The Kvichak pours out of vast Iliamna Lake and runs to Bristol Bay carrying the single largest sockeye run on the planet — and where that many salmon go, trophy rainbows follow. This is the proof-point Alaska river: huge, lake-buffered, and stuffed with big wild bows that gorge on smolt in early summer and eggs and flesh through the autumn. It's also tightly regulated and seasonally closed: the river is shut to sport fishing in spring into early June, and unbaited single-hook artificial lures or flies are the rule year-round on the flowing water. The abundant char here is Dolly Varden; true Arctic char is the rarer, more lake-associated fish. It's remote, lodge-and-fly-out country with serious bears around the salmon. Fish the smolt and egg-and-flesh windows for the rainbows; treat the sockeye honestly as a run, not a classic fly target; and never assume it's open — check the orders first.

• Mixed