The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) has recently issued a sport fishing closure for king salmon in the Kuskokwim River drainage and Kuskokwim Bay tributaries for the 2015 season. According to ADF&G, western Alaska king salmon stocks are experiencing a period of low productivity, and a sport fishing closure for king salmon is needed to…
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Alaska West
Alaska Mini Gallery – Different Perspectives
We like grip and grins as much as the next guy, but we see a lot of them over the course of a season. That’s why we really like fish photos with a little bit different perspective. So, today we’re coming at you with a few interesting photos (none of which are typical hero shots) of…
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10 Commonly Forgotten Items on Fishing Trips
We operate fishing lodges in some rather remote locations, pretty far removed from drug stores, big box stores, and fly shops. Therefore, we encourage our guests to bring along any non-fishing items that they feel would make their trip more enjoyable. Over the years we’ve noticed some common items that are needed by our guests during their trip. Most…
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Trout Fishing – Swing Out Your Drift
It’s safe to say, more trout are hooked dead drifting sub-surface patterns than by any other technique. Whether fishing gaudy flesh and egg patterns in Alaska, or delicate nymphs on your local trout stream, there’s no denying imitating a natural drift works. However, we’ve all been there; you finish your drift, start to make your…
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6 Tips for Landing Big Fish
A while back we ran a post on the top 5 mistakes made fighting big fish, where we highlighted some of the most common mistakes we see at our lodges in Alaska and British Columbia when fighting big fish like steelhead and salmon. However, fighting fish well does not always put the fish in the net. In…
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Squeak, Squeak
Exactly what you want early season rainbows to be staring at in Western Alaska. Big, gnarly, mouse patterns. More on Trout Fishing How Often do Trout and Grayling eat Mice? Trout Fishing – Swinging Flies Streamer Fishing for Trout – 5 Techniques
We Like Variety
Summer is fast approaching (trust us, it is), and our Alaska operations are gearing up for another fantastic season. There’s no way we could sum up all the reasons we love Alaska in one post, but one of our favorite aspects is the incredible variety of species we’re able to target each season. There’s no question,…
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Sight Fishing for Trout – 10 Tips
We’re really lucky to have an extremely diverse trout fishery at Alaska West. It’s not uncommon during any part of our season to catch trout by swinging flies, stripping streamers, dead drifting sub-surface patterns, or skating mouse flies on top. However, one of our favorite ways to target big leopard rainbows is by sight fishing…
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Managing Running Line – Finger Loops
We do a lot of fishing with spey rods at our lodges in Alaska and British Columbia. Most of the time we use Skagit or occasionally Scandi style spey lines, consisting of short shooting heads connected to a level running line. Distance is achieved by casting the heavier head outside of the rod tip allowing…
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Chum
Not what you were thinking? You’re not alone. During the early part of our season, many of our first time guests at Alaska West are pleasantly surprised to find out that many of the chum salmon we target look just like this; big, bright, and covered in sea lice. Not exactly the dark, barred up,…
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