Ketchum, Idaho, United States âThere is nothing like the thrill of expectation over the first cast over unfamiliar waters. Fishing is like gambling, in that failure only excites hope of a fortunate throw next time....
King Salmon, Aalaska, United States ATA Lodge on the Alagnak Wild River is Looking forward to the 2023 Season after a Fantastic 2022 Season
Nov 17, 2022
ATA Lodge, situated on the Wild and Scenic Alagnak River of B...
Picabo, Idaho, United States "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail." ~ John Wooden
It is as true in fly fishing as it is in basketball. A successful fly fishing outing is dependent on preparation. If you are planin...
Sun Valley, Idaho, United States âNo fisherman ever fishes as much as he wantsâ¦this is the first great rule of fishing, and it explains a world of otherwise inexplicable behavior.â â Geoffrey Norman
...
Sun Valley, Idaho, United States âChoosing to save a river is more often an act of passion than of careful calculation. You make the choice because the river has touched your life in an intimate and irreversible way...
King Salmon, Alaska, United States JULY FLY FISHING HAS BEEN A BLAST!
We have had a full house every week, with lots of happy clients catching more fish than they ever imagined possible! The month started out with ...
Ketchum, Idaho, United States "A year of snow, a year of plenty."
â French Proverb
The snow pack in the Big Wood drainage is currently at 172% of average and still has the potential to climb heading into spring....
Sun Valley, Idaho, United States "Water is the driving force in nature." - Leonardo da Vinci
The current snow water equivalent for the Big Wood, Little Wood, and Big Lost rivers is at around 170% of average. Simple tr...
Ketchum, Idaho, United States âNobody goes there anymore. Itâs too crowded.â
â Yogi Berra
As one of the few fishable rivers in the state of Idaho, the Creek certainly saw its share of anglers this...
Ketchum, Idaho, United States And everything under the sun is in tune. But the sun is eclipsed by the moon.
â Pink Floyd
If you have not heard, the Sun Valley and Stanley area is in the path of totality for the ...
King Salmon, Alaska, United States 2019 Mid-season Fishing Report from ATA Lodge on Bristol Bay's Alagnak Wild River
I've heard it said that a picture paints a thousand words! So I thought I'd let some of our photos ...
Ketchum, Idaho, United States âFishing seems awfully insignificant at times, but for those of us who love it, fishing provides opportunitiesâ opportunities to learn, to laugh, and to liveâ¦â
â Te...
Sun Valley, Idaho, United States "There is no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing."
â Sir Ranulph Fiennes
Rain, snow, sleet, inversions: we have seen it all this winter. Fortunately, when the weather is bad...
Picabo, Idaho, United States "Dave was never on time for work. He was always early." ~ Terry Ring
That is because it wasn't work for Dave; it was his passion. Let's all try to be a little more like Dave. Whether at wo...
Sun Valley, Idaho, United States "Fishing is fundamentally a game of chance, and at heart we are all gamblers." - Dorothy Noyes Arms
Fly fishing is often rife with uncertainty, ambiguity, and misadventure. These are t...
Ketchum, Idaho, United States ââ¦for me, fly fishing is a great puzzle-solving challenge.â
â Jennifer Smith
The best anglers are always changing their tactics as conditions change from season to se...
Sun Valley, Idaho, United States "For the supreme test of a fisherman is not how many fish he has caught, not even how he has caught them, but what he has caught when he has caught no fish." â John H. Bradley
The...
Sun Valley, Idaho, United States âThis I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world.â
â John Steinbeck
All good anglers seem to have a common...
King Salmon, Alaska, United States 2019 End of Season Report from ATA Lodge on the Fabled Alagnak Wild River of Bristol Bay, Alaska
Another Great Season in the Books at ATA Lodge!
After browsing through this blog ...
King Salmon, Aalaska, United States June 8-18, 2023 Trout Opener at ATA Lodge
Jun 23, 2023
Well the 2023 season started with a bang! What a great opener we have had this year. June is arguably my personal most fa...
Ketchum, Idaho, United States âTHERE IS NO TAKING TROUT IN DRY BREECHES.â â Cervantes
September is a magical time on the waters around the Wood River Valley. The days are getting shorter, the nights coo...
Ketchum, Idaho, United States âAs we try to estimate future streamflow scenarios, please remember that Mother Nature bats last and she can be a switch hitter.â
â Idaho Water Supply Outlook Report June 1, ...
Ketchum, Idaho, United States "A warm January, a cold May." ~Welsh Proverb
To date, January has been warm, and what May will yield has yet to be seen. While proverbs portend general truths based on common experience, ...
Ketchum, Idaho, United States "Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve."~ Benjamin Franklin
Make a resolution you can keep this new year. Resolve yourself to spend more time fly fishin...
Sun Valley, Idaho, United States "...this winter I'm determined to for once fish sensibly, and by that I mean in comfort, to try not only to match the hatch but also to match the weather."
