Whitney Gould – guide, teacher and caster extraordinaire – is part of our totally stacked team at Alaska West. Here’s a great article she put together that shows you the mindset that takes days on the water to another level. Thanks Whitney! Teaching, Fly Casting and Guiding Willa, my dog, has rolled in half dead…
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Alaska West
Working Hard at Alaska West
At Alaska West we strive to make your stay with us the best it can be – nobody on our team is afraid of getting their hands dirty! More on Alaska West Jordan Sly’s Early Season Rig for Big Trout Top Posts on Silver Salmon Guest Video from July
9 Questions About Spey Fishing You Were Afraid to Ask
We love spey fishing. We also know that spey fishing can be a little intimidating when you first dip your toe in. It shouldn’t be! Spey fishing is just another fun way to fish. It’s not better or worse or harder or easier or simpler or more complicated than ‘normal’ fly fishing. Today we present…
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Camaraderie and Friends
Yeah, the fishing is great at Alaska West. Chrome bright kings on the swing. Chums that will fight until you break your rod, or bloody your knuckles on a free-spinning reel. Silver after silver on the surface. Rainbows that put some steelhead to shame. Pinks, dollies, grayling too… But one thing that is often overlooked…
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Golf Tee Popper
One of the things that attracts people to fly fishing is the creative aspect of it. This is seen in fly presentation, line modification, rod building and more, but the most common sign of creativity shows up in someone’s flies – or sometimes lack of flies. One of our long time friends here at Alaska…
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RIO Skagit Max Review
RIO has just started shipping the Skagit Max, their newest Skagit-style shooting head. The Skagit Max replaces the Skagit Flight as RIO’s go-to floating head for most two-handed rods. We fished the Skagit Max for a week at BC West last month, so we’ll tell you what we thought about it on the Dean. We…
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5 Ways to Avoid Tangles in Your Running Line
One of the most frustrating things about fishing with any kind of shooting head system (spey casting Skagit heads comes to mind) is the tangling that inevitably, occasionally, happens in your running line. You make what was otherwise a beautiful cast, it stops suddenly way short of its target, you say some bad words, and…
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Nice Fish, James.
When the sun comes out in Alaska, what better to do than chase after rainbow trout? With all of the spawning salmon and other food sources in the river, the rainbow trout at Alaska West get nice and plump in August. First time guest James Nelson shows off another beautifully spotted leopard rainbow. Nice fish,…
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Silver Salmon Popper by Chuck Shepard
The silver salmon fishing is hot up at Alaska West this time of the year, and these fish are really aggressive towards the fly. Stripping a fly below the surface creates a jigging action that is hard for a Silver to resist, but one method that is often over looked is targeting them on the…
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Easy to Swap Leaders
If you’re bouncing around a river swinging flies for steelhead or salmon, you’re probably going to need to swap sinktips every once in a while. You’re hopefully not making a change every 20 minutes, but when you move from a ripping boulder garden to a glassy tailout, you need to make a change. Today’s tip…
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