Salmon eggs make up a huge portion of the diet for our Alaskan rainbow trout, which is why bead fishing is arguably one of the most effective means of targeting trout with a fly rod in our neck of the woods. However, contrary to popular belief, fishing beads for trout can be extremely technical, going…
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Rapids Camp
Timeless Tips: Casting Heavy Rigs and Tips – 5 Tips
Whether its heavily weighted flies, split shot ridden nymph rigs, or ‘dredger style’ sink tips, there’s nothing delicate about fly fishing in Western Alaska. We may take the ‘chuck and duck’ a little too literally at times, but we love it! Nonetheless, no matter where you are fishing, if you are planning on fishing heavy…
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Swinging for Trout – Naknek Style
The Naknek River is regarded by many anglers as one of the most prolific fisheries for trophy rainbow trout in the world. Feisty, native, resident rainbows exceeding thirty inches aren’t uncommon on the Nak, which is why we’re really lucky to call it our home water at our Rapids Camp Lodge operation. In fact, just…
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Timeless Tips: Landing Fish Without a Net – 6 Tips
The ability to ‘tail’ a fish, that is, the ability to land fish safely and effectively without a net is a skill every angler should posses. After all, we’ve all been on a trip where the net didn’t make it into the back of the pickup. Regardless, the old adage reigns true; if you want to catch…
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Simms DOWNStream Jacket
Fall is officially upon us. The temperature is beginning to drop quickly in our neck of the woods, and if it hasn’t near your home waters yet, we’re willing to bet it won’t me long. For many anglers, the cool temps of fall and winter bring some of the most enjoyable days on the water….
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Timeless Tips: Streamer Fishing for Trout – 5 Techniques
The first official day of fall is only a few short days away, and for many of us, that means streamer season. Fall spawning trout (brook and brown trout) are most territorial during this time, rainbow trout are on the prowl for large food items to fatten up for the long winter ahead, and as always, the…
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Updated Reference Pages
We’ve written an awful lot of posts about fly fishing since we started our blog back in 2008. Seriously, we’re closing in on nearly 3,000 posts.. That’s a lot of articles about fly fishing, and we’d be willing to bet you haven’t read them all! That’s why we’ve organized many of our posts into ‘reference…
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Trout Fishing: Hold On To Your Hook Set
Today we present you with a simple tip that we’ve seen learned the hard way on, not one, but many heartbreaking occasions. When fishing for trout, particularly when fishing sub-surface flies from a drifting boat, most successful anglers agree that the most effective method of hooking fish on flies you can’t see is by setting…
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Get Down with Glass Beads
Today we present you with a quick, easy, and sexier way of adding weight to streamers.. Glass beads! We throw a lot of streamers over the course of the summer for our aggressive Alaskan trout, and contrary to popular belief, they eat them all summer long! That’s right, even during the height of the salmon…
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Happy Hump(y) Day
Because after flipping through some of our photos from the summer season, we couldn’t help ourselves but share this photo of Alaska West guide, Greg Houska, hoisting a humpy caught by Joseph Sherley-Dale. Happy hump day everyone! We hope this photo gets you through the rest of work week. More on Salmon Fishing Popper Fishing…
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