Alaska West guest, Gary Silverberg, putting the steam on a chrome bright chum salmon. Big, bright, aggressive fish that bend an 8-weight deep into the cork.. That’s why we love chum salmon. Other Posts Relevant to This Photo Fighting Fish From a Boat Fighting Big Fish – Put the Wood to ‘Em! A Lesson From…
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Alaska West
Chrome Dollies
We’ve posted a fair amount of photos in the past of dolly varden (or, Arctic Char? Click here for an explanation) in full spawning colors at Alaska West. Why? Because frankly, we think they’re one of the coolest looking fish around. From late July through the end of August, many of our guests love spending part…
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Leopard Rainbow by Ben West
This past summer, we introduced you to the fly fishing inspired artwork of Alaska West guide, Ben West. We were blown away the first time we saw his work, as were many of our guests! Today, we’re proud to post Ben’s latest work, a commissioned painting of a gorgeous leopard rainbow trout caught on site at Alaska…
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Spey Casting in Tight Quarters – Part 1: Casting Stations
When swinging flies for salmon and steelhead at our lodges, we’re pretty lucky in that most of the runs we fish consist of long, wide open gravel bars, devoid of obstacles, with virtually endless back casting room. It makes it pretty easy to get lost in the rhythm of cast, step, swing and repeat, and ultimately makes…
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Midnight Sessions
Last week, New Zealand’s Manic Tackle Project went live with their latest edition of Fly Fishers Inc, a great online fly fishing magazine. Why are we telling you this? Because Alaska West guide and New Zealand resident, Jeff Forsee, has written a great article in FFI’s most recent issue titled ‘Midnight Sessions.’ Through great writing and…
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Resident Rainbows
One of the reasons many of our guests join us each season at Alaska West is to catch some of these.. Big Alaskan leopard rainbow trout. Not only are they super pretty and extremely aggressive towards mouse flies, but they also reach sizes rivaling that of some summer steelhead.. Except they stay in our river…
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Don’t be a Creeper
A while back we ran a post on creep, a common fly casting error, most often the culprit of tailing loops. However, creep isn’t only a single hand casting error, it wreaks havoc while spey casting as well! Alaska West guide, Jason Whiting reminded us of this fact while critiquing his own cast. Although if…
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Sculpin
Sculpins are an important food source for our resident rainbow trout at Alaska West. We spend a great deal of time at the tying bench trying to imitate the appearance of these fat headed bait fish as closely as possible. Why? Because the trout love ’em! Particularly during the beginning and end of the season….
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Holey Rocks
Thanks to long time Deneki General Manager, Mike Sanders, for a great write up on an Alaska West tradition that surprisingly, we’ve never ran a post about.. Until today! Holey Rocks Over the years at Alaska West, we’ve found a lot of strange and interesting things along the banks of the Kanektok River. The most valued…
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Clown
Just a cool underwater perspective of one of the prettiest fish in Alaska.. Clowned up dolly varden. More on Dolly Varden Swinging Flies for Dolly Varden All about Dolly Varden at Alaska West 4 Reasons to Fish for Dollies