Family owned & operated
The Goodnews River Lodge has been owned and operated by Mike Gorton and the Gorton Family for the past 29 years.
Unlike many lodges in Alaska, Mike is on site all season. He started fishing the Rouge river at the ripe age of 4 with a 10′ stick of quarter round molding and a beer tab spinner above a red worm. He graduated to a glass rod with a Perrine automatic and a silk line at age 9 and quickly learned the disease of fly-tying, which many know is incurable and acute! He took his first clients for hire at age 14 for Brown Trout in Northern Michigan and started guiding in Alaska in Iliamna in 1987. In 1989 he started guiding at what was to become the Goodnews River Lodge, and found his summer home. In the winter, Mike spent his time in Antarctica where he supported some 168 different science projects to and from the field successfully while wishing he was chasing Kiwi Brownies. After 7 years of guiding on the Goodnews River, Mike purchased the Lodge in December of 1996. Through all the years he continues to do what he loves best – working as a guide, while governing a Lodge which understands the importance of a sustainable fishery. This has earned him the moniker “The Riverkeeper.”