If fish don’t fear Adam Cuthriell, they probably should. 

The aquatic swimmers should also be concerned about their clients, all of whom are out for a big catch during their Alaska ice fishing trip.

Cuthriell, a guide who owns and operates FishHound Expeditions in Girdwood, about an hour from Anchorage, has caught his fair share of big fish (a 55-pounder! And that’s not a fish tale!). But his true joy comes in bringing people to Alaska’s pristine lakes for ice fishing adventures that carry all the excitement of pulling up "the big one.” 

"My favorite part of being a guide is being able to show people what we are fortunate to do every day, to go to an insanely beautiful place, and to fish,” he said. "We are the closest fishing to Anchorage that is not in an urban setting.”

Big lake fishing is one of Cuthriell’s specialties, and he loves fly fishing, saying, "there’s nothing like casting a fly rod,” but quickly adding, "ice fishing is fun.”

Cuthriell is a Denver native, but he may as well have been born and raised in Alaska. He began his guide career at the age of 19, fishing with visitors and showing them the spectacular sites of Colorado around Summit and Telluride. 

But it was in Alaska that he found home eight years ago.

"At 30, I thought if I don’t go to Alaska now, I never will,” he said. "I planned on being here for only a few years. But I was in Alaska for about two seconds, and I realized I was never going back to Colorado. I fell in love with ‘AK.’

"It’s better here because Alaska has more fish, more wild fish, way fewer people, and we’re close to the ocean, so it provides us with salmon and steelhead, and there’s far less pressure here than in the Lower 48.”

While Cuthriell may personally favor fly fishing, he views ice fishing as a sport all its own. But the conditions must be just right. Ice thickness is a fundamental consideration.

"We don’t take clients out unless it’s eight or nine inches thick,” he said. "That’s plenty thick. Some people will go out at two inches, and that’s just crazy.”

Once the conditions are right, and they usually are, this being Alaska and all, Cuthriell offers an Alaska ice fishing trip that, while there are no guarantees, can yield steelheads, rainbow trout, lake trout, and king salmon, among other catches.

"Ice fishing is what happens when we take clients out to a safe, frozen lake,” Cuthriell said. "We bring our gear out on a sled, we put up a shelter for protection from the elements, we bring a heater and an augur, we drill a hole in the ice, and we start fishing with ice rods.” 

Don’t laugh when you see the ice rods. Cuthriell said people often mistake them for children’s rods. But ice fishing doesn’t require a large rod; you don’t cast it; you simply drop your bait beneath the water’s surface and wait for a bite.

But Cuthriell offers more than an ice fishing trip. It’s an experience and, all things considered, a comfortable one. FishHound Expeditions’ page boasts that "we are able to take folks out ice fishing throughout the greater Anchorage area and the Mat-Su Valley. Guests and guides will walk out onto the lake, and up goes the warm portable pop-up ice shelter, and out comes the ice auger to drill through the ice. Hot drinks or cold beer are readily at hand throughout the day, and a heater is churning away, keeping the hut toasty and warm.”

Adds Cuthriell, "It’s amazing how comfortable you can be on a frozen lake in Alaska.” 

If you haven’t been ice fishing before, the guides show newcomers the tricks of the trade, but some accommodations make the trip special, with beer and soda available to wash down the reindeer brats. 

Given the vast area of Alaska that Cuthriell and his 10 guides will take clients, it’s easy to wonder which lake is the best bet for a big catch.

But Cutriell doesn’t have a favorite lake, per se.

"My favorite lake is the one where the fish are,” he said. That, of course, means the denizens of the deep are biting. "There are no guarantees in fishing,” he added.

So, what’s the secret to successful ice fishing? 

There is only one way to catch a fish through the ice, and it’s more intuitive than secret. "The secret is getting your offering in front of the fish’s face,” he said. "But the only guarantee is that you’ll get your line wet.”

But you will get one guarantee: You’ll have fun.

"One of my favorite experiences is watching kids from the city go fishing,” Cuthriell said. But then again, it’s a lock that everybody will experience the excitement of ice fishing when they pull a giant Alaska fish from its icy realm.

"Everybody turns into a seven-year-old when they’re fishing,” Cuthriell said.