Nushagak River Fishing with Nushagak River Adventures Lodge
Nushagak River Fishing—The Nush is home to Alaska’s largest wild king salmon run! The Nushagak River in Alaska also boasts major runs of sockeye, coho, chum and humpy salmon along with northern pike, Arctic char, and grayling. Our guided boat fishermen have averaged over a dozen landed king salmon per person per day in the past on our remote river that sees minimal pressure! Nushagak River fishing is among the best salmon fishing in the world! There is literally no place better for king fishing, and they get pretty big. A 30-pound king is a thrill to catch and ensures an incredible story to tell.
We also see an enormous run of sockeye salmon (red salmon), even seeing historic run records in recent years. If you time your trip right at the end of June into July you can often fish for both kings and sockeye as the runs overlap. Nushagak River fishing is as good as it gets during this pinnacle. We’ll teach you the technique used here in Alaska known as flossing to fill your fish box full of delicious red salmon fillets.
The other quintessential species denoting Nushagak River fishing is the mighty silver salmon, also called coho. Coho are one of the best pound-for-pound fighting salmon. These acrobatic fish range from 8 to 15 pounds on the Nushagak. It’s not uncommon to land 10 to 30 silvers per person per day. The later you come for silvers the better. Five species of Alaska salmon (Pacific salmon) spawn into the Nushagak River: king salmon (Chinook), silver salmon (coho), red salmon (sockeye), dog salmon (chum) and pink salmon (humpy) on even-numbered years.
Whether you are coming to fish primarily for kings or silvers on the Nushagak, we provide our guests 8 hours of guided fishing daily. On the first day guests begin to arrive in camp starting at 8:30 AM. As soon as you are through orientation and settled in, we get you out on the water to fish until 4 pm. The next three days your fishing schedule starts with our guides in their boats ready to depart at 8 AM. Guests take lunch out on the water and stay out until 4 PM to maximize Nushagak River fishing time. When you return to the lodge you can take photos next to our iconic sign, then the guides will prepare your catch for our freezers while you clean up and have hors d’oeuvres prior to a scrumptious supper. You are welcome to catch and release from our beach in the evenings, hang in the lodge visiting or playing games, engage in some yard games or sit by our cozy fire pit sharing stories.