â Tom Sutcliffe, MD
Fi...
Sun Valley, Idaho, United States "With melted snow I boil fragrant tea.â
â Mencius
The snow keeps coming. As of February 6th, the Big Wood Basin is at 144% of average and the Little Wood and Big Lost are no...
Sun Valley, Idaho, United States âFor me, sport is actually a chance for us to have other human beings push us to excel.â ~ Mr. Keating from Dead Poet Society
Bosnia was very good to Fly Fishing Team USA! We...
King Salmon, Alaska, United States July 2023 Fishing Report for ATA Lodge on the Wild Alagnak River of Bristol Bay, Alaska!
July Has Been Epic at ATA Lodge! Of course the Sockeye Salmon start to stream in to the Alag...
Sun Valley, Idaho, United States "Never throw a long line when a short one will serve your purpose." - Richard Penn
Trout take a fly with astonishing speedâ¦and as quickly as they take it they spit it out. To ens...
Sun Valley, Idaho, United States âI am haunted by waters.â â Norman Maclean
The first wave of true spring run off occurred during the first week of May causing the Big Wood to peak at nearly 7,000 CFS. ...
Ketchum, Idaho, United States âFishing consists of a series of misadventures interspersed by occasional moments of glory.â
â Howard Marshall
What constitutes a âmoment of gloryâ while angling...
Ketchum, Idaho, United States âThere is time to go long, time to go short and time to go fishing.â
â Jesse Livermore
Fly Fishermen understand anticipation; after all, our sport is predicated by watchin...
Ketchum, Idaho, United States âLive in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influence of the earth.â
â Henry David Thoreau
With winter...
King Salmon, Alaska, United States Recent mild weather conditions the past few years, combined with record runs of all 5 species of Pacific Salmon bode well for this seasons Trout Fishing on the Alagnak Wild River!
...
Ketchum, Idaho, United States âDrake is a term of European origin generally applied to a mayfly larger than size 14, and they are considered royalty by fly fishers wherever they exist.â
â Rene Harrop
T...
Sun Valley, Idaho, United States âI salute the gallantry and uncompromising standards of wild trout, and their tastes in landscapes.â
â John Madson
If it is true that your surroundings shape your thoug...
Sun Valley, Idaho, United States "Fishing is like that. It keeps you off balance, surprises you. It takes humility to learn, to accept that you may need a lesson or two even in your advanced stage of enlightenment."
â...
Sun Valley, Idaho, United States "Water is taught by thirst." - Emily Dickinson
Due to the warm weather and rain over the last week, the low altitude snow has started to melt. Our freestones and tail-waters are alread...
Ketchum, Idaho, United States âI have had my share of hairy moments, always from the same mistakeâmisjudging the strength of the current.â
â A.J. McClane
As the rivers in our region continue to dr...
King Salmon, Alaska, United States Drama on the Wild Alagnak Riverâ¦.
After a day of wearing ourselves out catching heaps of Big, Beautiful Leopard Rainbow Trout and Grayling, new guy Jon is out fishing at midnigh...
Sun Valley, Idaho, United States "There is only one thing wrong with a fishing day-- its staggering brevity." â Zane Grey
The experience of time while fly fishing is somewhere between "a watched pot never boils" ...
Ketchum, Idaho, United States âMost anglers spend their lives making rules for trout, and trout spend their lives breaking them!â
â George Ashton
Fly fishers are slaves to rules⦠Rods needs to be ...
King Salmon, Alaska, United States You are here. so am I. We are right where we belong...
Together we are strong, like the river, moving forward, forever constant for so long....
(lyrics by Sue McGee)
We are here, ...
Ketchum, Idaho, United States âThe stream before you is constantly changing. If you are not flexible or confident enough to adapt to changing conditions on the stream, you are sure to fail.â
â Joe Humphre...
Sun Valley, Idaho, United States â...perhaps the greatest satisfaction on the first day of the season is the knowledge in the evening that the whole of the rest of the season is to come.â
â Arthur Ransome...
Ketchum, Idaho, United States ââ¦the fisherman fishes. It is at once an act of humility and a small rebellion. And it is something more. To him, his fishing is an island of reality in a world of dream and shadow...
King Salmon, Alaska, United States 2017 Fishing Report for Alaska Trophy Adventures Lodge on the Alagnak Wild River.
It Was A Great Year to be at ATA Lodge in 2017! We Had a Blast!
From one extreme to another! Aft...
Sun Valley, Idaho, United States "The angling fever is a very real disease and can only be cured by the application of cold water and fresh untainted air."
â Theodore Gordon
For some, the concept of winter fly f...
Sun Valley, Idaho, United States "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future."
- Yogi Bera
One thing we do know...there is a lot of snow in the mountains. As of May 2nd, the Big Wood drainage is 217...
Ketchum, Idaho, United States âOurs is the grandest sport. It is an intriguing battle of wits between an angler and a trout; and in addition to appreciating the tradition and grace of the game, we play it in the mag...