Fishing on the Newhalen River

The Newhalen River flows out of Lake Clark and becomes the major tributary to Lake Illiamna.  Lake Illiamna is Alaska's largest lake, and is the source of the great Salmon fisheries of Bristol Bay. Each year millions of Sockeye Salmon return to Lake Illiamna to spawn.  As many as 50,000 fish a day pass the sonar where the Newhalen flows into Lake Illiamna.

Dad holds a healthy Sockeye that he landed on the Newhalen near the town of Illiamna.  These fish are large Sockeyes.  The average fish is around 8 LBS which is quite a bit larger than most Sockeye. Pound for pound the Sockeye is the toughest of the Salmons in my experience.  Long hard runs, with several acrobatic leaps typify a battle with these fish.

The Newhalen River is no secret.  Regular commercial flights into the town of Illiamna bring crowds of people in search of the tasty Sockeyes. We found that at 4AM the river was quiet.  We were able to fish in serenity, sharing the river with only the occasional Brown Bear.  Dad was able to catch this limit before the crowds were up and about.

In July of 1992, my friend Chris Pettine flew me out to Illiamna for my first Salmon fishing trip.  I was amazed to catch fish like these. This photo is of the five beautiful Sockeye that I caught the first night.