Steamboat Bay Fishing Club

There’s an old saying.

You don’t go to the woods to “rough it,” you go to smooth it. To get away from the necessity of always being on time.

To get away from shops. From stores. From offices.

Well this, sir, is very much away: Steamboat Bay Fishing Club, a luxurious angling lodge in Alaska, open for summer business.

Located on the otherwise uninhabited Noyes Island — a quick seaplane jaunt from Ketchikan and just 90 minutes by plane from Seattle — Steamboat is smack-dab in the midst of the Tongass National Forest.

It’s intimate. There’s room for 24 guests: you’ll either stay in the main lodge or the just-completed The Residence, an eight-bedroom manor constructed from local island timber and featuring a hot tub, deck, wood-burning fireplace and a transparent floor … to showcase all those fish you’re going to catch.

Ah, those fish. During the day, guides will take you out on a 27’ heated cabin cruiser, where you’ll snatch up some seriously trophy-sized Alaska king salmon, halibut, lingcod, yelloweye rockfish, red snapper, Dungeness crab and Alaskan spotted shrimp.

All gear’s included.

Afterward, the resort will clean and trim your catch and seal it in wet-lock fish boxes to take home.

While they’re doing that, you’ll hit the clubhouse. Here, enjoy the open bar and individually customized menu. Whale watch, hit the sauna, get a massage.

At this point, it’s not about the fish.

And you’re definitely not roughing it.