Alaska has about 3,197 officially named natural lakes, out of over 3,000,000 unnamed natural lakes. 86,051 square miles of Alaska are covered by water.  The largest, Lake Iliamna, encompasses over 1,000 square miles. Many of Alaska's lakes are only reachable by air or boat. Lakes that are easily accessible are used for recreation such as boating, fishing, and swimming.

Aleknagik Lake is a lake in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is 32 km (20 mi) long by 26 km (16 mi) wide. The village of Aleknagik is on its southeast shore. Aleknagik is a Yupik word meaning "wrong way home". Yupiks returning to their homes along the Nushagak River would sometimes become lost in the fog and be swept up the Wood River to Aleknagik Lake by the tide. Fog and low clouds are common during July and August and may preclude access. Wood River and Aleknagik Lake have been used historically as summer fish camps. The lake and river are ice-free from June through mid-November.

For hundreds of years the village of Aleknagik was the hub of trade and culture for the Alaska native peoples who lived throughout the Bristol Bay region. The ideal setting along the shores of Lake Aleknagik and the safe haven this location provided from the harsh winters of Southwest Alaska, proved to be the reason many of the regions natives made Aleknagik their winter home. Fur was the main item of commerce along with dried fish, berries, and hides from the previous summers harvest. Lessons learned from fishing and hunting expeditions were shared, creating strong ties amongst the people who came here.

The longer days of spring and the break up of ice signaled the people to leave the village to hunt and gather food for their return to Aleknagik in the fall and winter. The lives of the people here were ones of complex simplicity. Survival of the tribe depended on their skills as hunters, fishermen, and craftsmen.There was little room for error in this land. The terrain in which they traveled was laden with hazards, and the weak or unwise didn’t last very long. This land also provided for its people with abundant fish, game, fowl and vegetation.

In 1897 the first barrels of salted Salmon aboard the schooner Neptune arrive at the ports of the west coast. Life would never be the same for the natives of Aleknagik. The traditional ways of survival would give way to “commercial fishing” as the villagers were forced to yield to the demands of the canneries and their influence. Fishing quickly replaced trapping as the major source of income among the people of the region.