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June 8 - June 30

The first month of the season provides excellent fishing for rainbow trout, Dolly Varden trout, and arctic grayling. The fish are ravenous after ice-out and they strike readily at a variety of wet and dry flies. Big, early-season rainbows often weigh 8 - 10 pounds or more.  (See below left photo)


July 1 - July 15

The immense sockeye salmon run usually commences at lguigig sometime between June 28 and July 2. At its peak, 20,000 or more fish per hour pass up each side of the river. These 4 - 12 pound salmon are bright silver, as they have only traveled two or three days from the salt water of Bristol Bay. In a good year, over 10 million sockeye will pass by the lodge, travel up the lake, and enter the many spawning streams that empty into the lake. Sockeye, pound for pound, are one of the world's toughest gamefish.  (See above right photo)
July 15 - August 1

This is the slower period, as the sockeye have dispersed, and the less numerous chum salmon are moving through. Chums are larger than sockeyes, with weights of over 12 pounds not being unusual.  (See left photo - man with dark sunglasses)		 sockeye salmon photos
August 1 - August 31

In the last few days of July, pink salmon begin to move into the river. Through the first weeks of August, these 3 - 6 pound fish are everywhere during even numbered years, and less plentiful during the odd numbered years. Pinks are followed by silver, or coho salmon, which are probably the species most cherished by flyfishermen. Silvers are at their peak between August 5th and 25th. They generally weigh 6 to 12 pounds, and are noted for their aerial acrobatics and willingness to take flies.  (See left photo - man with blue jacket & tan vest)


September 1 - October 7

As the salmon begin to leave, or spawn and die, the rainbows, Dolly Vardens and grayling reap a harvest of salmon eggs and bits of flesh. This is when giant trout are taken. The Iliamna region is famous for its trout fishing, and rightly so. Ten-pound-plus rainbows are not uncommon, and every year a few fish in the 15 - 20 pound range are caught. While the weather grows more fickle as the season grows old, the fishing gets better and better.  (See above left photo - man with black hooded jacket)