Catching rainbow trout at Alaska West is not all that difficult – in fact it’s easy to catch ‘some’. That being said, great anglers catch more, and great anglers catch the bigger ones. Here are 5 ways you can make yourself into a ‘greater’ trout angler in our part of the world.
- Mend less. Our trout are not particularly sensitive about drag-free drifts. Hitting as many good spots as possible is much more important than presenting perfectly. Don’t get all cutesy with your mends – hit more spots with decent drifts.
- Let him eat it. Particularly when mousing or fishing big leech or sculpin patterns, it’s very common to see a fish tear out from under some structure to crush your fly. Don’t jump the gun! Let him eat your fly, close his mouth and turn before you set. With big flies, a quick trigger is a bad thing.
- Leave your 5 weight for the dollies and grayling. Listen Tex, don’t bring a knife to a gun fight. 6s and 7s are the norm for trout on our rivers. Unless you’re sight casting to fish that you know aren’t super-grande, it’s best to fish a rod that’s capable of landing the big boys.
- Fish flesh. Our rivers get choked with salmon flesh, so our trout love eating salmon flesh. Even in the early season when you don’t yet see rotting salmon everywhere, don’t overlook your flesh flies. In small water and big water, early season and late season, good conditions and bad conditions, flesh flies are some of our most consistent producers.
- Fish the couch water. That soft water on an inside bend is often overlooked, and often the home of Big Jerry. Fish it.
Have you spent some time fishing for trout in Western Alaska? Got some more ways to catch more trout? Leave us a comment and share the love!
Hey guys I know this post is a tad old but I’ve got a slight case of the frozen water blues, anyway my question is could you give me an example of a some fly patterns that would be considered “flesh flies”?, we don’t have been Bows in Maine but I wouldn’t mind adding a couple of these flies to my box just for grins. Also are these flesh flies just creations of your imagination or can I find some pictures online to look at while tying?
Thanks for your time and tight lines,
Thomas Cochran.
Hi Thomas, thanks for chiming in!
Most flesh flies are pretty straightforward, and just different versions of ‘bunny fur on a hook’. Here’s one classic example…
https://deneki.wpengine.com/2010/01/trout-food-flesh-fly/
Some are tied string leech style to imitate bigger hunks of flesh. When it’s late in the season and the river is low and clear, I sometime fish a ‘fly’ that’s literally one turn of white bunny fur on an egg hook.
Have fun with it!
Andrew
Thanks a lot Andrew!
Thomas.