Today we address one of the most common mistakes we see made on the river; setting the hook in the wrong direction. When fishing in moving water, the direction in which your rod tip moves when lifting the rod to set the hook can be the difference between a fish that makes it to the…
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Tips
Best Fly Lines for Trout Spey – North 40 Video
Last week we shared a video from our friends over at North 40 Fly Shop featuring George Cook on the particulars of choosing a proper spey rod for trout. If you missed it, be sure to give it a watch by clicking right here. A few days ago, they released another great from their latest…
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How to Choose the Right Spey Rod for Trout – Video
Over the last ten years or so, the notion of ‘trout spey’ has become one of the fastest growing sectors of fly fishing. We love targeting trout on swung flies with small spey/switch rods and we do a decent amount of it at both of our lodges in Alaska. Nonetheless, with more trout-appropriate spey rods…
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Rigging Beads for Trout – Mind Your Peg
Like it or not, no Alaska fly box is complete without a selection of egg patterns. Rainbow trout throughout Western Alaska rely heavily on salmon eggs throughout the back half of our season and those who choose not to imitate this natural occurrence are ignoring one of the most important food sources for Alaskan trout…
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Popper Fishing for Silvers – Tie Direct
It’s silver season in our neck of the woods, and when it comes to fly fishing for silver salmon, there’s no way we like targeting them more than on the surface! To elicit top-water coho takes, the majority of our guides prefer foam, deer hair, or hard-bodied poppers over more traditional ‘pollywog’ or skater style…
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Poor Man’s Rain Pants
While digging through photos from the weeks past we were recently reminded of a commonly (and regretfully) forgotten item at our lodges; rain pants! We always encourage our guests to pack quality rain gear when traveling to our lodges, both in Alaska and the Bahamas. By that we mean both a rain jacket and a pair of…
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Ed Ward Skagit Casting Tip – Separating Planes (Video)
We’ll admit it, we’re casting nerds. Whether single or double handed, we love discussing the intricacies of fly casting. Luckily, we know many of you do too! With that in mind, the good folks from OPST and skagit casting legend, Ed Ward, are back with some more great skagit casting tips in video form. The…
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5 Ways to Land More Silvers
Our run of silver salmon have just began their annual return to our home river at Alaska West. What does that mean, exactly? It means it won’t be long until our river is teeming with hyper-aggressive, hard-fighting, chrome bright, acrobatic coho that readily take flies. Sound good? It should. Those who have experienced silver madness…
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Guide Poll: The Difference Between a ‘Good’ and an ‘Elite’ Angler
We pride ourselves on the experience and know-how of our guide staffs at our lodges, many of whom have extensive guiding and/or fishing experience from all over the globe. That means we’re extremely fortunate to pull from a huge braintrust of uber-fishy people to consistently bring you the latest and greatest in fly fishing. With…
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Fly Tying Tip: Scruff Your Dubbing
We just finished up a great couple weeks at Alaska West with our good friend, professional fly designer/tyer, and Deneki blog contributor, Stuart Foxall. As you might expect, he showed us a few things, and today we thought we’d share one of those things with you. As a commercial fly tyer, speed is critical to…
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