During the second week of our king season at Alaska West, our spey instruction program is taught by Charles St. Pierre, the owner and operator of Northwest Spey Casting. Charles is a Kanektok veteran and an incredibly well-rounded caster– long belly, short belly, sustained anchor, touch-and-go, underhand, Skagit, AFS…the list goes on and on. He’s also one of the best guys that you’ll spend a day with on the water. Sorry, his week is sold out for 2009 but you can always put yourself on our wait list.
Here’s Charles’ most recent go-to rig for chasing kings on the Kanektok. Yes, he throws this a long, long way.
The Summary
- Sage 10160-4 Z-Axis
- Hardy Bougle Mk IV 4″ – A little tradition thrown in with the technology
- Rio AFS 10/11 Type 1 Sinking Head
The Detail
- Loop connections are used throughout, all the way to the leader
- 30 pound dacron tied to the spool with an arbor knot
- Spider hitch in the fly line end of the backing to form a loop – “I used to do a bimini in the backing, but the spider hitch is quick and doesn’t twist the dacron”
- Loop formed in the backing end of the running line with two nail knots, tied with 15 lb mono
- Rio PowerFlex Core Running Line, .030 diameter
- Rio AFS 10/11 Type 1 Sinking Head
- Rio 15 ft Versileader, 7 ips
- Loop formed in the tippet end of the polyleader with a nail knot and 15 lb mono
- 25 lb mono butt section attached to polyleader with a perfection loop
- 20 lb tippet section attached to butt section with blood knot
- Black and Blue St. Pierre Hobo Spey fly, tied on with a Left Kreh Non-slip Mono Loop
simple mono? or fluor?