As you might expect, operating fly fishing lodges in several different countries allows us to travel a decent amount to, well, fishing lodges. It also allows us to work with hundreds of anglers each year, many of whom are extremely well traveled themselves. When it comes to travel, if there’s anything we’ve learned along the…
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Alaska West
How to Make a Single Hand Spey Cast – Video
Contrary to popular belief, spey casting is not limited to double handed rods or swinging flies for anadramous fish like salmon and steelhead. In fact, single-hand spey casting is an extremely valuable tool that allows for fishable casts under conditions that a traditional overhead, or even roll cast, wouldn’t otherwise allow, regardless what you fish…
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Custom Dyed Arctic Fox from Waters West
If you’ve ever tuned in for some of our step by step fly tying posts, odds are you’ve noticed we love tying with Arctic fox. Arctic fox (particularly the tail) is an incredible material. It’s easy to handle, extremely durable, and offers incredible movement in the water. Plus, unlike many natural materials, it also holds color…
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The Morrish Mouse 2.0 – Tying Instructions
Ken Morrish’s ‘Morrish Mouse’ is arguably one of the most well known (and effective) mouse patterns ever created. In fact, it’s one of our favorite flies at Rapids Camp Lodge. However, originally tied on a traditional down-riding hook, some believe the original Morrish Mouse has a tendency for shorter strikes and potentially a higher rate…
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Prime King Openings at Alaska West
This just in: We just had a couple of cancellations for two of our most popular weeks of the season at Alaska West. June 24th – July 1st July 1st – July 8th What’s so great about these weeks? How about some of the best spey fishing for chrome bright king salmon on the planet….
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Steaming Fly Tying Materials
A few weeks ago we shared with you a clever hack for rejuvenating those beat-up flies at the bottom of your boat bag or wader pocket using a quick steam treatment. Admittedly, we forgot to include the tip that gave us the idea in the first place.. The same process works wonders on tying materials too!…
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Nate Karnes Fly Fishing Art & Apparel
Last summer at Alaska West, a decal toted by one of our guests caught our eye – a rainbow trout, in the shape of a pig. Brilliant. The level of excitement that brought to your humble editor shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who understands his affinity (some would say obsession) with big, gluttonous,…
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Plan D Articulated Fly Boxes – New and Improved
Way back in 2016 we told you about the first release of Plan D Articulated Fly Boxes – fly boxes designed specifically to house articulated and ‘stinger-style’ flies (something we use a lot of at our lodges). Plan D’s innovative ‘eye-hook’ and slotted foam design was the best solution to taming free-swinging articulated patterns we’d…
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Make Space for More Flies
When fishing for steelhead and salmon, we fish a lot of articulated style flies tied with a ‘stinger hook‘ attached to the body of the fly using a loop of stiff wire or braid. However, many of these flies tend to be fairly large and often take up a lot of space in the fly…
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Spey Casting: The Rewind Cast (Video)
Ever heard of the Rewind Cast? Probably not.. That’s because it was developed by OPST frontman and Deneki alum, Trevor Covich. Not only does it look super cool, for the experienced spey caster the Rewind Cast can help produce efficient casts under some difficult casting situations, not the least of which includes safely setting an…
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