2016 brought higher than average water levels to our home river at Alaska West, greatly improving our opportunity to target trout in one of our favorite ways – Stalking them on foot in smaller, intimate, side channels and sight fishing for them! We’ve ran a few posts in the past on some tips for sight…
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Tips
Fighting Fish – Make ‘Em Earn the Reel
‘Tis the season for fighting fish! August in Alaska brings fast paced action for big feisty fish, and that means there’s no shortage of practice for fighting (and hopefully landing) fish. During this part of our season we see hundreds (yes, hundreds) of fish fought each week, and with that we’re able to get a good idea…
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Steelheading: 5 Reasons to Fish a Dry
Catching fish on the surface is certainly not an everyday occurrence for most steelhead anglers. However, during certain parts of our season at BC West we’re pretty fortunate to have a very real opportunity to target them on top, and today Kara Knight gives us a few reasons why you should give the dry a chance….
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Rigging Stinger Hooks – The Twisted Hitch
Today we present you with some rigging wizardry courtesy of Alaska West guide, Jerry French. You may recognize Jerry’s name as part of the original brain trust behind the Intruder. However, intruder style patterns are hardly the only flies Jerry fishes.. In fact, he’d be the first to tell you that great anglers evolve, constantly…
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The King Sling Loop
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…
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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…
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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…
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Basic Camera Settings for Better Fly Fishing Photos
Over the years, many of you have asked for more posts on taking better fishing photos, and today we delivered! Our buddy Wray Sinclair has put together a great post on how to get away from ‘Auto Mode,’ and use the three most important camera modes to help you take better photos on the water….
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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…
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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…
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