When it comes to fly tying materials, particularly in the world of salmon and steelhead flies, its safe to say there’s no feather more prized than jungle cock. Due to their stunning contrast of color and natural durable enamel-like coating, jungle cock eyes (or ‘nails’) have been sought after by fly tyers for over a hundred…
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Alaska West
Loon Outdoors UV Infiniti Light
The introduction of UV curable adhesives has allowed anglers to accomplish tasks in seconds that once took hours. From fly tying cements and head finishes, to wader and gear repair, to knot and tackle coatings, there has been a massive introduction of UV curable adhesives over the past several years. However, despite the variety of UV adhesives…
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How to Tie Trevor Covich’s Guide Fly for Steelhead – Video
guide fly /ɡīd – flī/ noun. An artificial imitation designed to catch maximum numbers of fish with minimum effort or production time. Typically comprised of inexpensive, durable, and/or readily available materials. Guide flies are a crucial part of a fishing guide’s arsenal. The ability to turn out a day’s worth of flies in an evening allows…
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Timeless Tips: Popper Fishing for Silvers – The Retrieve
When the massive run of silver salmon come pushing past our camp each year at Alaska West (that’s late July through August in our neck of the woods), one of our favorite ways to target them is with poppers. That’s right, the same type of poppers you may have chucked near the lily pads on your…
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Fishpond’s Five Mantras to Pack By
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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Timeless Tips: 9 Questions About King Salmon You Were Afraid to Ask
Today we’re coming at you with another addition of a series of posts addressing some basic questions on the topics we cover most. We’ve already covered some of the basic questions involving Alaskan trout, bonefish, and even spey fishing. Now its time to address the biggest and baddest of them all, the king salmon. 9…
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Timeless Tips: 5 Ways to Control the Speed of Your Swing
When swinging for anadramous species like king salmon or steelhead, more often than not, the slower the swing (while still maintaining a broadside presentation of your fly) the better. As long as it is moving just enough to suggest life in your fly, odds are you are in the game. With that said, from time…
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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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Timeless Tips: 9 Questions About Alaskan Trout You Were Afraid to Ask
Today is another edition of a series of posts where we answer basic questions about some of the topics we normally cover in a lot of detail. No question is too simple! We’ve covered basic questions about bonefishing and spey fishing. On to trout fishing in Alaska… 9 Questions About Alaskan Trout Fishing You Were…
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