It’s that time of year again. Our early run salmon (namely king, chum, and sockeye) are in full spawning mode, and because of that our rainbow trout and dolly varden are impatiently waiting for any lone salmon egg that happens to come tumbling down river. Salmon eggs are an easy meal for trout and dollies…
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Rapids Camp
Trout Spey Techniques: The Hang Down Drop-Back
Rapids Camp Lodge head guide, Tom Provost, is no newbie to swinging flies for trout and today he fills us in on how he targets trout during the most neglected part of the swing, the hang down. Thanks Tom! Swinging for Trout – The Hang Down Drop-Back When swinging for trout or other aggressive species, the dirtiest…
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Three Reasons We Like This Photo
We recently came across this photo of our buddy Chris Jordan with a nice silver salmon caught during his most recent stay at Alaska West. We’re really lucky to have an extremely impressive run of silvers each year, and in case you’ve never witnessed silver madness for yourself, we think this photo sums it up…
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Get Your Swivel On
Today we’re coming at you with a great trout rigging tip courtesy of Alaska West guide, Larry McKurtis. If you’re planning on chucking big flies for big trout (especially in Alaska), you might want to read up on this one. Take it away Larry! Get Your Swivel On Here at Alaska West we’re always tinkering…
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Sculpin Helmets
Throughout our season, one of the most consistent ways to target our big Alaskan rainbow trout is with sculpin patterns. While tossing mice or drifting flesh and egg patterns certainly have their place during parts of our season, a good sclupin imitation is usually a safe bet no matter what time of year. Our trout love gorging…
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Top Posts on Chum Salmon
Our Alaska season is underway and right now and our rivers are starting to fill up with big, bright chum salmon. Chums are one of the most underrated game fish out there. We’re not exactly sure why.. Perhaps it’s the name. After all the word ‘chum’ is not overly endearing. Or perhaps it’s because in days…
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Olympus TG-3 – A Great Camera for Anglers
Warning: This is not a super-technical review. Photography has become a big part of the fly fishing culture. Heck, there’s a lot of cool things to capture! Surprisingly enough, a question we get asked all the time at our lodges is ‘what camera would you recommend for fishing?’ While we love our big fancy DSLRs,…
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Fly Tying Tip – Cheap and Easy Bodkin Cleaner
There’s a lot of different fly tying tools out there, but if you’ve spent any time at all hunched over the tying vise, odds are you own a bodkin or two. You know, that little needle like tool. The bodkin might be the simplest tool of all time, but nonetheless its pretty handy for everything…
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Stinger Mice
One of our favorite ways to fish for rainbow trout in our neck of the woods is with mouse patterns. What’s our favorite pattern? Basically anything with an up-riding stinger hook. Why? We’ll tell you. Many commercial mouse patterns available are tied on large, wide-gapped hooks designed for staying put in tough-mouthed critters like bass,…
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Airflo Releases Streamer Switch Lines
If you’re like us, and enjoy spey fishing for trout, you may have found it difficult to find the right spey line to match today’s trout-worthy switch and small spey rods. The development of shorter skagit-style heads such as the Airflo Skagit Switch or Rio Max Short have made loading modern switch and short spey rods…
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