The Ridge Lodge: The Best Alaska Fishing Lodge for the Avid Fly Angler

After guiding in Alaska for twenty years, I definitely have my opinions on what makes for a good fishing lodge and a quality Alaska experience. So many things go into the making of a top-notch operation, and if I were to boil it down to the basics, it would be:

The Key Ingredients of a Top-Notch Lodge

• Location
• Quality of staff
• Does the lodge maintain its gear and vehicles, and have backups?
• Ownership & Management: I've worked for a lodge before where the owner had a drinking problem, and his general manager was untrustworthy. It was a train wreck, and the customers suffered for it.
• Food and Hospitality - Management and "Quality of Staff"
• Attention to details - Management and "Quality of Staff"
• Build & Architecture

One More Season In Alaska

Earlier this summer, I was invited to The Ridge Lodge to guide. It's a smaller lodge that only books 4-6 guests a week. For the one week I was asked to guide, a family of 8 wanted to stay, so The Ridge asked me to help with the additional guests. I was happy to do it. I thought my career as a guide was over, and now I'm being asked to do it one more time in a place that I consider the most beautiful and exciting fly fishing destination in the world.

A fly angler standing in blue glacial lake water fly fishing. — Take in the beauty, catch fish, or do both. | Photo by Ken Baldwin

My time at The Ridge was eye-opening. I’ve worked at a good lodge, a great lodge, and one that was downright dysfunctional. The Ridge stands apart from all of them as something exceptional.

First Impressions

I had previously worked for lodges that were part of The Ridge’s network, so I knew the management and they knew me — but I had never seen the place before. My first impression was: “Wow! Now it makes sense — that’s a heck of a view!”

Location-The Big Picture

The lodge sits 210 miles Southwest of Anchorage, in the Bristol Bay watershed. If you want to catch a world-class wild rainbow trout, or any one of the 5 species of salmon, this is where you want to be. The area is also famous for its bear viewing. There are not a lot of people, but a whole lot of nature.

A portrait of an Alaskan brown bear eating a salmon while sitting in water up to its neck. — Close enough to where I could hear the crunching. | Photo by Ken Baldwin

Location-The Small Picture

The Ridge sits high on a mountainside with sweeping views. From the porch, you are looking into a real-life postcard of Alaska — the Copper River winding through a wide valley, bears chasing salmon, and not a single man-made structure in sight. Just pure, wild Alaska.

• The Ridge sits 250+ feet up a mountainside overlooking the Copper River and an open valley.

A Small, Skilled Team with Alaska Experience

The staff is made up of the co-owners John and Macy Coffman, a husband and wife team, two additional guides-Luke Valentino, Patrick Harris, and the chef, Mike Lynch. Because the lodge only allows 4–6 guests a week, you will always get personal attention.

Everything is spotless and well-organized, the chef turns out incredible meals, and John and Macy have years of Alaska experience, making sure you get the most out of your time in Alaska.

Alaskan guide John Coffman with a big rainbow trout and surrounded by guests from The Ridge lodge. — Managing partner and head guide John Coffman, with guests, making sure the fish gets a photo op. | Photo provided by John Coffman

Fresh From Alaska to the Table

Chef Mike Lynch likes to work with fresh Alaska ingredients in his cooking as much as he can. The week I guided, we had Alaskan wild scallops — big, thick discs of meat about the size of a silver dollar, king crab legs, and, of course, freshly caught salmon. At the end of the week, Mike made a seafood chowder that we enjoyed on the side of a river. It was the best I had ever tasted.

The Heart of the Lodge

Macy Coffman, managing partner of The Ridge lodge, with a big rainbow trout she caught fly fishing. — Macy Coffman, managing partner and head of hospitality, and a heck of a fly angler. | Photo provided by John Coffman

John and Macy, managing partners of The Ridge, are the driving force behind why I think so highly of their lodge. They are quality people in every sense of the word. Young, but not newcomers to Alaska, they are easy to be around, run the lodge without issues, are good with people, and ensure everything is taken care of, making the week go smoothly for everyone.

John Coffman of The Ridge Lodge spotting big fish on an Alaskan river. — John Coffman, managing partner and head guide | Photo by Jordan Wells @phos.tou.kosmou

The Real Deal

John is also the head guide. He lives and breathes this lodge and Alaska. If you ever meet him at one of the trade shows during the off-season, and he talks with you about the fishing, he knows what he’s talking about because he lives it every day of the season.

Ridge Lodge-There's No Greater Place

This is Part 1 of a two-part article. Part 2 can be read here. KB

"Slow down...listen to the hoppers...be patient with yer wife...eat sardines with hot sauce... catch “Gagger” trout!!!" –Flip Pallot