The Crystal Creek Lodge Blog is a place of possibilities, where you can learn deeper insights into how to explore the tens of millions of acres of wild Alaska surrounding us. Whether you’re after fishing, wildlife, the perspective of history or simply feeling the awe of being in wide-open spaces, it’s all here. Enjoy the journey.
Perhaps you have heard of the “Grand Slam” in fly fishing. A grand slam is an achievement of catching a collection of game fish in a single day. The most notable is the inshore grand slam where a saltwater angler catches a tarpon, permit, and bonefish in a single day. It’s a common target in…
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For better or worse, social media has penetrated many aspects of life. This insightful podcast from The Drake Cast explores the pros and cons of social media in fly fishing. At Crystal Creek Lodge, we do our best to use social media to inspire others without compromising our conservation ethics and the unique Alaska experience…
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The Naknek River produces some of the largest and hardest fighting rainbow trout on planet Earth. From mid-August until mid-October, we have the opportunity to catch steelhead-like rainbows that move into the river from Naknek Lake. During this time, you start to see the trout transition from eggs to eating salmon flesh. So, you can…
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Naknek River, Alaska If you were wondering what fishing would be like in late September and October at Crystal Creek Lodge, check out this photo gallery of the big Naknek River rainbows that we see each fall (click on the image to enlarge). This late fall time is ideal for landing one of these giant…
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Miss Rosanna Trestman of Connecticut returned to Crystal Creek Lodge in search of a King Salmon to exceed her personal record of 42 inches, set in 2014, but, alas, she didn’t beat her record, yet she still caught some nice Kings and Sockeye Salmon. Here is Rosanna with her best King of the week, held…
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A Crystal Creek Lodge Hat Trick is three fish in the net, and that’s about 20 lbs. of Rainbow Trout in the bag courtesy of (left to right) Dan Michels, Shannon Ward and Cole Marston. What a magnificent September day! Check out our Fishing page and our Adventure page to learn more about opportunities to…
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Katie E. of Kalispell, MT is holding one of the many Silver Salmon rushing into the streams at Yantarni this week. We expect the run to peak in the next 14 days. This year we have been blessed with spectacular weather and abundant runs of Silver Salmon. Be sure to visit Yantarni next year in September!…
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Glenn and Sam H. from California fished together on the Kvichak River during a beautiful Bristol Bay day, July 4th. Together they watched thousands of Sockeye Salmon stream by the bank and they caught their limit of five apiece in a matter of a couple hours. Sam is holding his first fish of the day…
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The first King Salmon of the 2014 Crystal Creek Lodge season was caught today at the Nushagak River by William Oberholtzer, age 6. Guiding him was his dad, Alex Oberholtzer, pilot/guide and partner at Crystal Creek Lodge. The Nushagak run of Kings is ahead of schedule and the run is predicted to be strong! Kings…
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Two fish, caught from two rivers, two days apart. One, a 20-inch fish that lives it’s life year round in a stream far from a lake connection, turns pigmented, spotted, green and bright red from exposure to sunlight. The other, a 29-inch fish, remains chrome and without pigment from living it’s life year round in…
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