The Alagnak Lodge remains a great fishing destination for the summer of 2022. From all signs it should be a good year to come fish with us.
We still have in place our risk-free offer of a full refund or deferral of reservation if you are unable to travel to the lodge due to Covid related reasons.
There was too much uncertainty and anxiety in 2020, so we made a rapid decision to not operate the lodge that year. We did operate in 2021, and the only effect from COVID was the inability of our non-USA clients to fish with us. They plan to fish with us in 2022. We were able to operate the entire 2021 season without any incidents of COVID, and we hope to do the same in 2022.
We now have to acknowledge climate change is real and has had a major impact on the watersheds of cold-water fish such as salmon and trout. In 2021 the Alagnak River was blessed with good climate conditions. Both the weather and the water were cool throughout the summer. We did have a few low and warm water days, but not many. The snowpack in our watershed right now is substantial. Our whole watershed ecosystem is not at all stressed, so we think we will have good water conditions in 2022 on the Alagnak River. The resiliency of our wilderness location is definitely one of the major factors in why we remain a great fishing destination. Having our entire watershed in a pristine wilderness, with virtually no commercial or agricultural undertakings, gives us hope for our environment's future.
The sockeye run is again projected to be near record levels. It is reasonable to expect the run in the Alagnak River to be around 3 million. The chums returned to form in 2021 and we expect them to continue to give us a lot of action this summer. We have been putting a lot less pressure on the kings the last few years. We have not seen many kings caught in the lower river the last few years, but we will see how it goes. In 2021 we went to voluntary catch and release for the kings. The silvers have become our main fishing attraction. They will be joined by the pinks this year. All in all, we expect to have a lot of hook ups this year.
Last year we were able to add 4 Yamaha 60-40 HP jets to our motor inventory. We also added a Yamaha 50 hp prop. We now have an all-Yamaha motor fleet with a couple of Yamaha 40s in reserve. We have also taken other measures to increase the reliability of our boats. We continue to do a lot behind the scenes to ensure that you have safe and reliable water transport. With the addition of the jets, we can now penetrate further upriver when it is desirable to do so.
We fell a little behind on the maintenance of the lodge last year after not being there in 2020. We did make several improvements in 2021and should have everything up and running properly by the start of the season in 2022.
Our guides really did an excellent job last year. They were focused on working as a team and the overall fishing success of all our clients rather than competing with one another to be the “best fisherman” on the river. They are young and enthusiastic with a passion for fishing. They are given lots of time and resources so they can spend more time on the river figuring out the behavior of the fish under the ever-changing conditions
Our two chefs have been friends for many years and combined to produce meals that exceeded all expectations. Our first mechanic was not equal to the task, but our second mechanic set a new high standard in getting our motors to run properly and everything at the lodge to function better. Our year end winterizing was much better than normal due to some of his innovations. We look forward to him continuing his good work in 2022.
We all look forward to fishing again with our returning clients as well as our new clients. The uncertainty driven by the Covid pandemic has disrupted virtually all travel related plans. We do still have fishing opportunities throughout all our season. Please give us a call soon if you have any interest in fishing with us this year.