Fishing

Fishing at Talaheim Lodge

Talaheim Lodge specializes in something very unique among Alaskan fishing lodges, we “heli-fish”. Most Alaskan fly out lodges utilize float planes as their means of transportation. Talaheim is the only Alaskan lodge with their own helicopters for our guest’s exclusive use. We call this type of fishing, “fishing Alaska, New Zealand style”.

Why did we change over to helicopters 18 years ago? Float planes are a wonderful way to travel, but their access is limited. You can only land when you have enough water depth and runway length. Lots of Alaskans and other lodges own float planes, so if you have a great place to land as well as fish, expect to see other anglers. Many years ago I would fly over smaller rivers teaming with fish wondering, “How in the world can I reach that stream?”. Within minutes flying time of the lodge, our helicopters enable us to reach many different rivers that rarely see other anglers. Many if not most of our anglers see no other anglers during their entire stay. Flying in a helicopter over Alaskan wilderness is a very colorful panoramic experience with the option of landing just about anywhere for a photo shot.

You arrive at Talaheim around 8-9am Sunday mornings, depart 5pm Saturday evenings. Our anglers enjoy seven full days of fishing – six nights lodging. Five to six of your fishing days you will travel by helicopter, one to two days fishing local waters you will travel by jet boat. We try to show you a different river each day. Most of our rivers are “wadable”, just perfect for a fly or spin fisherman that likes to cast across smaller rivers to large trout, char, grayling, and of course salmon. We offer day floats with our portable inflatable canoes down our larger rivers.

Each morning two to three anglers will fly out with their guide to a remote stretch of water. Normally we wade downstream and meet our helicopters in the early evening with plenty of time for a shower and our “hors d’oeuvres” over a few stretched fishing stories before dinner. Our day’s fishing is catered around your ability to wade a stream. With the helicopters, you can walk three miles or just 400 yards of river, as we can pick you up just about any place you stop. Our longest flight by helicopter is only about 15 minutes, so you spend most of your day fishing, not traveling.

Whether you are a fly fisherman or spin caster, you’ll enjoy our smaller very remote waters and “our Alaska by helicopter”.

Weeks for 2010:

All trips for 2010 cost $6200 per person which includes round trip air fare from Anchorage to Talaheim Lodge.

June 20-26, June 27-July 3, and July 4-10

These three weeks offer great angling for king salmon. Our smaller streams and river offer great opportunity to catch kings on the fly. We also offer angling for rainbow trout, char, grayling and northern pike. Some sockeye salmon may be caught during the last week.

July 11-17, July 18-24, July 25-31, August 1-7, and August 8-14

These are some of our best trout, char, and salmon combination weeks. During these times our king salmon are spawning and behind these spawning fish we find many trout and char. If you are into numbers of trout and char, then these weeks are tops. By mid July we see four other species of salmon arriving up our rivers. Last week in July and early August you can actually catch all five species of salmon.

August 15-21, August 22-28, August 29-September 4, and September 5-11

These weeks offer great angling for “fall fattened trout and char” Our trout and char gain 30% body weight from June through September gorging on salmon eggs and fry.

We take a maximum of six guests per week, eight from one group. Our guides are excellent fly fishermen and will be more than happy to instruct the art. We have staff rods available and of course we offer all the flies needed. We have spinners and spinning tackle available as well.

Our price includes round trip air fare from Anchorage to Talaheim Lodge, lodging based on double occupancy, daily maid service, meals, guides, use of lodge rods, reels, flies and lures, six helicopter fly outs, and one day fishing local waters traveling by river boat. We offer seven days fishing – six nights lodging. All our trips begin early Sunday mornings and end Saturday evenings. Included are helicopter side trips touring glaciers or mountain tops. Our weekly schedule may vary due to weather, water, or fishing conditions. We strive to place you in new fishing waters each day.

What’s not included are staff gratitude’s, fishing licenses, and hotel or food expenses while in Anchorage. At Talaheim Lodge your safety comes first. We do not “push the weather” when flying. If the weather is terrible when you are in Anchorage, any extra expense while you are there is on you, however, if you get stuck at Talaheim Lodge, your lodging and meals are on us.

Fishing licenses may be purchased at Talaheim Lodge, in Anchorage, or over the internet.