Workin’ the little rod on the Arolik. Photo: Cameron Miller UPDATE: Thanks for checking out this post in 2009. By 2012 spey fishing for trout had changed a bit, so we put out this post with an update on spey and switch fishing for trout as of 2012. Feel free to read on, though! We’ve…
Read More
Tips
Trout Fishing: Terminology
Garrett Sullivan fishes the bucket. What a surprise. Today we start a series of posts about classic trout fishing tactics. In this series, we’re not talking about the salmon-part-eating rainbows of Western Alaska— we’re talking about the mainly-insect-eating critters of the Rockies and the Northeast and our ‘classic trout’ fishery in Southern Chile. Much of…
Read More
Managing Running Line – 3 Simple Tips
Neat, tangle-free loops. Photo: Cameron Miller At Alaska West and BC West, we do a lot fishing with spey rods. There are a bunch of reasons that we like spey fishing – line control, less fatigue, the pure enjoyment of making a good cast, and the ability to cover a lot of water. Spey rods…
Read More
Fly Fishing for Sharks
Sharks are hard on gear. Look closely at that reel… Photo: Andrea Spencer The waters around South Andros Island are extremely fertile – loaded not only with bonefish, but also mullet, jacks and countless other smaller critters. That means lots of food for sharks, which in turn means lots of sharks, which itself means that…
Read More
Alaska Fly Fishing Wisdom
Fishing in Alaska is fun. Photo: Mike Duffy A week from today marks the start of our 2009 season at Alaska West. For those of you heading to Alaska this summer, and those of you just thinking about Alaska this summer, here’s a bunch of tips and other advice related to fly fishing in Alaska….
Read More
Top 7 Tips – Fly Fishing for Dorado
Yes, this is a productive, healthy harvest fishery. Fly fishing for dorado in a super-productive fishery like the Tongue of the Ocean off of South Andros Island is a ton of fun. The basic formula is fairly straightforward: locate cover which also locates bait, locate fish, strip flies. There’s a little more to it than…
Read More
Mousing for Rainbow Trout – 5 Tips
Mouse flies are not delicate. Photo: Cameron Miller One of the most fun and unique ways to target rainbow trout in Western Alaska is by ‘mousing’. Small voles and other rodents often find themselves in the river, intentionally or not, and our bigger predatory rainbows are always on the lookout for a meal that’s even…
Read More
6 Ways to Catch More Silver Salmon
Got one. Photo: Cameron Miller On the Kanektok River where we operate Alaska West, and on other rivers like it in Western Alaska, the classic method for catching silver salmon on flies involves targeting them in slow-moving water, casting a floating line, and stripping back a weighted fly. Here are 6 ways to make the most of this…
Read More
Favorite Trout Rod Roundup
Catching me required neither a laser loop nor an 80′ cast into the wind. Photo: Chris Price Thanks to the folks who weighed in on our “What’s Your Favorite Trout Rod?” post last week, we’ve got some somewhat interesting, statistically sort-of-significant, semi-scientific data to present today! Actually we got some great input across the board….
Read More
Fishing with Kids
Seriously, kids are fishy. Photo: Mike Duffy One of the best parts about being in the fishing lodge business is having the opportunity to host family groups at our lodges. We absolutely love having kids around, and watching the experiences that family groups have together couldn’t be more gratifying. Fathers, daughters, sons, mothers, uncles, grandparents…
Read More