Super relieved to be able to confirm after my visit that Hidden Lake was essentially unaffected by…read morethe Swann Lake fire. All the services (toilets, dump site, amphitheater, boat launch, campsites, etc) were not touched by the flames. However, from the lake shore (boat launch and day use area) there is visible fire damage so the fire came VERY VERY close. So if you intend to hike while in Skilak you'll likely want to go southerly, as we observed heavy fire damage from mile zero through mile 4. But the fire did jump all over the place so you may want to confirm with the park service if you have specific questions about trails or the back country.

When you visit Alaska, you'll be bombarded by tourist lodges and guides to go fishing. The…read moreaccommodations aren't sexy, but they don't need to be. You get the full Alaskan experience here, real Alaskan people, real Alaskan experiences. It was a top 5 life experience for me, what you might lose in lodging upgrades, you gain in actually knowing the people and experiences surrounding the area. It's the hole in the wall hostel environment, the overlooked lodging environment. What you gain is connecting with real people from the area, and incredible fishing. Can't recommend it enough.

Stayed for 6 nights in late June. We had a group of 7 and utilized 3 cabins. The cabins are…read moremostly for sleeping and showering and were comfortable for both. The beds were comfortable, the heaters kept the temp nice at night, the showers were very hot which was great after being in the river all day. When not fishing we basically would just relax on the porch of our cabin. In provided chairs, or just hang out at the fire pit. The firepit area was very clean and they have wood there for making the fire. The fish cleaning area is nice, but the real hookup is to just pay them to clean, pack and freeze all your fish. They have commercial equipment for processing the fish. Most of the fishing when we were there was about 30 minutes north to coopers landing or 40 min south to the Kasilof river. But if you go when the reds are running up the kenai, you could walk about 5 minutes right down to the water and fish: The lodge has pretty much anything you need within 15 min drive. Some things are just a couple minutes away, but 15 and you could get about anything you're looking for. Steve the owner, was great and had a ton of local knowledge on where to fish each day. He also knew various guides and could help lining them up. We had a great time! If your looking for the Ritz Carlton then probably not your speed, but if your looking for a cozy cabin to clean up in and sleep and be close to the fish, this is a great spot.

TL;DR BEWARE! Stay away from Alaska Redfish Lodge and do not…read moreconduct any business with the owner Steven F Stuber. The place is messy, unorganized. The lodge is quite a 10 min walk to the river. The common area had flies and smelled like dead fish. Steven is an emotionally unstable person ready to snap at any moment. Full Story: We booked two nights stay for 2 adults, 2 kids, and 1 infant on Friday evening to go to Sterling for some fishing on a weekend Saturday-Monday. Our full booking price was about $320 ($129 per night plus fees) which we thought was odd as the Airbnb calendar showed $89. Anyway, we booked it and got all the confirmation information. Approximately at 1 AM we get an email from Steven the owner saying he is fully booked and unable to honor the reservation. We called Steven in the morning to clear things up as the reservation was already confirmed. He started blaming Airbnb for not honoring the blocked out dates saying this happens once in a while and there is no way he can give us a cabin on these dates and that he didn't want to lose his "Super host" status on Airbnb. We asked to cancel, he convinced us to continue with the reservation and that we would get a good deal. I had a bad feeling about it but felt bad for him and agreed to his offer. We moved the dates from Saturday to Sunday-Tuesday. It was inconvenient for us as kids are in school but we said we can manage and adjust our schedule. He asked us to move our date to just one night and refund the difference, in his system he would block out two nights for us. Our new total was going to be $94 for two nights. Not bad. He was very friendly on the phone and kept reiterating that he is willing to go far and beyond to make us whole. He also stated that he usually does not let five people stay and is willing to make an exception for us. This was very odd as we put five people in AirBnB and did not conceal the baby. I told him I am planning to do a lot of fishing. He said he will give me all the gear and even upgrade us to a bigger cabin that has a full-size refrigerator, and a loft area. We were excited! We get there on Sunday at 3:50 PM, check-in was at 3. The lovely cleaning lady which is potentially his wife, not sure, asked us if we were checking in. She said that we are staying in cabin 7 and that it was not ready for us. We thought that was odd as I expected that Steven would make our experience great as he promised. We said we can wait 30 minutes for the room to be cleaned up. I called Steven just in case he had told me that we are staying in cabin 8 and that he would make it to the property at ~5:30. We go to the cabin the lady said the keys were inside, I spend five minutes looking for the key, could not find it. She said she can bring it to us and she did. I started looking for the wifi password, could not find it anywhere on the wall. The lady did not know the password. I had to text Steven and he gave it to me over text. I thought it was odd that it's not printed in most normal places. There was no welcome package or welcome tour at all. Oh well. The wifi did not work inside cabin 8 but did barely work right outside. The TV did not have Netflix or cable even though it was connected. The knives in the kitchen were dirty, otherwise, the room was decent. It was NOT the room that Steven had promised us that had a loft with a full-size fridge, but I did not bother to call him as he seemed to be in a bad mood. We went to the playground, it had a very strong smell of pigsty as there was one behind it, the common area had a full trashcan of beercans and the fire pit was all covered in flies. It was pretty disgusting. I did a little fishing and we came back. I made a mental note that the experience so far was a bit odd. No welcoming, confusion with the keys, no wifi password printed, no TV and smelly, and dirty common area. Steven had returned at this point but did not bother to greet us. We did not feel welcome at all. I asked the lady if she can call Steven over as I had questions around processing my fish. She said he was upstairs but did not want to call him over. I thought it was odd, she instructed us to call him on his cell instead. He came out, I had asked him to use the coolers as he promised he said I could. He had combative body language but was answering all my questions. He told me to process the fish and leave it on the cooler pointing to it. He had instructed me to write my name on it and leave the tag. I did, he IMMEDIATELY said "What are you doing?!" is this your cooler?! I said it's empty and you pointed to it, he goes oh ok I wanted to make sure it was not someone else's. Mmm okay. the review got cut off here's the rest: https://gist.github.com/lpizzle/c5361eeecf94d79bb64102bd869ed998

