Boardwalk

Fishing Academy

Our Fishing School Course Overview

• We first start with our online, 4 week course, which can be taken at your leisure and requires approximately 10 hours a week. Most students prefer to do it in 2 hour sections 5 days a week. This allows for you to study our course and still perform normal day to day life you might need to attend to.
• After this online course is completed a certificate of completion will be sent to your email on file. This certificate must be presented in order to progress to the next portion of the school, the Casting & Skills Course. This must be done with a trained and certified guide, which we have at our Utah location as well as in Thorne Bay Alaska. We also have the technology available to work with your via e-share which makes remote field work possible. Once you have mastered the Casting & Skills Course, we will issue you another certificate of completion.
• Your next step is to spend 5 nights at the Boardwalk Lodge in Thorne Bay Alaska complete with all-inclusive lodging, food and Orvis gear, 4 days on the fresh water rivers practicing and learning our in-field fly fishing curriculum as well as a full day of lodge work including learning all about the gear, on the river safety practices, proper guide etiquette, vehicle safety and customer service and hospitality.
• Our professional guide instructors will share their local expertise to help you understand tricks of the trade and elevate your career through knowledge about the guide industry and how to properly work with guests fishing at all levels of experience.
• You can expect a 10 student limit, 2:1 guide/student ratio. You will learn how to read water, wade, net, tail and handle fish. Furthermore you will learn a variety of different fly casting and presentation techniques, knot tying and rigging, stream entomology and fly selection and local flora and fauna explanations.
• Alaska, and specifically Prince of Wales Island has some of the most consistent fresh and salt water fisheries in the world. This area is magnificent, but can also be challenging due to precipitation, temperature and ever changing freshwater systems. This course will help you overcome the real life obstacles that you will face as an angler as well as a future guide. Specific river knowledge and fishing technique are an important focus of the course, in-depth instruction will help you learn how to catch more fish using various methods and styles of fishing. At the end of the course you will be much more acquainted with the fine details that are required for success on the river. We will also focus our efforts on sharpening your technical skills and fishing abilities through time on the casting course and practice on the water with our guide instructors. We spend a considerable amount of time on learning to becoming a better caster, learning the details of knots and fly selection as well as learning about conservation and eco tourism.

SAMPLE ITINERARY- Weather Dependent

What's not included?

• Alaska fishing license
• Guide or lodge staff gratuities.
• Transportation to and from the lodge your lodge.
• Please fill out the following simple form and we will contact you with our availability dates and openings.