Generally speaking, after a partial week, or a discount week, the next most affordable option is a week spent at a fixed base wilderness camp. At one time the mainstay of Alaskan operations, these camps are now a vanishing breed. The best are often located on remote reaches of rivers rarely accessed by other lodges. Truly sequestered from the outside world for a week, with no televisions, telephones, or blinking computers, can be an indescribably delicious experience.

Using jet boats, you'll cover seemingly endless miles of river, each day fishing water that sees only a handful of anglers annually. In the evening, after a hearty meal served in a woodstove-heated dining tent, you'll trudge wearily to your Weatherport "cabin," marveling at the clarity and immenseness of the cold night sky. Snuggling into the cozy warmth of a thick down bag, you'll sleep like the dead until the guide wakes you in early morning light, a steaming mug of coffee ready to jump start you into another day in paradise.

Should you decide on a wilderness camp, understand that they usually place a higher emphasis on the angling than the creature comforts. Will you take a hot shower and sleep in a comfortable bed every night? Absolutely. Will the toilet flush and meals be served on fine china? Not likely.

Short on luxury, these camps are long on fishing. Normally, camp owners carefully choose their camps location, making sure they sit dead center in the region's best fishing water.

In the unlikely event you don't get enough during your guided day, the river always beckons just a long roll cast away. Recently I spent some time on such a camp in the Bristol Bay region. Every night after dinner, I'd shiver back into my damp waders, grab my still-rigged rod and follow the beargrass trail down to the "camp water." The fishing was always incredible. Typically, I'd hook as many big rainbows in a 100-yard stretch as I would in a week back home. And it was all mine, whenever I wanted it. (All except that stretch right in front of camp, where five-pound rainbows make the water froth every night as bread scraps are deposited into the river. Sadly, the camp owner had declared these fish off-limits, and had the good sense not to let my sniveling and whining sway his decision.)

It is critical, when choosing a wilderness camp, that you know about the fishery. If you really want to go catch a bunch of rainbows, for example, and the camp is located on an estuarine salmon river, you'll be disappointed. Ask the outfitter or lodge owner specific questions. What is the rainbow population like? Do the trout move in and out of the river, or are they there in good numbers all season? What significant salmon runs are in the fishery, and how do they effect the trout fishing? A good outfitter or operator will be excited that you are interested in such details, and more than happy to give you explicit answers. Remember, at wilderness camps, moving to another watershed is not generally an option. Make certain you understand the fishery, since you'll be there for a week.