The Fly Box: Alaska West Lodge Rainbow Trout Flies

At Alaska West Lodge, Team Deneki Outdoors is fervently getting things ready for the Twenty-Twenty-Two Season. As a part of that process, we are filling our fly boxes with the essentials. In Today’s Fly Tying, we, review some of our favorite flies for Big Leopard Rainbow Trout at Alaska West Lodge.

In Alaska Rainbow Trout don’t get big by just eating bugs all year, they like to eat meat! At Alaska West Lodge, on the Kanektok River, this includes top water mice and voles, sub-surface critters like sculpin and lamprey (leech patterns), and tasty morsels of salmon flesh and eggs. Below are our favorite patterns for Big Rainbow Trout at Alaska West Lodge. We’ve included links to tying patterns. Or, if you just need a bunch right away, contact Mossy’s Fly Shop, and they will prep a box for you based on the week you’ll be at Alaska West Lodge. The best part is, that you can order it and then pick up it when you arrive in Anchorage before you head to Alaska West Lodge.

1. Mouse Pattern Flies– If you’ve never caught a rainbow trout on a mouse pattern fly, you’re definitely missing out. It is one of the most exciting ways to catch Rainbow Trout, especially here in Alaska. The classic Morrish Mouse, the audacious Mr. Hankey, the splashy Hot Spot Mouse, or the Pip Squeak are all effective patterns for Rainbows on the Kanektok River at Alaska West Lodge.
2. Sculpin Flies– Sculpins are plentiful in the river. Big fish like Rainbow Trout eat little fish like sculpins. One of our favorites is the Sculpzilla. Other favorites include Jerry’s WMD Sculpin and the Booyah Sculpin. In general, the sculpin is a tried and true pattern, that works well in Western Alaska.
3. Black Leech Flies– In Alaska, lamprey can get big, real big, and rainbow trout like a big lamprey. The String Leech is a favorite pattern emulating lamprey. Willie Nelson, Miles Davis, and Al Greens are effective as they come.
4. Flesh Flies– What can we say about flesh patterns, White, Dirty, Fresh, Pink, Peach…Typically flesh fish well all season. It’s a matter of matching the “color” for the season.
5. Beads– Let’s not get into a debate about whether beads are considered flies or not. What we can do is agree that those beads are super effective when it comes to fishing for Big Rainbow Trout.

The Kanektok River is a bountiful river. In its own time, it curates a bounty of game fish favoirties. make sure you have the right flies.

More on Alaska Rainbow Trout Flies:

• How to Fish a Mouse Pattern
• Fly Tying: String Leech
• Why We Like Flesh Flies