Frequently Asked Questions

We run a limited number of trips each season, and prime dates — especially the July Kanektok mouse fishing weeks — fill a year or more in advance. Contact us as early as possible to secure your preferred dates. If you have flexibility on timing, we can sometimes accommodate later inquiries, but don’t count on it for peak season.

Your trip price covers floatplane flights to and from the river, all meals from start to finish (breakfast, shore lunch, dinner), non-alcoholic beverages, camping gear including Alaska-made tents with cots and chairs, expert guide service, fishing instruction, and basic fishing equipment loan if needed. Tell us at booking if you need rods and reels — we can often accommodate.

You are responsible for: commercial flights to Anchorage and to your hub city (Bethel, King Salmon, or Dillingham depending on the river), your Alaska fishing license, guide gratuities, personal fishing gear including waders and boots, and any alcoholic beverages you want to bring in via bush order. A detailed packing list is provided at booking.

Small bush planes have strict weight limits. We target a maximum of 250 pounds per person total — that’s you plus your gear. As a practical rule, personal gear should be 50 pounds or less. If you’re close to or over the limit, contact us — we’ll look at the total manifest for the trip and work with you. Any overage cost falls on you. Pack smart: everything you bring has to earn its weight on the river.

Standard Style — Our most popular program. Same high-quality gear, food, and guides as the Deluxe, with some guest participation in camp setup and breakdown each morning. Available on the Kanektok, Goodnews, Alagnak, Togiak, and Moraine Creek.

Fisherman’s Deluxe — A dedicated gear boat and camp assistant travel ahead each day. Camp is fully set and dinner is underway when you pull off the water. Zero camp chores — every hour is fishing time. Available on the Alagnak, Goodnews, and Kanektok.

Intimate Rivers — A more hands-on, expedition-style program on smaller, remote rivers with fewer anglers per season. Simpler camp setup, same expert guides, built for anglers who want true solitude. Available on the Arolik River and by request on other intimate waters.

All three programs use the same equipment quality, the same experienced guides, and our 30+ years of operational knowledge.

No. Many of our guests are on their first Alaska float trip. Our guides are experienced at helping anglers of all skill levels — from beginners working on their casting to veteran fly fishers targeting specific species. Both fly and spin fishing are supported on most trips. If you’re unsure which approach fits your experience, ask Paul when you inquire.

Step 1 — Fly to Anchorage via your preferred commercial carrier.

Step 2 — Connect to your hub city. Depending on which river you’re fishing, you’ll fly commercially to Bethel, King Salmon, or Dillingham. We’ll tell you exactly which one at booking.

Step 3 — Floatplane to the river. Your air taxi transfers you from the hub to the river put-in. This is part of what your trip price covers.

Arrive a day early. We strongly recommend arriving in your hub city the evening before your trip start date. This protects you against commercial flight delays and gives you time to organize gear before the floatplane departs.

Accommodations & Air Taxis: In Bethel we work with specific B&Bs and Renfro’s Air Service. In King Salmon, we recommend Antlers Inn with Branch River Air Service. Details and contacts are provided at booking.

Gear storage: Non-river items — street clothes, extra luggage — can be stored at the air taxi hangar during your trip.

All nonresidents age 16 or older must purchase and carry a valid Alaska sport fishing license. You are responsible for this — we cannot fish you without one.

Buy online: adfg.alaska.gov → Licenses

King Salmon Stamp: If you plan to target Chinook (King) salmon, you also need a king stamp. It must be signed in ink and affixed to the back of your license before you fish.

Duration: Buy a license that covers every day you’ll be fishing. Have it on your person on the water at all times.

See our License page for current fee information and additional details.

We provide a limited but carefully selected fly collection and can often lend rods and reels. Let us know at booking if you need equipment. That said, most experienced anglers prefer their own setups. You know your rod, and it makes a difference.

No felt-sole wading boots — they’re prohibited in Alaska. Rubber-soled or studded soles only. We’ll send a complete packing list with specific wader and boot recommendations when you book.

Fly Rods:

• 6-weight minimum, 9 feet — bare minimum for most fishing
• 7–8 weight ideal for the majority of situations
• 9-weight for Chinook or large Coho salmon
• Bring at least two rods. A broken rod in the middle of a week-long float is a long way from a tackle shop.

Lines: Floating line is your primary. Bring a sink-tip or full-sink as backup for deep presentations.

Leaders & Tippet: 0X–3X for salmon; 3X–5X for trout and Dolly Varden.

Tools: Pliers (not hemostats — hooks are heavy), line nippers, hook sharpener, strike indicators, split shot, spare rod tip.

Flies we provide: A working selection including Dolly Llama (black/white), orange gurglers, mouse patterns, beads, and flesh flies. If you have confidence patterns that matter to you, bring them.

Barbless only: Crimp your barb before tying on. It speeds up releases and causes far less damage to the fish.

See our Flies & Tackle page for more detail.

Alaska weather changes fast. The layering system is not optional — it’s how you stay comfortable and safe across the full range of conditions you’ll encounter in a single day.

The core rule: No cotton. If it gets wet, cotton stays wet and steals heat. Stick to modern synthetic or wool for everything from base layers to midlayers.

Think: crisp mornings in the 40s, afternoons that might hit 65°F and sunny, evenings back in the 40s, and rain possible any time. A complete packing list with specific clothing recommendations is provided at booking.

See our Packing Info page for a full breakdown.

