Hello, Dan Michels here. It's been said that after 36 seasons at Crystal Creek Lodge, I am the only constant. Yet, that being said, it's not about me. It's about our guests, and the staff, of Crystal Creek Lodge. Our guests dedicate their free time to experience what we do and our staff dedicate their careers to serving our guests. This blog series is about snippets of insight as to what we do, and how our guests experience Crystal Creek Lodge. Enjoy.
The best time to visit Alaska depends on many things, but September is always considered a wonderful time of the season. The truth is, this time of year has some special things going for it. Whether it’s for solid fishing, uncrowded adventuring or amazing sightseeing, you’ll leave blown away. Many of our guests have…
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The Naknek River produces some of the largest and hard 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 image to enlarge). This late fall time is ideal for for landing one of these giant…
Read more »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!
Read more »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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Shown are Charles and Mindy of Wasilla, Alaska holding two fat Naknek River Rainbow Trout caught on August 4. We had a slight weather delay, waiting for morning fog to burn off, before we could fly-out. Charles and Mindy chose to opt-out of their fly-out day spend the day on the Naknek, where, Charles quotes,…
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The streams of Bristol Bay are literally turning red as the bright-red Sockeye Salmon swim into the gin clear water. It’s an amazing sight to see from the window of an airplane flying 500 ft. overhead. The Rainbow Trout are coming out of the lakes to follow the salmon and gorge on their eggs. The…
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