Today’s tip falls within the ‘common mistakes we see a lot of’ category. Most of us are well aware that any in-river structure (rocks, logs, snags, tundra clumps, ect.) make for potential holding lies for trout. Any object able to break up the speed of the current provides the opportunity for trout to hold comfortably in…
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Rapids Camp
3 Reasons We Love Naknek Rainbows
As a full service fly-out operation, at Rapids Camp Lodge we’re able to target trout in a bunch of really cool, dynamic fisheries around Bristol Bay. However, we’re extremely fortunate to be located on the banks of the Naknek River, home to some of the baddest rainbow trout in Alaska, making for one heck of…
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Not a Steelhead
Nope, that’s just one stud of a Naknek River resident rainbow trout caught by our pal, David Kalinowski, while fishing our home waters at Rapids Camp Lodge. Nice work, David! More from Rapids Camp Lodge Smolt Poppin’ for Rainbows Dan Herrig’s Naknek Swinging Rig Giants of the Naknek
Happy Hump Day!
Alaska West guest, William Alexander, and guide Greg Houska, kicking off hump day right with one slab of a Kanektok pink salmon. Our 2016 run of pinks returned unusually large in comparison to past seasons, making for a heck of a lot of fun in between more ‘target’ species.’ Nice work guys! More on Fly…
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Reading Trout Water – Fish the Transitions
If you haven’t noticed, we love fly fishing for trout, and while our trout might behave differently in western Alaska than trout found in more ‘classic’ trout streams, the fact remains; They’re still trout! Thus, they’re often found in the same types of water. Successfully reading trout water is by far one of the most studied…
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5 Advantages of High Water
Over the past few seasons, mild winters and reasonably dry summers have made for some low water conditions on our home river at Alaska West. However, this year we’ve been experiencing significantly higher water levels of late, and we really dig it! Due to a few substantial rain (and even hail) storms, we’ve seen a couple…
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Watch Your Fingers!
Just a friendly reminder, the next time you’re handling a whole bunch of silver salmon, watch those fingers! Most anglers are aware that certain species of Pacific salmon (especially chum salmon) can have some pretty gnarly teeth during certain phases of their lifecycle. However, contrary to popular belief, all five species of Pacific salmon actually have…
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Flesh Hatch
The flesh fly is a staple in any Alaskan trout fly box. Throughout the majority of the summer, our trout love to gorge themselves on chunks of salmon flesh – Big flesh, small flesh, fresh flesh, dead flesh.. You name it, there’s a time and place for each. That’s ‘matching the hatch’ in our neck of the…
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Alaska Mini Gallery – Abe Blair Edition
Every once in a while we like to run a mini-gallery of photos here on our blog – A small collection of photos, some with a theme, some not so much, but generally somehow related to fly fishing. However, it’s been a while since we’ve put together a mini gallery, so today we right that…
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Fighting Fish – Make ‘Em Earn the Reel
‘Tis the season for fighting fish! August in Alaska brings fast paced action for big feisty fish, and that means there’s no shortage of practice for fighting (and hopefully landing) fish. During this part of our season we see hundreds (yes, hundreds) of fish fought each week, and with that we’re able to get a good idea…
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