Rafting at Lake Marie Lodge

At Lake Marie we use rafts in a variety of ways to enhance your Alaska fishing adventure. We use rafts as a means of transportation to access several sections of creeks that would otherwise be almost inaccessible. We also use rafts for short trips which might be 1 or 2 hours, or for longer trips which might be all day, depending upon what type of fishing we are doing and which creek or river we are fishing in.

We also use rafts in the evening to leisurely float down river from our boat landing in order to enjoy the peace and solitude of the wilderness. Rafts are very quiet and therefore very effective for wildlife viewing, especially in the evening.

Moose rarely pay any attention to a raft as it floats by, as long as everyone is quiet.

Last summer we added a new way to combine fishing and rafting. If we were headed upriver to fish one of the streams which flows into the main river, we would carry a raft with us in the boat. After the day's fishing and when it was time to go, we would split up and several of the party could leisurely float back down to the boat landing.

This usually took about 1 to 2 hours depending upon how far upriver we were. Several new fishing areas were discovered in this way by watching for signs of breaking salmon. As it turns out, salmon were spawning in small schools up and down the river. The Rainbow were very thick wherever the schools were and we experienced some of our very best rainbow fishing.

Note: Fly-outs are not included in the regular price and are at an additional cost.

We can also fly up one of several main rivers by bush plane (5-50 miles), and float back down either to the Lodge or to within several miles of the Lodge. Each river offers a different type of floating experience, ranging from one river with placid braided channels to one with a single channel running through a canyon filled with boulders the size of cars. This canyon has excellent Rainbow Trout, Arctic Grayling, and Dolly Varden fishing. King Salmon, Silver Salmon, Red Salmon, and Chum Salmon also run this canyon and into the side creeks and streams.

We stop at these clear water creeks and streams as we float down through the valley and canyon. The fishing is very good in these crystal clear creeks. The water in the main river is not as clear, as it has more of a turquoise color, but fishing is still great as the river runs out of the valley and through the boulder filled canyon.

We drift fish along the way and stop several times to fish behind giant room-size rocks. The raft trip itself is a spectacular float through the Alaskan wilderness.

Other rivers in the area offer different type float trips. For example, one braided river runs slowly out of the mountains and through a valley of open gravel bars over two miles wide. This is an excellent area to see Moose and Brown Bear.