June 9th through September 30th: Rainbow, Arctic Char and Grayling. These fish are year round residents in the Naknek system. The best fishing for trophy rainbow is early (June 9th - July 10th) and late season (August 1 - September 30).

June 9th through July 30: The smolt out-migration. Millions of sockeye salmon smolt migrate from the many lakes in the system into the ocean. This migration signals the start of the hot summer fishing, with both rainbow and arctic char gorging themselves on the abundant food source.

June 15th - July 30th: The King Salmon Run. Many of my clients have gotten these fish confused with the kings we catch in Michigan in September The only thing that is the same is the species. The kings in Alaska are less numerous, spawn in deeper water and are HUGE by Midwest standards.

June 20th - July 30th: Sockeye move into the rivers by the millions! Nearly everyone in Alaska considers these "red salmon" to be the tastiest of the salmon species. July also brings the chum and pink salmon (pinks are much heavier in years that end with an even number, like 2008, for example).

August 1 - September 30th: Salmon are spawning and the rainbow, char and grayling go nuts feeding on the eggs and flesh. This is a great time for a mixed bag of almost everything that can be caught in Alaska's rivers.

August 1st - September 15th: I would argue that the silver salmon is the most aggressive of the salmon species, readily chasing and hitting fast moving streamers and even the occasional skating dry fly. I have spent a few incredible mornings fishing Walt Grau's now famous Pink Polliwog dry fly, watching ravenous silvers slashing across the surface of the river in hot pursuit.

It should be obvious that the best time to come to Naknek River Camp is whenever you can sneak away. There will be great fishing for a variety of species of salmon, rainbow, char and grayling all season long!