Today we're heading deep into Alaska's Wild West, the togiac.

It's one of the last true swing rivers for Chinook salmon in Alaska, where 12 anglers and

six guides have most of this system to themselves.

From Chrome Bright Kings that melt 30-pound Tippett to quiet evenings watching the river

roll by at the lodge, this place has a pulse of its own. By the end of this

episode, you understand why Larry says all it takes is one swing and why anglers who make the

trip north always leave with goosebumps. This is the wetfly swing podcast where I show you the best

places to travel to for fly fishing, how to find the best resources and tools to prepare for

that big trip, and what you can do to give back to the fish species

we all love. Today's guest is Larry Richmond who guides up in Togiac every summer as part of the

Togiac River Lodge swing program, a crew that's redefining what modern spay fishing looks like

out of Bristol Bay. Today you're going to hear how a Michigan who taught himself how to cast a two-hander

became one of the go-to guides swinging for Alaska Kings

and why he still comes home each fall to chase steelhead on the St. Joe.

We're going to get it to it all today from Michigan to Alaska and back.

Here we go. Here he is. Larry Richmond, excited for this one.

You can find him at intruderfly fishing and at togeack Riverlodge.com. Larry, how's it going, man? Good. Beautiful morning on the river back home here in Michigan. Yep. Is this a secret river? What river are you on here? No, this is St. Joe River in Michigan. Oh, yeah. Off of Lake Michigan, one of Lake Michigan's tributaries. There you go. Sweet. Lake Michigan. So we're going to touch on that for sure today. You're a busy guy. You're going from the Great Lakes around to cross the country. And I actually met you at Togiac, which was really cool because we, you know, I didn't know you at all, you know,

and I actually my first time at Togiac and met all the guides there. And we went out on a day, I can't remember what day it was, I think day four or something like that. And we just had one of those cool days where we both got fish. We could talk about that, but it was. Yeah, we sure did. So tell me that. first off, what was the togeck experience like for you?

Because was that your first year up there? No, that was my second year at the Togiac. Um,

the Togiac really drew me in, obviously the first year we were there. We had insanely high

water. Um, so that was a little crazy to deal with in definitely a new way. But I was

immediately drawn to that place. That's absolutely epic. Yeah. So you were second year up at

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