And boy did that ever prove to be true when our guests for the first week arrived and started catching Rainbows of a fishy kind!  All our guests were thrilled with the overall quality of fishing to be had from day one!

     

The Alagnak Wild River of Bristol Bay has long be renowned for its fantastic rainbow trout fishing.  And June is the best time to come for "mousing", dry fly fishing as well as streamer fishing.   One after another, those hungry trout were keen to take our clients offerings.  We have been experiencing an upswing in the average size of trout caught here the past couple of years, and this year was no different, with many trout taken in the 20 to 27 inch range!

     

And what a beautiful setting to be chasing trout dreams!  The weather was fantastic for much of the week with blue bird skies and stunning scenery as the back drop to fantastic fishing!  The Alagnak River is not called Wild and Scenic without reason.  What a joy it is to spend the day on the river, surrounded by such beauty while reeling in fish till our arms grew tired!

The ladies were bringing their A game opening week!  In fact some of the best fish caught all week were by our lady anglers.  You can tell from the smiles on their faces that they were having a great time while showing the guys what it means to get "chicked".  That's what we call it when the gals out fish the fellas!  :)

  

But not to be out done, the guys also landed some amazing specimens to give the girls a run for their money.  We had a fantastic mixed group our opening week.  3 couples and a single lady angler together with another couple of guys rounded out our opening week party.  

 

  

    

Most of our guests were being hosted by outdoor painter/writer and long time Alaska Guide, Bob White.  Bob spent much of his time doing what he loves to do, painting!  Bob captures the essence of the outdoor sporting life on canvas and he managed to paint a handful of beautiful paintings during the week.  Here are a few of the works he painted while here this past week at ATA Lodge.  Bob will be hosting another week with us next season and we are looking forward to not only welcoming him back; but also many of those who joined him this year as all the guests have already expressed a keen interest in returning next season for "round two"!!

  

During the week, 4 guests, together with Sue took a fly out to Halo Bay on the rugged Katmai Coast to go Bear Viewing!  The scenery was stunning as they picked the perfect day to go flight seeing.  The weather was great, and they were able to see bears in the sedge meadows of the coast where the bears dig clams and eat sedge grass until the salmon arrive in a few days time.

   

It was exciting to see the bears in such a stunning setting with the mountains and a glacier as the backdrop, it was thrilling to get "up close and personal" with a couple of big bruins.  Sue will be writing about her experience in another blog post that will be published soon, so watch this space for a more detailed account of this special excursion we offer our guests.  

  

The week was rounded out with more great fishing and lots more fun.  It is really a special thing to get to host our guests and share with them this amazing location in America's "Final Frontier".  The chance to get away from it all and enjoy such a remote location with no one else around except the people who are sharing the lodge that week.  

  

All we can do is thank each and every one of our guests for choosing to come and spend their time with us here at ATA Lodge.  We feel like our extended family gets bigger and bigger with each passing week of the season.  I also want to thank our fantastic staff as well who helped to make it all happen!  We have a great team here at ATA Lodge and they have done a great job so far, and it's only just begun!

So here's to many more happy guests and many, many more big fish that keep us all coming back to this very special place!  

For those who stayed up long enough to see the sun actually set; we were treated to a number of mind blowing sunsets.  And with the closing of each day, we look forward to what the next day might bring!  We hope that one day we will be able to share all this with you as well!

If you think that you'd like to come and visit ATA Lodge, take a moment and visit our website at www.atalodge.com for more details how we can make your dreams of an Alaskan Adventure come true!