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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Alaska West
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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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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