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,…
Read More
Rapids Camp
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…
Read More
Three Good Articles – Spey Edition
We’re back today with our somewhat mid-month tradition of three good fly fishing articles, from other sites around the web. Today’s edition even has a theme, spey fishing! If you’re like us and love fishing with a two-handed rod, make sure to give these articles a look. Enjoy! Three Good Articles – Spey Edition Sink-tip…
Read More
Stu’s Egg Intruder – Tying Instructions
Our buddy Stuart Foxall is back with another great step by step! Whether you’re fishing for steelhead, trout, dolly varden, or the like, this is one killer fly whenever spawning salmon are present. Stu’s Egg Intruder – Tying Instructions I came up with the idea of the egg intruder 5 or 6 years ago when swinging…
Read More
Trout Spey Techniques – The Bobble Dredge
A couple weeks back, we ran a post titled, Active Swinging, where we highlighted some of the techniques we use when spey fishing for trout that go beyond the classic downstream and across swing. However, most of these techniques are limited to slower gradual runs, those most characteristic of a swung fly. As spey anglers, most of…
Read More
Mr. Hankey – Tying Instructions
We have less than a month before we kick off our Alaska season and that means it won’t be long before we’ll be chucking big, gaudy, mouse patterns for our resident rainbow trout. Mousing is by far our favorite way to target trout in our neck of the woods and one of our go-to patterns…
Read More
A Nice Surprise
Sometimes when fishing for salmon at Alaska West, our guests are pleasantly surprised to find that the ‘chum salmon’ they’re hooked up to is actually a trophy sized rainbow. Our early season trout aren’t overly picky, and in no way are we complaining about that. Thanks to Tosh Brown for the killer shot! More on Trout…
Read More
SPEY TV Episode 2: Grip and Stance
The boys from Spey TV are back with another episode of their online video series highlighting tips and techniques for everything spey related. Episode 2 touches on the fundamentals of spey casting grip and stance, courtesy of long time Deneki friend, Mr. Hoh Bo Spey himself, Charles St. Pierre. Enjoy! More on Spey Fishing Slack is…
Read More
Active Swinging
When swinging flies for species like steelhead or king salmon, more often than not, a slow uniform swing is best. Rarely do steelhead (particularly when first entering freshwater) and king salmon actively feed upon entering freshwater. Therefore, a slow uniform swing swept past the nose of the fish is usually the most likely presentation to elicit…
Read More
Silver
We’d recommend fishing any color you’d like for silver salmon at Alaska West, as long as it’s pink.. More on Fly Fishing for Silvers Alaska Silver Salmon Flies – 5 Favorites 6 Ways to Catch More Silvers Fly Fishing for Fussy Silver Salmon