You wake up in camp, breakfast is ready or being made. You rig up while coffee happens. The guide reads the morning water and you’re on the river shortly after. Most of the day is fishing — working runs, floating new water, covering the best lies the guide has been tracking. Lunch often happens on a gravel bar or from the raft.

Evening brings you to a new campsite — downstream from where you started the morning, which is the whole point of a float. Camp is either being set up when you arrive (Standard Style) or already fully prepared (Fisherman’s Deluxe). Dinner, stories, sleep. Repeat until the floatplane comes out.

You’ll sleep in spacious Alaska-made tents designed for two, with cots and sleeping pads. You need to bring your own sleeping bag — we’ll specify temperature rating on your packing list. Sleeping bag rentals are available with a fresh liner for a small cleaning fee; let us know at booking if you need one.

Substantial, well-made wilderness meals — hearty breakfasts, river lunches, full dinners. Guides take this seriously. Occasionally dinner includes a fresh salmon from the day’s fishing, which is a different experience than anything you’ll have at a lodge. Non-alcoholic beverages including Tang and coffee are provided throughout.

Our standard policy is catch and release on all species, with the exception of the occasional male salmon kept for camp dinner during the trip. If you want to take a fish or two home, that needs to happen on the final day only — cooler space during a moving float trip is limited, and keeping fish fresh over multiple days isn’t something we can reliably do.

Important limitation: Alaska Rainbow Adventures provides no fish processing or vacuum sealing. Processing services are also rarely available in our hub cities. If bringing fish home matters to you, plan accordingly well in advance.

See our Catch & Release page for our full handling practices.

A wilderness float trip in Southwest Alaska is more physically demanding than most anglers expect. Even moderate fishing days involve: repetitive casting, wading on uneven gravel and tundra terrain, balancing in a moving raft, and sustained exposure to wind, cold, and rain. You don’t need to be an athlete, but you do need to be prepared for consecutive days of activity without access to a warm room or rest day.

Travel fatigue is also real. Most guests arrive after long flights before stepping onto a floatplane. Build in an arrival day buffer in your hub city and plan to ease into the first morning on the river. Our guides are skilled at reading clients as well as water — they’ll pace the day to keep you productive and enjoying yourself.

No. These are genuine wilderness rivers with no cell service and no internet. Our guides carry satellite communication devices for operational use and emergencies. You’re welcome to bring your own personal satellite communicator — a Garmin inReach is the most common option among our guests for staying in touch with family back home.

The disconnection is part of the experience. Most guests stop thinking about it by day two.

Bush flying is entirely weather-dependent. Dense fog, high winds, and storms can ground floatplane operations — sometimes for multiple consecutive days. Safety always comes first, and our air taxis won’t fly in unsafe conditions.

The 2–3 day threshold: If weather prevents flying to the river, there comes a point — typically after 2–3 days of delays depending on your trip length — where there is no longer sufficient time to safely conduct your full scheduled trip. At that point, the trip must be cancelled.

Your protection: This is exactly what trip cancellation and interruption insurance is designed to cover. Without it, a weather cancellation means losing 100% of your prepaid trip cost — typically $7,000–$11,000 per person. With proper coverage, those costs are recoverable.

This is the scenario that matters most to understand before you write a deposit check. You’ve arrived in your hub city, you’re packed and ready, but floatplanes are grounded. By day three (sometimes earlier for shorter trips), we’ve crossed the threshold where there is no longer enough time to safely complete the float. The trip is cancelled.

Why the season can’t be extended:

• Alaska’s fishing season runs roughly mid-June through mid-September. There is no fall extension.
• Every week of the season is fully committed with other trips.
• Our federal USFWS and NPS permits specify exact dates, group sizes, and operating windows.
• Starting a 7-day float with 4 days of weather window remaining is not a responsible option.

The financial reality: Alaska Rainbow Adventures maintains a strict no-refund policy for weather-related cancellations. The only protection is insurance.

We recommend two distinct levels of protection that serve different purposes:

1. Global Rescue (Emergency Evacuation) — An emergency evacuation from remote Southwest Alaska can exceed $100,000 without coverage. Global Rescue provides field rescue from your point of injury or illness, 24/7 support, and evacuation to the hospital of your choice.

2. Trip Cancellation / Interruption Insurance — Covers financial scenarios — weather delays, illness before departure, or other circumstances that force cancellation. We recommend IMG Signature Travel Insurance as an add-on to your Global Rescue membership.

See our Travel Insurance page for more detail and enrollment links.

You are in Southwest Alaska. Brown bears are present on every river we run and are a routine part of the experience, particularly during salmon runs. You will likely see bears fishing the same gravel bars you’re standing on. Our guides are experienced with bear encounters and will brief you on protocols before you’re on the river.

Other common wildlife includes bald eagles, wolves (more often heard than seen), caribou, moose depending on the river, and fox. This is genuine wilderness — the wildlife encounters are part of what you’re there for.

These fisheries exist because of how they’ve been treated over decades. We take C&R seriously: barbless hooks, keep fish in the water for handling and photos, land quickly, support the fish facing into current until it kicks off under its own power.

See our full Catch & Release page for detailed fish handling practices.

Safety is the non-negotiable foundation of everything we do. Our guides are CPR and first aid certified, carry satellite communication devices on every trip, conduct safety briefings before time on the water, and use top-quality equipment across all rafts and camp systems.

See our Safety page for a full breakdown of our protocols and equipment.