It’s silver season in our neck of the woods, and when it comes to fly fishing for silver salmon, there’s no way we like targeting them more than on the surface! To elicit top-water coho takes, the majority of our guides prefer foam, deer hair, or hard-bodied poppers over more traditional ‘pollywog’ or skater style…
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Archives for August 2018
Now, That’s a Dolly
At Alaska West, we’re lucky to experience a run of anadramous (sea-run) dolly varden that’s nothing shy of remarkable. Towards the back half of our season, they undergo a stunning change in appearance from the bright silver garb of their time at sea to their fall spawning colors of fluorescent orange, red, yellow, and green….
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Timeless Tips: Quicker Rig/Fly Changes – 9 Options
Time spent rigging is time spent not fishing, and some of you have asked for quicker ways to switch between different rigs, flies, and tactics. So, today we’ve compiled a few simple tips to help you change your rig quicker and easier to get your fly back in the water. Enjoy! 9 Tips for Quicker Rig…
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Poor Man’s Rain Pants
While digging through photos from the weeks past we were recently reminded of a commonly (and regretfully) forgotten item at our lodges; rain pants! We always encourage our guests to pack quality rain gear when traveling to our lodges, both in Alaska and the Bahamas. By that we mean both a rain jacket and a pair of…
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Guide Poll: Favorite Sunglasses Lens Color
A couple weeks ago we kicked off the first installment of our “Guide Poll” series of posts where our team of professional fly fishing guides weigh in to answer common questions asked by you, our readers! Today, we’re continuing the series with answers to a question we receive all the time from our guests in preparation…
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Nice Fish, Chuck!
Those who have been tuning into our blog/newsletter over the last couple years might recognize the name, Chuck Keller. Why? Because back in 2017 Chuck managed to land one of the largest bonefish we saw all season at Andros South! Well, Chuck must be holding his mouth right because just last week he joined us…
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Timeless Tips: How to Break Your Fly Rod – 10 Simple Options
Most fly rod manufacturers these days offer lifetime warranties, and we say you should do whatever you can to take advantage of such generous offers. Paying repair fees is awesome, ruining your fishing day is super cool, and having to wait for your rod to be repaired is the most fun you’ll have this side…
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Ed Ward Skagit Casting Tip – Separating Planes (Video)
We’ll admit it, we’re casting nerds. Whether single or double handed, we love discussing the intricacies of fly casting. Luckily, we know many of you do too! With that in mind, the good folks from OPST and skagit casting legend, Ed Ward, are back with some more great skagit casting tips in video form. The…
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Fishpond Grand Teton Rolling Luggage – Review
With five different fly fishing lodges across four different countries, one thing we’re confident we know a little bit about is traveling with fishing gear. We’re constantly on the search for better ways to organize our gear when bouncing around from destination to destination, and if there’s anything we’ve learned over the years, its that…
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5 Ways to Land More Silvers
Our run of silver salmon have just began their annual return to our home river at Alaska West. What does that mean, exactly? It means it won’t be long until our river is teeming with hyper-aggressive, hard-fighting, chrome bright, acrobatic coho that readily take flies. Sound good? It should. Those who have experienced silver madness…
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