Kodiak Steelhead Adventures: a once in a lifetime trip!
Steelheading has long been a passion of all of us here at FishHound. We have chased these incredible fish all throughout Alaska and the lower 48! The Karluk River has one of the largest Steelhead runs in the state. With run numbers being between 4,000 to 10,000 in only 22 river miles.
The Karluk is a beautiful wild river keeping it in line with the rivers we at FishHound pursue. However, unlike most of our “expedition” style trips, the Karluk trips will be utilizing a series of cabins that have been built on the river. The cabins are located on some of the best runs the river offers where high numbers of steelhead are hooked each season. It is not unheard for a group of anglers to hook up over 50 steely in a day here! The river characteristics are great for both 2 handed and single handed opportunities.
In addition to one of the largest steely returns in the state the Karluk is home to large resident Rainbows, vast numbers of sea-run Dolly Varden, and 2 runs of Sockeye and Silver Salmon giving anglers a variety of species to tug on the end of the line.
Day 1- Day 1. On the morning of the trip our air service picks you up at 8AM-ish and are taken to the float plane base. Here you transfer your luggage into our provided dry bags, your luggage will stay safe and secure at the float plane base. You fly out at 9AM and arrive at Karluk Lake at roughly 10. Here we arrive at the outlet cabin once the gear is inside and bunks picked, we will get ready to start fishing the outlet of the river. This is large rectangular shaped cabin with bunks in the middle and kitchen/common areas on each end. Like all the cabins we use on the Karluk it has a generator, an oil stove for heat, an outhouse, and surrounded by an electrical bear fence. Guests can walk a little bit or hike further down river (about a 20-25 minute hike) to fish for steelhead, sea run dolly’s, rainbow trout, silvers, and sockeye. We will then return back to the outlet cabin for dinner and drinks prepared by the guides
Day 2- We will be starting our float down river to the Portage cabins around 9 AM. It is about a 7 mile float down to the cabins. The upper stretch of this float fishes awesome. Again, complete transparency the last 2 hours above the cabin is frog water. Not much steely action but great silver action. We will fish for the pods of silvers but then move quickly between schools to get down to Portage. Portage has awesome steely fishing! The late afternoon and evening are spent here. There are 2 cabins, a smaller cabin for the guides and then a larger cabin for the clients. In the client cabin there is a separate kitchen/dining area with a big table and chairs and a couch. There is a separate shared bunk room for clients. The cabins have a generator, heat, and an outhouse all surrounded by an electrified bear fence. We will stay at the Portage cabin for 2 nights.
Day 3- We will work the runs and riffles here at Portage hiking up and down the river. Portage has historically produced some of the highest numbers of steelhead hooked and caught. We’ve had multiple trips where the group can hook 70 plus steely in a single day! Yes, I said 70 plus! After the day of fishing we will return back to the cabin for the evening, have dinner and be ready to start floating on the following day.
Day 4-We float and fish down to the lower cabin camp (AKA Otter cabin). This section can produce high numbers of steely and other species as well. This section is typically awesome! Great swing runs and good action drifting down as well. Once we arrive at Otter we will unload the gear, get set up in the cabin, and of course fish! We will stay here for 2 nights. Otter cabin has 2 bunk rooms on each end with 4 bunks and a middle common area/kitchen in the middle.
Day 5- We will spend day 5 wading and hiking up and down the river. The lower camp is built on an amazing run! 2 seasons ago the runs right in front of the camp produced some of the biggest and most of all the trips. The biggest being just under 38 inches. The access is relatively easy traveling as the bears have created awesome trails to walk on! Just about 10 minutes up river we had a guest stick one skating a surface fly! And miss 2 more on top water. This camp is on one of the most scenic and productive sections of the Karluk, we built a big porch here to enjoy the view and the fishing!
Day 6- We float and fish our way down to the lagoon. Again, great water here for both swinging and from the boat. We are picked up in the Karluk Lagoon at 4-ish, so a pretty full day of fishing on both the front end and back end of the trip. We arrive in Kodiak City around 5-ish. Guests transfer their gear from our dry bags into your luggage. Guests stay the night again in Kodiak at a hotel of your choosing before flying back to the lower 48 the following day.
There are limited launch dates available and limited to 6 guests per launch, so these incredible trips will fill up quickly please call or email to secure a Kodiak steelhead adventure!
Trip pricing for 2025 it TBD
