Naknek River Camp

Jim Johnson opened Naknek River Camp in 2006; his family's lodge business dates back to 1984 with the Pere Marquette River Lodge in Michigan. His wife Phyllis is the head chef and wrote the cookbook "Fishing and Feasting in Alaska." The camp was founded, in Johnson's words, on the premise that Alaska was too amazing to be kept as a playground for the rich, and it markets itself as "Alaska's Affordable Alternative."

The camp has ten riverfront cabins near the Naknek Lake outlet at the edge of Katmai country, with USCG-licensed guide captains, jet boats, on-site fish processing, and a complimentary Brooks Falls bear-photography trip. Fishing runs from June smolt migrations through July salmon, August silvers, and trophy rainbows into September and October.