Rainbow Trout Flies | Our Favorite Trout Flies at Alaska West

Mousing for trout at Alaska West by Tosh Brown. — *One of our favorites for a reason.. Photo: Tosh Brown.*

We’re in the process of filing up our boxes for our summer season at Alaska West (we hope some of you are too), and we’ve got one of our favorite species on our mind – Big, wild, Alaskan, leopard rainbow trout.

Therefore, for all those looking to stock up on flies for the coming season, we thought it would be a good idea to present you with a few of our favorites.

Rainbow Trout Flies – Our Favorites at Alaska West

Mouse Flies. There’s not much more exciting than fishing mouse patterns for trout, and we do a fair amount of it at Alaska West. Not all mouse flies are created equal however, and we’re big advocates for mouse patterns that incorporate up-riding stinger hooks to avoid tongue-hooking fish. Two of our favorites are Hickman’s Mr. Hankey and Grillos’ Bob Gnarly, both designed by Alaska West alums we might add.
Sculpins. Sculpins are on the menu all season long on our river and are essential to any trout box in Western Alaska. There are a wealth of great sculpin patterns out there, but some of our favorites are the Sculpzilla (olive), Jerry French’s Summer Sculpin (olive), and the Loop Sculpin (olive) to name a few.
Black Leeches. Large trout the world over love black leeches, and Alaska is no exception. Most any black leech pattern will get the job done on our river, but a couple we chuck on a regular basis are the Sculpzilla (black/white) and the Dali Llama (black/white).
Flesh Flies. Towards the back half of our season, as salmon begin to break down creating a conveyor belt of rotting salmon flesh, flesh flies become one of the most consistent ways to target large, lazy trout. It’s best to have a wide range of colors and sizes when it comes to flesh flies, and while overall pattern isn’t too important, a few solid options are Umpqua’s Flesh Fly, the Flesh & Egg, and the String O Flesh.
Beads. We know, we know, beads aren’t ‘flies.’ However, its hard to argue with their effectiveness on Alaskan trout, and as far as we’re concerned, if they’re attached to a fly rod, it’s fly fishing! There are many, many different size and color combinations of beads out there, but for the best selection, we use Trout Beads, and we think you should too.