In our neck of the woods, trout like eggs. Therefore, we tend to do a lot of bead fishing for trout at our lodges. Salmon eggs are a primary food source for our trout, and there isn’t a better imitation than a single bead. Most beads made specifically for trout fishing are made of plastic, usually…
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Alaska West
Nice Fish, Kevin!
Our good friend, Kevin Ford, joined us for the last week of our season this year at Alaska West. His goal? Big, late-season, leopard rainbows. Despite high winds and unfavorable conditions, Kevin still managed to get it done with this beauty. Nice fish, Kevin! More Nice Fish from Our Lodges Bryan Burke Eric Neufeld Tom Provost
Mink
We’re lucky at Alaska West to be able to get pretty close to some pretty cool wildlife at times. However, we’ll admit this is a little closer than normal. More Wildlife From Our Lodges Bear Highway Fish Finders – Arctic Terns Andros Island Iguana
Stay Safe Out There
What do Alaska West guide, Whitney Gould, and Willa have in common? They’re both wearing their life jackets.. That’s because at Alaska West we have a simple rule – When the motor is on, so are the life jackets! We think wearing your PFD is cool, and think you should too. Stay safe out there!…
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How Are We Doing?
Even after eight or so years of posting, the audience of our humble little fishing blog still continues to grow. That makes us really happy and we have you, our readers, to thank for it. So.. Thanks for reading our blog! Every now and then we like to take a day to ask what you would…
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Airflo Super-Dri Nymph/Indicator Fly Line
Western Alaska is far from the traditionalist’s view of trout fishing. It is not the land of four weights, fine tippets, and microscopic dry flies. Instead, bushy mouse patterns, heavily weighted streamers, and clunky flesh and egg rigs are the norm.. None of which are particularly easy to cast. Most trout specific fly lines are…
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Fish to the Future, Not to the Past
We’re really lucky at our lodges to be able to target trout in a number of ways. However, one of the most common (and most effective) ways in which we target trout is by rowing downstream in traditional ‘drift boat’ fashion. Rowing allows you to cover the maximum amount of water possible, thus putting your fly in…
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Sockeye on Mouse Flies?
Most folks that have fished for sockeye salmon are aware that sockeye are extremely reluctant to take a fly. However, at Alaska West we’ve honed in our sockeye program to catch them on mouse flies. Just check out the photo of our buddy, Kasey Halcro, above! Okay, okay, we’re totally kidding. However, the sockeye above…
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OPST at Alaska West – Video
Earlier this summer, we mentioned that the boys from OPST were joining us for a week at Alaska West to test out their new Commando Heads, skagit heads designed with the shorter spey and switch rods of today in mind. One of their goals was to test them out on our leopard rainbows using single handers. That’s…
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Starry Flounder
We’ve shared countless photos over the years of fish caught by our guests at our Alaskan lodges, from all five species of salmon, to rainbow trout, to Arctic grayling, to dolly varden and Arctic char. However, we haven’t shared many photos of one of the rarest fish in our river, the Starry Flounder. Flounder you…
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