Alaska West guest, William Alexander, and guide Greg Houska, kicking off hump day right with one slab of a Kanektok pink salmon. Our 2016 run of pinks returned unusually large in comparison to past seasons, making for a heck of a lot of fun in between more ‘target’ species.’ Nice work guys! More on Fly…
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Archives for August 2016
Reading Trout Water – Fish the Transitions
If you haven’t noticed, we love fly fishing for trout, and while our trout might behave differently in western Alaska than trout found in more ‘classic’ trout streams, the fact remains; They’re still trout! Thus, they’re often found in the same types of water. Successfully reading trout water is by far one of the most studied…
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Weekly Fish Story – What Wind?
We’re back today with this week’s edition of our ‘weekly fish stories’ series, and today’s story comes from Alaska West guide, Ben West, on a solid day on the water despite adverse conditions. Enjoy! Weekly Fish Stories – What Wind? This week our story isn’t just about a particular fish or moment per se, but rather…
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Thanks from Alaska West
Today we wrap up yet another memorable season here at Alaska West. To all of you who shared the water with us this year, or followed along vicariously through our blog, thank you. We’re super fortunate to do what we do, and we have each and every one of you to thank for it. Hope…
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5 Advantages of High Water
Over the past few seasons, mild winters and reasonably dry summers have made for some low water conditions on our home river at Alaska West. However, this year we’ve been experiencing significantly higher water levels of late, and we really dig it! Due to a few substantial rain (and even hail) storms, we’ve seen a couple…
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Watch Your Fingers!
Just a friendly reminder, the next time you’re handling a whole bunch of silver salmon, watch those fingers! Most anglers are aware that certain species of Pacific salmon (especially chum salmon) can have some pretty gnarly teeth during certain phases of their lifecycle. However, contrary to popular belief, all five species of Pacific salmon actually have…
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Flesh Hatch
The flesh fly is a staple in any Alaskan trout fly box. Throughout the majority of the summer, our trout love to gorge themselves on chunks of salmon flesh – Big flesh, small flesh, fresh flesh, dead flesh.. You name it, there’s a time and place for each. That’s ‘matching the hatch’ in our neck of the…
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Alaska Mini Gallery – Abe Blair Edition
Every once in a while we like to run a mini-gallery of photos here on our blog – A small collection of photos, some with a theme, some not so much, but generally somehow related to fly fishing. However, it’s been a while since we’ve put together a mini gallery, so today we right that…
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Not Your Typical Double
One of the most exhilarating aspects of fly fishing is that each and every time your fly is in the water, you never quite know what could happen next – a perpetual level of faith if you will. Sort of like when you think you’ve doubled up on your umpteenth silver salmon of the day, only to…
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Fighting Fish – Make ‘Em Earn the Reel
‘Tis the season for fighting fish! August in Alaska brings fast paced action for big feisty fish, and that means there’s no shortage of practice for fighting (and hopefully landing) fish. During this part of our season we see hundreds (yes, hundreds) of fish fought each week, and with that we’re able to get a good idea…
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