At Alaska West, we exercise an 100% barbless policy on all of our flies. That means our guides do their best to ensure that no fly is fished without smashing the barb down first. Some of our guests, particularly those who have not fished barbless hooks before, are often skeptical of this, but contrary to…
Read More
Archives for July 2018
Cole Cook’s ‘Big Poppa’ – Tying Instructions
Silver season is fast approaching (ahem, we may or may not have already seen a few) and we’re currently experiencing the height of our mind-boggling run of chum salmon on our home river at Alaska West. That can only mean one thing.. It’s popper season! We love tossing surface patterns for our ridiculous runs of…
Read More
Guide Poll: The Difference Between a ‘Good’ and an ‘Elite’ Angler
We pride ourselves on the experience and know-how of our guide staffs at our lodges, many of whom have extensive guiding and/or fishing experience from all over the globe. That means we’re extremely fortunate to pull from a huge braintrust of uber-fishy people to consistently bring you the latest and greatest in fly fishing. With…
Read More
Smoked Chum
We pride ourselves in keeping the best interest of our fisheries in mind at all times. That’s largely why we’ve adopted camp policies at Alaska West such as 100% barbless hooks, catch and release only on king salmon, as well as aim to handle to-be-released fish as ethically as possible. That being said, we’re also…
Read More
Nice Fish, Jack!
Today we interrupt your scheduled Deneki programming to give a much deserved congrats to our pal and Alaska West regular, Jack Overly. Jack has been joining us during our king season since 2013 where he, like many of our guests, first caught the spey bug. He’s been swinging flies with us ever since, hooking gobs…
Read More
Fishpond Headgate Tippet Holders
Last week we told you about Maxima’s Sharktooth Line Management System; one of our favorite ways to tame unruly leader and tippet material. However, with five species of salmon, trout, dolly varden/char, and grayling roaming around our waters (sometimes all at the same time), we tend to carry a whole bunch of different leader and/or…
Read More
Alaska West Video by Magnus Jepson
Our good friend and long time Deneki guest, Magnus Jepson, recently joined us this summer during the height of our king season at Alaska West. He put together a fantastic video from his trip full of big fish, spey rods, drone footage, and overall camp shenanigans from our humble abode on the Kanektok River, and…
Read More
Bahamas Bonefish Conservation via The Cleanest Line
Like us, we know many of you who check into our blog care deeply about the well-being of bonefish in the Bahamas. That’s why we try to share the latest in Bahamas bonefish conservation whenever possible! Our pal and Director of Marketing and Communications for Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, Nick Roberts, recently put together a…
Read More
Fly Tying Tip: Scruff Your Dubbing
We just finished up a great couple weeks at Alaska West with our good friend, professional fly designer/tyer, and Deneki blog contributor, Stuart Foxall. As you might expect, he showed us a few things, and today we thought we’d share one of those things with you. As a commercial fly tyer, speed is critical to…
Read More
Maxima Sharktooth Line Management System
Whether we’re swinging flies for salmon and steelhead or skating mouse patterns for resident rainbow trout, when it comes to leader material plain ol’ Maxima Ultragreen has become a staple at our lodges in Alaska and British Columbia. Why? It’s super strong, abrasion resistant, relatively stiff for nylon monofilament, and pretty inexpensive compared to most…
Read More