It’s been a while since we’ve ran a poll here on the Deneki blog, so today it’s poll time! We love hearing from you, our readers, on all aspects of fly fishing. We’ve ran polls in the past on everything from your favorite switch rod, to your favorite backing for bonefish, and everything in between. Oddly enough,…
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Archives for July 2015
All About Dolly Varden
During the back half of our season at Alaska West, we’re lucky to witness a pretty amazing run of dolly varden, a species of char native to Western Alaska. Arguably one of the prettiest fish in our river, they’re also available in laugh-inducing numbers, making them an awesome fish to target on a fly rod….
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Mousing for Chums?
We talk all the time about our run of chum salmon being extremely aggressive. They have a reputation for eating a lot of different flies, from leeches, to sculpins, to even flesh and egg patterns. They’re not afraid to hammer a fly, and that’s one of the reasons we think they’re so cool. Last week however,…
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Track Straight for Better Accuracy
Whether casting to a tailing bonefish, tucking a mouse pattern under an overhanging branch, or delivering a size 18 BWO upstream of some fishy pocket water, being able to put the fly where you want it is a valuable skill in all avenues of fly fishing. There are many potential causes for a lack of…
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New Drying Tent
If you’ve spent any time with us at Alaska West, you probably remember our drying tent, the small structure with a heater big enough to dry out our guests gear after a soggy day on the river. If you haven’t spent time with us at Alaska West, but have picked up a pair of Simms…
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Angler’s Image Magnetic Hook Boxes
We fish a lot of tube flies for everything from salmon to trout. We think they offer a number of advantages over a traditional long shank fly, one of those advantages being the ability to quickly change out a dull or bent hook without changing flies. However, the size stinger hook suitable for salmon is not…
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OPST at Alaska West
We’re pretty excited to have the OPST crew in camp this week at Alaska West. That’s Olympic Peninsula Skagit Tactics for those who aren’t aware. Why are we so excited? Because they’ve been pumping out some pretty innovative stuff for those of us who like, no love, skagit style spey casting.. Not to mention that the company…
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Rigging Beads for Trout – 3 Methods
It’s that time of year again. Our early run salmon (namely king, chum, and sockeye) are in full spawning mode, and because of that our rainbow trout and dolly varden are impatiently waiting for any lone salmon egg that happens to come tumbling down river. Salmon eggs are an easy meal for trout and dollies…
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Salmon Fishing – 6 Reasons This Fly Works
We’re really lucky in that most of the fish we target at our locations are not overly picky about specific fly patterns. Our lodges are located (intentionally, we might add) in areas where lots of different flies work, so long as they share a few characteristics. It’s a creative fly tyer’s dream! Here at Alaska…
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Ringer
Those that have visited with us in the past know that horseshoes are a bit of a tradition here at Alaska West. We just built our new horseshoe pit, and we’re pretty excited about it. We’re all about good fishing, but we also think a good fishing trip is about the full experience, and a good day…
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