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…
Read More
Rapids Camp
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
Turning ‘Bad’ Casts into Great Presentations
Good casts feel good, but good presentations catch fish and today Alaska West guide, Greg Houska, is coming at us with a great writeup on how saving the less-than-perfect cast can help you catch more fish in the long run. Enjoy! Turning ‘Bad’ Casts into Great Presentations Not every cast is perfect, and you should never…
Read More
Measure Nets – Why We Like Them
Not all nets are created equal. A quality landing net is a guide’s most important tool, and when it comes to trout, we’re really particular about the nets we use. We recently outfitted our guide staff with measure nets for our trout population and we can honestly say they’re one of the better landing nets we’ve…
Read More
Cardinal Sins of King Fishing
We’re in the midst of a pretty epic King run this year, and that means we’ve seen a heck of a lot of nice fish landed, but even more lost. King fishing is by no means a numbers game.. They’re big, strong, fast, hard mouthed fish that don’t come easily to hand (for both experienced and…
Read More
Smolt Poppin’ for Rainbows
We’re really lucky to witness a pretty spectacular phenomenon each season on the Naknek River – Home to our Rapids Camp Lodge Operation. Each spring, salmon smolt from the millions of salmon that have spawned throughout the Naknek River system make their way towards the ocean. Large, hungry, rainbow trout await the migration each year creating…
Read More
Rigging Tube Flies – Leave Your Tag Long
If you’ve spent any time with us in recent years at our lodges in Alaska or British Columbia, you’re probably well aware that we’re a big fan of tube flies for a whole bunch of reasons. When fishing tubes, we generally rig them using two different methods – ‘Stinger’ style to hang a trailer hook at…
Read More
Tying the Calvin Shrimp Intruder – Video
If you check in with us our blog/newsletter from time to time (you know, like you’re doing right now!), odds are you’ve noticed that we really dig intruder style flies when fishing for steelhead and salmon.. That’s because they work well in our neck of the woods, really well! Therefore, today we present you with…
Read More