Relax. Our guests at BC West often get their nerves frayed by the crazy steelhead and chinook salmon that call the Dean River home, so it’s pretty important that we provide a place where folks can relax. That place is our clubhouse. It’s a nice large cabin with comfortable couches, pretty pictures, a wood stove,…
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Archives for July 2009
Spey Fishing for Trout, Part 3 – Tactics
Trout spey tactic #427: Put the wood to ’em. Photo: Cameron Miller In the past couple of weeks we’ve covered why we think you should spey fish for trout, and which gear you should use when you do it. Today we’ll talk a bit about tactics to use when chasing rainbows with lightweight two-handers. Spey…
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BC West Fishing Report: July 4 – 11
The second week of our season was a week of rolling with change. Photos: BC West Staff Our guests arrived to low clear conditions and sunshine with fish trickling into the lower river under bright sun. They hooked a few chinook and landed a few steelhead while hoping for a little more water. On the…
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Trout Fishing: Nymphing Techniques
Bonefish, 10 o’clock, 30 feet! Whoops…sorry, wrong post. Today we continue our series on trout fishing tactics, based on our approach at Chile West but applicable anywhere trout swim. The topic of the day is nymphing techniques. You’ve been floating the river, it’s noon or so, sun is high, it’s hot, fishing has slowed down,…
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Alaska West Fishing Report: July 3 – 10
The final week of king fishing on the Kanektok and the guests are still bringing nice fish to hand. Photo: Cameron Miller We welcomed an international group of fisherman this week. Guests came from all over Europe, Canada and the US which made for a very interesting week. Everyone was here for the same reason…
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Really Fresh Prawns
Working at a remote fishing lodge like BC West means that your culinary opportunities are somewhat limited. You can’t just jump in the car and head out for a fine dining experience or even go to a grocery store to pick up something tasty to cook at home. With that said we do have some…
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Skagit Master
Ed Ward, Jedi knight. Casting videos are a dime a dozen these days, but there’s one in production that we’re pretty excited about. Ed Ward is a legend in Northwest anadromous angling circles. He’s one of the pioneering Skagit River guides that started a literal revolution in casting and fishing techniques. He’s an innovate fly…
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Running Line Roundup
Running line from above Photo: Cameron Miller As you’ve probably noticed, since we do a lot of spey fishing for king salmon and steelhead at Alaska West and BC West, we play around with spey tackle a lot. Our team and most of our guests use Skagit-style line systems most of the time, and these…
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Bead Fishing for Rainbow Trout
Just a couple to choose from. Photo: Cameron Miller Rainbow trout in Western Alaska eat a lot of salmon eggs. Over the years a lot of different flies like the Glo Bug have been tied to imitate salmon eggs, but recently it’s become clear that the most effective way to trick a rainbow trout into…
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Sub-Tidal
Sub-Tidal, where the scenery’s acceptable too. Photo: Paul Reid Any angler that has pursued anadromous fish has heard or spoken of “fresh” fish – salmon or steelhead that have recently left the salt for the river and are not only brightly colored, but strong, aggressive and resilient. Words like “chromer” and”dime-bright” are often used to…
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