Flyout Fishing with Mark Glassmaker

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Flyout Fishing Trips

So Close, Yet So Far...

We feel at least one day of fly out fishing will help to round out the perfect Alaska Fishing vacation. While one could fill weeks exploring the many angling options available from the Kenai Peninsula, we always recommend our guests take the opportunity to get up in the air and spend some time where there are no roads and brown bears outnumber humans.

With our own boats waiting for us when we arrive and the finest floatplanes and pilots available on the Kenai Peninsula, we guarantee a safe, comfortable high-quality experience you will not soon forget.

Below we have listed our primary fly out destinations along with run timing, available fishing methods and costs. All trips include round trip floatplane transportation, experienced, professional guide, boat (where needed) and all necessary fishing gear.

CHUIT HELI-KING

Destination: Chuitna River
Flight Time: Float Plane: 20 minutes, 5 minute helicopter ride to the river
Trip Duration: 8 hours
Target Species: King Salmon
Run Timing/When to Come: June 15 - July 1.

Description: The Chuitna is a small, clear flowing river that can be waded across in most locations. It is a combination floatplane/helicopter trip due to the lack of floatplane access to the river. You will take a floatplane from North Kenai to a lake nearby the Chuitna River. From here a helicopter will transport you and your guide to a selected gravel bar on the river. Your pilot stays nearby and will fly over periodically to see if you would like to be moved to another section of the river. This river sees a brief but robust run of large king salmon that average 30-50lbs. These fish are fun to fight in such a small stream. This is ideal fly fishing water for big kings that are fresh from the ocean and very aggressive. Tackle is single hook, artificial lures only and the limit is one fish per person, per day. See our article on Fishing the Chuitna River.

Cost Per Person: $525 per person, 2-person minimum.

CHUIT SILVERS

Destination: Chuitna River
Flight Time: Float Plane: 20 minutes
Trip Duration: 8 hours
Target Species: Silver Salmon
Run Timing/When to Come: July 25 - Aug. 20

Description: Silver Salmon enter the Chuitna in Late July and fishing is excellent through late August. These fish can be sight fished in the clear water and are very aggressive. This is an ideal river to fly fish for silver due to its size and the high numbers of fish. Fishing is done in the tidal section of the river and is accessible via a nearby Lake with a floatplane. Here, transportation is provided to the river from Natives. They will drop you and your guide at the river access and you will walk/wade the river from there. There are numerous very productive holes in the immediate vicinity.

Cost Per Person: $415 per person, 2-person minimum

WOLVERINE REDS / BEAR VIEWING

Destination: Wolverine Creek / Big River Lake
Flight Time: 20 minutes
Trip Duration: 6-8 hours
Target Species/Bag Limit: Sockeye Salmon, Silver Salmon
Run Timing/When to Come: Sockeye: June 1 - July 25. Silvers: July 25 - Sept. 15

Description: Big River Lake is located on the West Side of Cook Inlet nestled against rugged coastal mountains and the entrance to Lake Clark Pass. A glacially turbid body of water, Big River Lake is relatively small and primarily fed by surrounding glaciers, snowmelt and tannin upwelling. It then feeds Big River, which makes a relatively wide but shallow and very silty 13-mile run to nearby Cook Inlet. Wolverine Creek is a small, clear-flowing tributary stemming from upper Big River Lake and tumbling less than 2 miles through a boulder-strewn valley where it dumps into main Big River Lake. It receives the primary run of Big River Sockeye. Where it flows into the lake, it pushes the cloudy, glacial water back and creates a sizable pocket of clear water. This reveals thousands of fresh sockeye schooling in the shallows. Fishing is always very good and anglers regularly retain their 3 fish limit and release many others. You are not required to quit fishing once you keep your limit. We normally use light spinning rods.

This clear pool at the outlet of Wolverine Creek is known as Redoubt Bay and is frequented several times daily by numerous Brown Bears. They attempt (with varied success) to catch fish from the Lake but are most successful when the fish are running the rocky, shallow creek making them easier to catch. The bears are completely tolerant of nearby boats and anglers, content to pursue the fish, feed and move on. Since we do not fish when the bears are in close proximity, bear viewing and photography is always a regular component of this trip.

One we start to fish for silver salmon, we fish many other sections of the Lake away from Redoubt Bay and Wolverine Creek. There are a number of shallow bays and shallow flats surrounding the Lake that attract large schools of fresh Coho. Big River silvers become extremely aggressive in these larger groups and regularly take salmon eggs suspended from a bobber, spinners or a variety of flies. Multiple fish days are very common. This is a sample of the best silver fishing Alaska has to offer.

Cost: $350 per person.

UPPER KUSATAN SILVERS: THE "UK"

Destination: Kustatan River
Flight Time: 20 minutes
Trip Duration: 6-8 hours
Target Species: Silver Salmon, limit three.
Run Timing/When to Come: Silvers: July 20 - Sept. 1

Description: This is a glacial river on the West Side of Cook Inlet with a huge run of silver salmon. We will use a boat to transport us from where the plane lands to the section of river where we will fish. Here we can get out of the boat and fish from shore or on shallow gravel bars in the river. Due to the very silty water the best method for catching Kustatan silvers is fishing the bottom with cured salmon eggs. There is a clear water slough that feeds the river where one can catch fish on spinners or flies. This is a very productive fishery and limits are common. The surrounding wilderness is a combination of thick brush and tidal marsh with beavers, moose, bears and abundant waterfowl.

Cost: $350 per person.

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by Philip R. Gantt