Alaska rainbow trout are some of the finest in the world. Trophies topping over 30 inches long loom in the rivers and creeks of the Greatland. Here are 5 top choices for Alaska rainbow trout.
Story & Photo by Troy Letherman
IT’S 1982 IN THE MIDDLE YELLOWSTONE VALLEY and the high-plains river materializes as a freestone schematic for trouters: cobalt-colored slots of holding water, boulders peeking out like flagsticks on a golf course, reflective riffles that run for half-mile stretches, deeply undercut banks hiding pools of great promise. Here the big sky means a bigger light show and evening descends on the valley in folds of golden drapery. Cottonwoods throw long shadows on the gravel bars at water’s edge; hay fields lay beyond, dotted with second-cutting bales, round and square. The Absarokas rise in the southern distance, the Crazies to the north. I’m too young to row and so I get to cast, even though my little arms and the long rod make for an odd combination. Still the hopper sporadically finds the right spot. Several rainbows. A good brown. Trout for life.
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