Alaska's Kodiak Island Resort — Hotel in Larsen Bay

My review will be in two parts. One about the fishing, and the second about everything else. I hope you find it useful. We fished 8/15/22 – 8/19/22. First the fishing. I am not a novice and have fished deep sea for marlin and sailfish, in shore for grouper, fly fished in Montana and many western states. But I have never done this. Something different in a very remote place was the lure that attracted myself and my group. It did not disappoint. We (our group had six in total) were assigned Captain Jim and first-mate Pablo on board “The Kodiak” which was a well-appointed deep twin hull catamaran ideal for traversing up to 10 foot swells and 40 mph sustained winds. Powered by twin 300 hp Yamaha outboards, we were always able to get where we needed to be. The on-board fishing equipment was a mix of well broken-in Penn reels and new Shimano gear on heavy 6 foot rods. All were well-maintained and no problems were encountered during our entire trip. We started off on Day 1 with a mix of fishing which was nice for everyone in our group to get used to the equipment, the boat and the crew. And the crew to get used to us. We caught a few nice salmon, 12 halibut in the #25-30 range, rockfish and ling cod. We fished different depths from 80 feet down to 400 feet with jigging and loaded bait rods. Very nice variety of fish and fishing techniques and a good way to start off the trip. Day 2 was a lousy weather day with rain and 30+ mph winds, but we were still able to fish. Mainly in Uyak Bay. Brought up 9 decent halibut from #20-30 and rockfish. The raingear provided was a solid performer this day keeping all of us dry and warm. The only thing I wish I would have done different was to bring better gloves. Waterproof all-weather gloves would have ideal. Day 3 brought us out to the Kodiak side of Shelikof Strait. The rains moved out, but the winds and 5-8 foot surf continued. Overall, a great day with lots of halibut, rock fish and we hammered the ling cod. Saw sea lions, pods of fin whales and porpoises this day that will not soon be forgotten. Day 4 saw us head out across the Shelikof strait to the Alaska side for arguably the best fishing of the trip. A few halibut, but mainly rockfish and ling cod. We caught the biggest and the most yellow-eye rockfish on this day, many over 30” and one stretching the tape at 33”. Before heading back, we went bear viewing along the southern beaches of Katmai National Park. We saw 10 different bears in about 30 minutes, one we were able to get within about 25 yards for some cool videos. Our last day found us worn out from the prior days and we opted to troll for salmon. We caught 19 this day including a few King salmon so we were glad we all bought King salmon tags in addition to our fishing licenses. Overall, we each ended up bringing back a #50 box of frozen fileted fish all nicely vacuum sealed and frozen in a Styrofoam/waxed cardboard box. The staff did an excellent job cleaning and processing our fish for our trip home. No complaints at all! As for everything else, there is nothing but great things to say. Bob Gerondale, the lodge’s new owner, has spared no expense in improving what was already an amazing experience. Starting off with the food. Chef Jeremy seemed like he tried to outperform the previous night’s meal with something even better the next night. And crab night was amazing. The lodge is clean, warm and inviting. Everything you could possibly need or want was provided. And finally, the staff. Can’t imaging a more friendly bunch of folks. Their smiles are friendly and genuine. The service is exceptional all around. As you can probably tell, I am very happy with our entire experience at Kodiak Island Resort. I would highly recommend it for anyone seeking something new in a stunningly beautiful remote area of the world. The fishing is great and the people there are even...

A Perfect Trip!!

My Son and I just spent four days fishing out of the Kodiak Island Resort and had what I would consider the trip of a lifetime!! Every aspect of this lodge exceeded my high expectations. The Lodge is new, nicely decorated, Immaculately clean, and located 50 yards from the boat with a nice porch to sit out on and look out at the harbor. The beds are also super comfortable. The food Mike the chef cooks up is beyond good! he is a top chef and has been executive chef at fine restaurants but prefers to come to Alaska and create amazing meals for small groups using local fresh ingredients!!! Kayla his assistant and housekeeper is a wonderfully nice girl who made us very comfortable. The Fishing, the Boat and the crew were phenomenal, I fish 60 days a year on my own boat and with charters and don't think I have ever had better days out on the water then we did. The boat is one of the best fish boats I have ever been on clean comfortable and smooth riding and with the twin (and new) 300hp Yamahas very fast. The fishing was great non stop action on the halibut, my guess is that my son and I caught 30 or so halibut a day keeping our limit, the biggest we caught was about 70lbs. we caught our daily limits of Rockfish and Yellow eye as well as many Pacific cod and other numerous species'. We also had 6 king salmon. Two advantages to note are that there is fantastic fishing close to the dock that is in protected bays and also that the tides are quite light by Alaska standards, we were able to fish 7oz jigs in 380 feet of water in the bays or in the ocean out side!! The Captain Jim and the Mate Bobby made each of our 4 days perfect...Jim is a relentless fisherman if your not getting bites he is moving or scheming up something else..bobby has sharp eyes and ears and was always there to help as fast as you could need him. Both of them were a complete delight to be with everyday and are a top crew in every regard!!! The Owner: I read all the reviews prior to booking this trip and many of them reference the owner Allen some in less than good light but all I can say is that I liked him a lot and I think the reason his lodge is as good as it is because he is on every detail all the time, he is a honest straightforward guy and I suspect if you act like a jerk hell tell you!! I shipped home two boxes of fish which arrived on time and frozen solid. A great trip that I will not hesitate to recommend to my...

This place is AWESOME!! We can’t say enough wonderful things about the entire experience. The staff were exceptional. The boat crews were amazing. Everyone went out of their way to make sure we had everything we needed and had the best time. Ok…and now about the FISHING! Extraordinary! We had huge hauls every day and the crew (thank you Captain Bobby and 1st mate Kurt!) always made sure we fished for a variety of species to 1) get the different kind of fishing experiences 2) understand the true bounty of the Alaskan waters and 3) be able to take home all kinds of delicious fish. Once back from our daily fishing outings, the staff and crew would process, vacuum pack and freeze the fish right on site (which is totally unique to this lodge) and then split the catch up equally with our boat mates to make sure everything was fairly distributed from the day. They have a great system in place and sent us home with more than 100 lbs of fish that we caught in 3 days!!! Then there’s the remote area to enjoy and explore. You fly Alaska Air from Anchorage to Kodiak Island, and then the lodge arranges for a small plane to fly you to Larsen Bay (across Kodiak Island) where the lodge sits in this stunning inlet that opens to vast waterways in every direction. Kodiak Island is a treasure spot in Alaska and this place is one of its finest jewels. Finally…the accommodations are great with private baths, a lovely lodge and 5 star meals prepared daily by the in-house chef. They have E-bikes you can take for a ride and Kayaks to explore around the bay (which we did and it was amazing!). A great place. Great people. Great experience. Obviously we would highly recommend to anyone looking for a lovely, and fruitful...