Dec Hogan’s King Rig

Dec Hogan has been a legend for years in the Northwest anadromous fishing world.  An amazing guide, angler and instructor, Dec is also the author most recently of A Passion for Steelhead.

Dec will be returning to Alaska West this summer from June 13 – 20 to host our spey instruction program and catch some Kanektok kings.  There is space available during his week– let us know if you’d like to join Dec on the river!

Here’s the setup that Dec will be rigging up on June 13th.

The Summary

• Echo 9136 Dec Hogan Model rod
• Islander LX 4.5 reel
• Airflo Northwest Skagit Shooting Head 9/10

The Detail

• 30 pound Dacron backing, wrapped twice around the spool and tied on with an arbor knot
• Albright knot attaching backing to the running line – Airflo 30 pound Ridge running line
• Running line looped to the Northwest Skagit Shooting Head
• Airflo Custom Cut Tip 200, cut to 13 feet
• Tip looped to the shooting head with the factory loop on the back
• Butt section is 30 pound Maxima Chameleon, tied to the leader end of the sinktip using a nail knot loop.  The tip is doubled over and a single nail knot is tied with the Maxima, with the long tag end of the nail knot passed through the eye of the loop– this tag becomes the butt section of the leader.  This rigging is illustrated, by the way, in A Passion for Steelhead.
• 2-3 feet of 15 pound Maxima Ultragreen tippet, attached via loop to loop connection to the butt section with perfection loops tied in both the butt section and the tippet
• Simple fly tied on a Targus 2/0 7999 hook– craft fur tail with spun marabou on the front, in chartreuse and kingfisher blue, tied on with a double turle knot
• “I rig this exactly like I would fishing for steelhead.  That’s my mindset– I’m just fishing for big steelhead.”