• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Deneki Outdoors Fishing Lodges

Alaska | The Bahamas | Chile

  • About Deneki Outdoors
  • Our Fishing Lodges
    • Alaska West
    • Andros South
    • Rapids Camp
    • Rio Salvaje
  • Deneki Blog
    • Alaska West
    • Andros South
    • Chile
    • Fish
    • Fishing Reports
    • Fly Tying
    • Gear
    • General
    • Guest Posts
    • News
    • Rapids Camp
    • Rio Salvaje
    • Tips
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs

Dec 26 2012

5 Ways to Catch More Alaskan Rainbow Trout

Alaska Rainbow Trout
Like this one!

Trout fishing in Alaska is not the same as trout fishing in other parts of the world.  If you’re chasing trout in Alaska for the first time, keep these handy tips in mind.

How to Catch More Rainbow Trout in Alaska

  1. Get your fly down.  Rainbow trout in Alaska (Western Alaska, at least) feed mostly on salmon parts – eggs and flesh that tumble along the river bottom.  In most situations, if your fly’s not way down deep you’re not in the game.  Get your rig ticking bottom, and don’t worry too much about a perfect dead drift.
  2. Mend less.  Don’t worry too much about a perfect dead drift!  Hitting the right spots and getting your fly deep are much more important than a perfect subtle dead drift presentation.  Salmon parts tumbling downstream don’t move perfectly with the current anyhow.  If you’re throwing tons of stack mends and constantly trying to set up the perfect drift, you’re missing lots of spots along the way.  Get your mend in the ballpark and fish it!
  3. Fish heavy tippet.  10 to 15 pound Maxima Ultragreen is our go-to material at Alaska West.  Alaskan rainbows get big.  They’re not leader shy.  Stiff leaders help turn over heavily weighted rigs.  There are lots of snags around.  This is not the land of 4x tippet!
  4. Match the salmon hatch.  They might be aggressive but they’re not stupid.  Sockeye eggs look nothing like king eggs.  Fresh flesh looks nothing like old flesh.  Live eggs look nothing like dead eggs.  Know what’s in the water you’re fishing (or reach in and check it out), and match it.
  5. Rig multiple rods.  Many of the biggest trout in Alaska are caught from a drifting boat.  Many of the biggest trout in Alaska live around structure that’s extremely hazardous to flies.  If you’re not losing flies, you’re not in the game – but if you you have to re-rig every time you lose a fly, you’re going to float right on past an awful lot of prime water.  Keep multiple rods ready, so when the inevitable break-off happens you can just grab another weapon and keep fishing.

More on Rainbow Trout in Alaska

  • Spey Fishing for Trout: Tactics
  • J.E.B. Hall’s Sculpin Rig
  • 5 Favorite Alaskan Trout Flies

 

Reader Interactions

Trackbacks

  1. Saturday Shoutout / The Wisdom of Deneki | Fly Fishing | Gink and Gasoline | How to Fly Fish | Trout Fishing | Fly Tying | Fly Fishing Blog says:
    August 10, 2013 at 2:04 am

    […] 5 Ways to Catch More Alaskan Rainbow Trout […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Plan Your Trip

Let our experts plan the fishing adventure of your dreams.
Contact Now

Search Topics

Subscribe to our newsletter

All Blog Posts

Recent Posts

  • Spey Clave: Two Hand Alaska Presented By Mossy’s Fly Shop
  • Learn the Art of the Cack-handed Spey Cast
  • Common Mistakes Fly Anglers Make When Targeting Alaska Sockeye Salmon-and How to Fix Them
  • Fly Tying: Sockeye Caviar
  • The Alaska Freshwater Fish-Tastic Final Four

All About Spey

All About Trout

All About Bonefishing

All About Gear

Best Posts

Footer

Deneki Outdoors

Mailing address:
200 W. 34th Ave.
#1170
Anchorage, AK 99503

Headquarters:
6160 Carl Brady Dr.
Anchorage, AK 99502

US Information and Reservations
800-344-3628

International Information and Reservations
+1 907-563-9788

Email: info@deneki.com

Our Lodges

Rapids Camp
King Salmon, Alaska

Alaska West
Kanektok River, Alaska

Andros South
South Andros Island, The Bahamas

Rio Salvaje
Puerto Montt, Chile

Deneki Outdoors thanks Peter Viau, Tosh Brown, Abe Blair, Kyle Shea and Kara Knight for the beautiful photography used on our sites.

Connect With Us

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

#denekioutdoors

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Copyright © 2025 · Deneki Outdoors · Privacy Policy · Site by 21 Designs

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we assume that you are okay with it.Ok