‘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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Rapids Camp
Happy Hump Day
It’s hump day today! And, it’s a humpy year here at our lodges. So, naturally we felt it necessary to present you with a cool photo of a humped out pink salmon caught by Alaska West guest, Worth McAlister. Pinks return to our rivers in force every even-numbered year. We get a few here and…
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Whitney Gould’s Silver Swinging Rig
When it comes to fly fishing for silvers, it’s hard to argue against the effectiveness of stripping ridiculously colored streamers with a single handed 8-9 weight fly rod. However, one of our favorite things about silver season is that we’re fortunate to be able to target fish using a whole bunch of different methods, thus…
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Bring on the Mayhem
Silver mayhem that is! Over the last couple weeks we’ve started to see the first signs of our annual run of silver salmon at both our Rapids Camp Lodge and Alaska West operations. From here on out, each day brings more and more fish into our systems, and it won’t be long until our rivers are…
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The Ready Position – Alaska Style
Fly fishing for bonefish means always being ready, and those of you who have joined us at Andros South know exactly what we’re talking about. In fact, we’ve written many times before about the importance of a good ‘ready position‘ on the flats – an ample supply of line on the deck, a decent length off the…
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50 Shades of Grayling
Today we present you with a pretty cool photo of what we think is one of the most under appreciated, yet most stunning fish in Alaska, the Arctic grayling. If you thought grayling were nothing more than a drab gray fish with a big dorsal fin, think again! It’s been a while since we showed…
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The King Sling Loop
Bad knots are a bummer.. But even a knot tied to perfection is often still the weakest link of any setup. That’s why successful anglers are usually pretty particular about the knots they use. We’re asked all the time what our ‘knot of choice’ is for particular rigging situations, and one question we hear often is…
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Mirco Flesh for Trout – Tying Instructions
Trout in our neck of the woods may behave a bit different than trout found in other areas of the world – Gorging on large meals like mice, sculpins, and salmon parts, as opposed to insects. However, the fact remains.. They’re still trout! That means that even though our trout love big, gaudy, nearly comical…
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Swinging Flies – Don’t Block Your Hook Set
In any avenue of fly fishing, one thing that separates successful anglers from not-so-successful anglers is complete, undivided, fully engaged, focus whenever your fly is in the water. Many fish are lost (or perhaps never hooked at all) from anglers who’s minds were wandering or whom were not expecting a fish to eat the fly in…
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Loop Opti Megaloop Reel
Over the course of the year, we see a lot of quality fly fishing gear put to the test in some of the most demanding conditions possible. That means we often get a first hand look at which gear is up to the challenge, and which gear is, well, not so much. How can we tell when a…
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