Looking for the next generation of fly anglers? Here you go – they’re in Quinhagak, Alaska. And you know what? They probably know more about salmon than you do! More on Culture at Alaska West Job Requirements: Facial Hair Native Crafts The Arolik Bus
Alaska West
Alaska Felt Sole Ban
Last month in Juneau the State of Alaska Board of Fisheries decided in a unanimous 6-0 vote to ban anglers from wearing felt soled boots in all Alaskan streams and rivers starting in 2012. Why Ban Felt Soles? Trout Unlimited and other conservation-oriented organizations have for some time now espoused that anglers do in fact…
Read More
The Intruder
Warning: this is a very technical post about fly tying. If you’re not interested in the subtleties of tying one of the most influential modern steelhead and salmon patterns, click here to look at a bunch of pictures of fish. Jerry French may not have a household name in the world of anadromous angling in…
Read More
How To Fish a Mouse Fly
In a little more than a month, our setup crew will be headed in to start prep work for our season at Alaska West. That makes us pretty twitchy about our summer fishing! One of our favorite ways to fish for rainbows on the Kanektok is using a mouse pattern. Mousing is really visual, it…
Read More
Switch Rods – Different Uses
We’ve told you before that we think you should try out a switch rod if you haven’t already. We’ve also told you that we tend to think of switch rods as basically being little spey rods. They definitely can be fished like little spey rods and that’s maybe the use that’s most applicable in our…
Read More
Silver Salmon – 3 Reasons to Love Them
There’s billions of them. OK, not billions, but it’s putting it mildly to say that fishing for silver salmon at Alaska West is a ‘numbers-oriented’ fishery. We catch lots and lots of them. They eat poppers. And pollywogs. And wet flies and…well, in certain circumstances, pretty much anything. Yes, certain flies work better than others…
Read More
Sea Lice
For anglers who like chasing salmon and steelhead, sea lice are a topic of great interest for a couple of reasons. Today Mike Sanders, our General Manager at Deneki Outdoors, gives us the rundown! What Are Sea Lice? Sea Lice are planktonic (adj. – of or relating to plankton) fish parasites that live in sea…
Read More
Fish Factory
In just a few short months, this river in Western Alaska will be clogged with fish. Yes, we admit it – we’re already getting a little twitchy. More On What’s Right Around the Corner Silver Salmon Rainbow Trout King Salmon
Spey Tech Alert: Rio Skagit MOW Tips
Rio has just announced a new line of sinktips for Skagit-style spey casting called ‘Rio MOW Tips’. The tips are mostly 10 feet long, and they combine different lengths of floating and sinking sections to allow for more consistent fishing and casting performance while fishing sinking sections of various lengths. Problems MOW Tips Solve Sinktips…
Read More
Mr. Hankey
Jeff Hickman knows rainbow trout. He spent a bunch of years guiding at Alaska West, and during that time he came up with a really popular mouse pattern called Mr. Hankey that’s now available from Idylwilde. Jeff now combines his Larimer Outfitters guiding with conservation work with the Sierra Club’s Hunter and Angler Heritage Program. He…
Read More