If you’re making long casts with a spey rod and a Skagit-style line system, you need to deal with loops of running line. Skagit heads are short but casts can be long, and shooting 50 feet or more of running line happens all the time. Unfortunately you can’t just strip all that line in and…
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Alaska West
Hey Buddy
We get some really high-quality pictures at Alaska West – beautiful landscape shots, great pictures of wildlife, and of course lots of shots of anglers with nice fish. Then sometimes we get really weird but cool pictures of a resident porcupine who decided to hang out in a tree long enough to get his picture…
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Alaska West Fishing Report: August 6 – 13
For week 9 at Alaska West we welcomed back many longtime friends and guests. Bruce Cook Sr and Jr brought back the usual crew of Ray Smith, Brian Silver, Tyler and Chandler Cook, Larry and Scott Ryan, Brian Buchanan and Bob Anderson. What a great group of guys with solid fishing experience. Ron Martin and Dick Stevens also…
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Nice Fish, Rick.
We’re really grateful to Rick Covich – his sons Trevor and Tyler are two of the rock stars on our team at Alaska West. Rick got to join his boys for some fishing on the Kanektok this past July, and among a whole boatload of other critters, he landed this beauty of a king. Nice…
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Skagit Master Forum
You know we like spey casting, right? You know about Skagit Master Volume 1, featuring Ed Ward telling you all about his approach to Skagit-style fishing, right? You might even know that Skagit Master Volume 2 is in production, this time featuring Scott Howell giving his take on all things related to Skagitology. Well today…
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Alaska West Fishing Report: July 30 – August 6
Week 8 at Alaska West welcomed a great bunch of anglers to the first full week of silver action on the Kanektok. Bryan and Kathy Whiting along with sons Eric and Jason joined us for a fourth “once in a lifetime” trip. This family of four fishes as hard as anyone you will ever meet and it’s…
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Swinging Flies – Cast, Then Step.
Cast, mend, swing fly, take a few steps downriver, repeat. That’s how you fish for steelhead, right? Not necessarily. Michael White stops by in video form today, straight from the Dean River, to tell us a bit about how he likes to present flies to steelhead. The basic idea – rather than stepping downriver after…
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Cotton Candy – The Old Standby
At Alaska West our guides are constantly pushing the envelope as it relates to fly design. Big, beautiful composite hackle king flies, innovative new mouse designs, dangerously articulated flesh flies and more are routinely born in our staff quarters next to the Kanektok River. On the other hand, there are some patterns that have produced…
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Alaska West Fishing Report: July 23 – 30
Week 7 at Alaska West welcomed back the famed Dave Howe, with his family and friends along, for another great week on the Kanektok. Dave has been joining us for so many years and he has always brought together memorable family and friends to enjoy this great time on the river. This year his sons, Dave Jr…
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Tundra Sunset
Just another pretty sunset over the tundra at Alaska West. More Cool Pictures from Alaska West Underwater Trout and Mouse Fly Silver Salmon Rodeo Future Spey Anglers