of the season.

Madam X dry fly and a nice rainbow

Some of our guests will try to time this hatch during their stay at Rainbow River Lodge. But year to year this hatch will vary from the middle of June to the first week in July. Typically the water temps will dictate when the stoneflies begin to hatch into adults. Having warmer water temps in the lower river the hatch will start low and work its way upstream. The stonefly hatch is short lived, maybe stretching over a 10-12 day period.

Stonefly shuck

The stones in the Copper River range from a size 8-10. They have a brownish hue and are very clumsy on the water. While fishing these big bugs the only thing you need to focus on is getting your fly on the water. You can dead drift, skate, fish it drowned, or even add a slight twitch during your drift to trigger these big rainbow trout to explode on you imitation.

Female stonefly with egg sack

We are very fortunate to have the Copper River out our back door. The Copper is a unique fishery with a very healthy insect population. Caddis, mayflies, midges, and stoneflies all help sustain these rainbows throughout the summer months. A quick jet boat across the lake and within minutes you are on
Alaska's first designated fly fishing only stream filled with wild rainbow trout.

Adult Stonefly

Stonefly Nymph

Simulator Chew Toy dry fly

Hummer Skawla dry fly

Fry Fishing for Alaska Rainbows

2011-06-16T20:09:00.000-07:00

Fry Fishing 101

In the first three to four weeks of our season the rainbow trout in our local rivers key in on thousands of migrating sockeye fry as they work their out of the river systems into the lakes. During this time the trout ambush and gorge themselves on fry to help regain their strength after surviving a long harsh winter and spawning in the spring.

When searching for rainbow trout feeding on fry, look for hard boils on the surface of the water. Sometimes the trout will thrash or come clear out of the water to take a fry. We focus on fishing slower moving transition water with small eddies and sloughs off the main current. The migrating fry will escape into these areas to rest during heavier spring flows. As the weeks progress the fry will gradually grow bigger and you will need to match the size of the fry in the river system.

For our guides and clients here at RRL, it's one of our favorite ways to target these big rainbows in the springtime. We enjoy it because most of our fishing is done with a floating line, and unweighted flies. The takes can be violent and unforgettable!

Sockeye Fry near a Cut Bank

Rainy's Sockeye Fry

Thunder Creek

Little Mc Fry

Regurgitated Fry from a Rainbows Mouth

Thunder Creek

Little Mc Fry