Today’s installment of our timeless tips series of posts focuses on your ideal rod quiver for our fishery in Alaska from mid-June to mid-July. This time is often referred to as ‘king season’, and that it certainly is, but kings aren’t the only game in town. Must Have A 9 weight spey rod between 12 and…
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Rapids Camp
Mousing for Trout – Work Upstream
When mousing for trout, we tend to target fish using two different methods – banging the banks from the boat while rowing ‘drift boat style,’ or walking smaller side channels on foot. Both methods have their advantages. Fishing from a moving boat covers far more water than wading, in theory allowing you to put your…
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Arctic Grayling – Fish the Traditionals
For the majority of our guests at Alaska West, the first few weeks of our season is all about two things -swinging flies for big bright king salmon and/or chucking big mouse and sculpin imitations for hungry rainbow trout. However, during the first part of our season, an often overlooked species on our river are…
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Morrish Mouse – Tying Instructions
We’re fast approaching one of our favorite times of year, mouse season! Chucking rodent patterns for voracious rainbow trout is one of our favorite past times, and we’re lucky to do a fair amount of it at our lodges. In preparation of the upcoming season, today we present you with a great step by step, courtesy…
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Spey TV Episode 9: Single Spey with Simon Gawesworth
Our pal George Cook is back with another edition of Spey TV, this time accompanied by Simon Gawesworth to talk about the finer points of one of the most traditional, yet arguably most difficult spey casts to master, the single spey. For those looking to dial in their single spey, we think you’d be hard…
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Timeless Tip: Rainbow Trout Fishing – Mend Less
There are trout streams out there where highly educated trout demand perfect presentation. Long, light tippets are key. Pure, drag-free drift is essential, and if your fourth mend falls 3 inches left of where it should have, that fish is not going to eat. The Kanektok is not one of those rivers. Before we cover…
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Nymphing for Trout – The Trigger Finger
Whether bouncing a bead-head pheasant tail down your local tailwater or dredging a flesh fly in western Alaska, dead drifting sub-surface flies, or ‘nymphing,’ requires the ability to detect extremely subtle takes that are not always visual. For many anglers, various types of strike indicators are a huge help in detecting when a fish has taken…
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Always Have Confidence in Your Fly
Today we present you with a tip, one that holds true in all avenues of fly fishing, that we think separates successful anglers from, well, not so successful anglers. No matter what you’re fishing for, whether your drifting, stripping, swinging, skating, or popping flies, in either freshwater or saltwater, always have confidence in the fly you’re fishing….
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Timeless Tips Tuesday: 6 Tips for Fishing Streamers from a Boat
When targeting rainbow trout from the boat, one of the techniques we like to use is called “bangin’ the banks”. Whether you’re using a streamer or a dry fly, it’s an effective technique and a fast-moving game, like a shooting gallery on the move. If you’re chucking streamers from a boat anywhere in the world…
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Timeless Tips: Swinging for Kings – 10 Tips
Planning on swinging flies for king salmon this summer, maybe on the Kanektok or the Dean? Here are some tips that may help. Cast across and slightly downstream. You certainly need to read the water you’re fishing and adjust accordingly, but in general if you’re fishing a broad, gradual gravel bar, the most effective presentation…
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