In the News
Frontiers 147: Angling for Tomorrow
June, 2019: In Southwest Alaska, a lot of good ideas start in a steam bath or maqii, an Alaska Native version of the sauna — small wooden buildings with stoves inside, stoked with driftwood, where friends and family sit together and let the heat cleanse their bodies and souls.
We are a Fly Fishing Academy | INDIE ALASKA
March, 2019: The Bristol Bay Fly Fishing & Guide Academy hopes to educate, engage and inspire Bristol Bay young adults to become local leaders in river stewardship and prepare them for jobs based on healthy fish in their home rivers. The videos capture the diverse and colorful lifestyles of everyday Alaskans at work and at play.
The Bristol Bay Fly Fishing & Guide Academy works to bring more jobs to the region
June, 2018: It’s the tenth anniversary of the Bristol Bay Fly Fishing and Guide Academy. This week-long course brings youth from around the region to teach them the skills they’d need to get a job in the sports fishing industry, which is dominated by guides from the lower 48.
Guiding their futures: area youth find career options in lucrative sport fishing industry
July, 2017: Reuben Hastings, Kvichak Aspelund, and Riley Lyon are three of more than a dozen graduates of the Bristol Bay Fly Fishing & Guide Academy working in the industry this summer.
8th Annual Fly Fishing Academy Reels In Potential Guides
June, 2016: Young anglers are gathered at Mission Lodge in Aleknagik this week for the 8th annual Bristol Bay Fly Fishing and Guide Academy. Thirteen students are attending this year’s course, including Aubrey Romo of Aleknagik.
Local youth hone fly fishing, service skills at Bristol Bay Guide Academy
June 2016: A dozen young people spent this week at the 8th Annual Bristol Bay River Guide Academy, hosted this year by BBNC’s Mission Lodge in Aleknagik. The 14-through-24-year-olds learned the ins-and-outs of the fly fishing industry – everything from boat safety and biology, to fly-tying and customer service.
Bristol Bay program aims to turn local youth into fishing guides
May, 2016: As it has for the past seven years, the Bristol Bay Fly Fishing and Guide Academy will host 15 Bristol Bay area youth next month, aiming to give them skills and knowledge that could translate into a career as a sport fishing guide in their backyard.
Bristol Bay youth learn to become fishing guides in their own backyard
June 2015: ANCHORAGE – Young adults from around Bristol Bay are learning how to become fishing guides in their own backyard.
2014 Stories: Bristol Bay River Academy
August, 2014: This summer, 13 teenage and young adult students came together at Red Quill Lodge on the shores of Lake Iliamna for a specific purpose. They were there for the Bristol Bay River Academy where they all spent a busy, action-filled week fly fishing and learning how to guide visitors to do the same.
Angling Education
Autumn, 2014: An Alaskan fishing academy could be a model for all angling communities.
Getting schooled at Bristol Bay River Academy
August 27, 2014: Thirteen new graduates are ready to guide visitors along Bristol Bay’s rivers and streams, and show them how to work a mean fly rod for salmon and trout. The students mastered the place-based curriculum at the Bristol Bay River Academy.
Flying and Tying in the Bay
September 1, 2014: Thirteen new graduates of Bristol Bay River Academy are ready to guide visitors and help them work a mean fly rod for salmon and trout. The students mastered the “place-based” curriculum at the Academy where they learned the basic skills of fly fishing, casting, knots and fly tying.
Annual Bristol Bay River Academy Finished
August 25, 2014: A group of Bristol Bay students recently finished up a course on fly fishing and working as river guides. KDLG’s Chase Cavanaugh has more.
Bristol Bay River Academy students demonstrate new skills to Iliamna community members
August 18, 2014: Students from a number of Bristol Bay communities this week learned how to tie a coho-catching fly, cast a fly rod into the wind, and prepare a detailed list of supplies to bring for a day on the water with a client. Tomorrow, their new skills will be put to the test.
Bristol Bay River Academy Teaches Young People to be Fishing Guides
July 7, 20214: The Bristol Bay River Academy is a week long course intended to give an opportunity to young locals to learn how to be a fishing guide. For the past six years, the academy has been training around 12 students each summer to become guides.
Bristol Bay River Academy teaches valuable guiding skills
June 26, 2014: Fishing is a common profession in Bristol Bay, but not all fishing is alike. Certainly, for many young folks, learning to crew and pick fish in the region’s world famous commercial salmon fishery is an excellent entry into a lucrative industry.
Grooming Local Guides For Bristol Bay’s Growing Sport Fishing Industry
June 17, 2013 For many young people in rural Alaskan communities, finding a job with a decent and reliable income is challenging. The Bristol Bay River Academy is determined to change that by creating employment opportunities while also supporting the choice of residents who wish to maintain their cultural lifestyle values—which often revolve around salmon.
Casting for a career in fly fishing
A weeklong camp in Bristol Bay allows local youth to explore a career as a fly-fishing guide.
Bristol Bay Youth Join Healing Waters Veterans at Mission Lodge
June 18, 2012: Alaska veterans and active duty soldiers are about to embark on a dream fishing trip – even by Alaskans’ standards.
This Week in AK: Fly Fishing in Bristol Bay
June 17, 2011: Most fly fishing guides in Bristol Bay come from Outside. But the Bristol Bay Fly fishing and Guide Academy is working to train young people from the region.
Bristol Bay Fly Fishing & Guide Academy 