Kim and Ross were truly amazing during our trip. They were extremely hospitable and accommodating…read more I can't imagine visiting Alaska without staying with them and coordinating our vacation with them. If you're planning a fishing trip, do yourself a favor and book with Riddle's. They're AMAZING.

Run by one of the nicest families you'll meet. Great fishing guides, their daughter works to…read morefillet all the salmon (and she's a pro), and there are drinks by the fire on the river nearly every night. A great place to stay!

My family and I spent a week here over Fourth of July weekend and had a great time! We've never…read moregone on a fishing excursion before, so we weren't sure what to expect, but Hooksetters made everything easy, comfortable, and enjoyable! We went out on one salt water excursion from Homer and 3 river charters, which were all exceptional. The guides called the night prior to ensure we knew what time to meet them the next day and to confirm the location. There were several changes to our itinerary based on the weather, which were communicated well ahead of time so we could plan appropriately. The guides were personable, professional, and worked incredibly hard to make sure we caught as many fish as possible. They filleted the fish on the river and on the boat back to harbor (ocean), then we were able to drop the fish off at the processors on our way back to the lodge for freezing and packing. Each person is allowed 50 pounds of fish, and we easily filled two boxes with halibut and sockeye salmon. The lodge is equipped with lots of extra equipment for use - waders, rain-gear, fishing poles, coolers, etc. Breakfast is a help yourself situation with cereal, yogurt, fruit, breads, and one cooked item that can be heated like quiche or breakfast burritos. Lunches are packed the night before so you can grab and go. They contain sandwiches, chips, cookies, trail mix, nuts, and bottled water. Hors d'oeuvres were served every night but Thursday, the cook's night off. They usually consisted of a soup, meats, cheeses, and crackers. There were also meatballs and jalapeño poppers. Dinner was varied, with salads each night and bbq ribs, salmon, bacon wrapped filet, bbq brats, and pork loin. There was also dessert, of course! If you're late, the cook wraps up your food so you can heat it up later. All in all, I was very impressed with this location, but the people were what really made it memorable. Everyone was so helpful and friendly, especially for rookies like us. There were several guests who had been here before and were back again, and I can see why. For a great guided fishing experience on the Kenai, check out Russell fishing and stay at Hooksetters!

We had an amazing experience at Alaska Hooksetter's Lodge and Russell Fishing…read more Glenn and Karen who run the operation are amazing. Carmen and Heather are absolutely amazing with the food. The exceeded our expectations. Wendy helping with all the lunches. The Lodge is beautiful and enjoyed the time around the campfire each night with amazing appetizers and drinks. What made the difference is the people of Hooksetter's and Russell fishing. A completely painless trip where everything was taken care of. The accommodations were top notch outstanding.... Definitely will be coming back..... Oh and the fishing...... 4 of us caught after all the fish were cleaned and processed...... 226 lbs of Halibut, Rock Fish, Ling Cod, Yellow Eye and Salmon.... See pics Thank you again for an awesome experience

We stopped by this campground this weekend and while we didn't stay the night, it was so nice that…read morewe're planning on going back. We stopped off at most of the campgrounds in the area as we passed through on our way to Soldotna, checking them out, and this was one of our favorites. It's located in Sterling, not too far from Soldotna, and sits at the confluence of the Moose and Kenai Rivers. The rivers are beautiful and the campsites are nice and shaded. The only fishing allowed is fly fishing. Check the website for all the details -- there are camp sites, picnic tables, firepits, toilets, it's handicap accessible, boat ramp, and an onsite campground host. There's a cute little old sod-roof cabin at the entrance and an interpretive sign explaining how people have lived in the area for a loooonnnnnggggg time.

Absolutely incredible. Great food, views, staff, fishing. It was all amazing. Already booked for…read morenext year!

Absolutley loved our stay at the lodge. Every staff member was going out of their way to make you…read morefeel comforatble and taken care of. All of our guides did a such a great job, very knowledgeable and fun to hang out with! Bear camp was the highlight, this could very well be the best place anywhere to see huge brown bears in the wild. Special thanks to the staff to make our stay so memorable. Truly a once in a lifetime experience. Also the flight in and out to bear camp is an adventure as the plane is landing on the beach during low tide. Also went on the glacier tour in Seward and enjoyed a great day on the water watching humpacks hunt and orcas cruising by. The Aialik glacier was impressive. This tour should not be missed during your stay in Alaska! Food at the lodge was delicious, everyday we were surprised with some new delicious meal from elk burgers to salmon and filet mignon. The chef, bakers and the whole crew did such a great job. Happy hour was great to mingle with other guest and talk to the guides about your next day adventure. You get what you pay for at this lodge. Would definitley recommed it to anyone!

Totally awesome! They deserve every star. Fine folks running the place. The location is nice and…read morequiet, and our room was spacious, clean and comfy.