Last Openings at Lava Creek Lodge for the 2024 Season!
Fantastic fishing at Lava Creek Lodge in one of the most remote and unfished corners of Alaska is only six months away, and the lodge still has some fantastic availability in a handful of weeks. Find below the specific weeks that have space open, and what the fishing is traditionally like in those weeks.
July 14 – 21, 2024 – the last week of swing fishing for the world-famous kings of the lodge’s home water, one of the last strongholds of Alaska chinooks. Expect daily hookups with kings that range from chrome beasts to fish that have begun to blush yet are still only days from the salt, and powerful. There are also fresh chum salmon beginning to enter the river, which like kings love to eat a swung fly and are just as powerful, albeit smaller, in the 6 – 12 pound range. This is also one of the first weeks we will see the trout fishing begin to pick up in the upper river, for those who would like to take a day off from salmon and spend a day with a six weight in their hands. (6 rods available)
July 28 – August 4, 2024 – the second of the three Trout Weeks, where the lodge takes only four guests a week so everyone gets a private cabin, and share a guide daily. While there are normally good numbers of aggressive chum salmon in the lower home water, the fishing in these three weeks is concentrated on rainbow trout and Dolly Varden. Guests will fish multiple beats of the upper home river where the trout and dollies primarily reside, as well as taking a short flight to a nearby smaller stream that loads up with big dollies and also has a handful of absolute screamer rainbows in the mix. In both places the trout are aggressive to swung streamers and even skated mouse flies, while the dollies cannot let an egg bead pass them by. On occasion the smaller stream will even see hatches, with fish rising to dead-drifted dries! (4 rods available)
August 11 – 18, 2024 – the first week of silver salmon season. The cohos are beginning to make their way into the lower reaches of the home river, though the run is typically in full strength in a smaller river a short flight away (weather permitting everyone gets at least one day on this fly out stream). As well, the trout and dolly fishing is still happening in the upper home river and the smaller fly out stream. (6 rods available)
September 8 – 15, 2024 – an absolute prime silver salmon week on the home river, with nearly obscene numbers of 8 – 15 pound fish slamming streamers and chasing surface poppers and sliders. For those that predicate the success of their trip by the sheer numbers of ocean-bright cohos hooked, this week is a no-brainer. Other local fly out rivers can also be good this week, but none are better than the home water. (2 rods available)
September 15 – 22, 2024 – the last week of the season and the silvers are continuing to pour into the home river. As with the week prior, a great week for the angler who loves to hook a bunch of big fish each day. (5 rods available)
Lava Creek Lodge is off the beaten path, an untouched Alaskan destination The Fly Shop® highly recommends. In addition to amazing fishing – anglers see wildlife that stay hidden in other parts of the state with increased angler traffic. When I was there in August of 2023 I had three separate wolf sightings, one of which was a huge black lobo that was swimming the river right in front of our boat in pursuit of a caribou! Bear sightings are common, and two guests last season were thrilled to observe a wolverine walk the bank of a river near where they were fishing. The birdlife is prolific, with a huge mix of migratory shorebirds as well as Pacific Flyway waterfowl – including the rare Emperor Goose. Birders will love it here!
Give us a call (800) 669-3474 | (530) 222-3555 or drop me an email if you would like to reserve one of these remaining few spots at a remarkable Alaska destination, a place that offers their guests a chance to see this northern wilderness in a way few have experienced.
Mike Mercer – mercer@theflyshop.com
You can read my Hosted Trip Report from this past summer (August 13-20, 2023) by clicking on the following link – https://www.theflyshop.com/travel/alaska-hosted-trip-report
