Whether early season run-off or late season rain, when the river comes up and the water becomes dirty, fishing for trout can be tough. That’s not to say it can’t be done though! Here are 9 tips when targeting trout in high water. Go Fishing. Don’t let ‘the river’s blown out’ be an excuse to stay…
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Tips
Swinging for Trout – The Tumble Rig
We really enjoy swinging flies for trout on small spey or switch rods. Here at Alaska West, that usually means swinging large sculpin or flesh flies on or near the bottom. In other words, getting your fly down is often the name of the game. Earlier this year, we were fortunate to spend a week…
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Rigging Tip: Bunny Tails and Stinger Hooks
We fish a lot of articulated ‘leech’ style flies at our lodges. Why? Because they work really well! In fact, we just ran a step by step fly tying post on one here. However, one down side to most stinger style leech patterns is that once the stinger hook becomes dull or straightened, the hook…
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The Strip Set – Not Just for Bonefish
“Don’t trout set,” are words nearly every saltwater angler has heard at one time or another. That’s because when it comes to hard mouthed species like bonefish it’s crucial to set the hook by stripping the fly as opposed to raising the rod in typical ‘trout’ fashion. Raising the rod does a great job at…
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Calculating Fish Weight – The Formula
The silver salmon fishing is as good as ever here at Alaska West and Rapids Camp Lodge, and not only are we catching a lot of silvers this year, we’re also catching a lot of bigger fish. That has our anglers are asking, “how big is that hog?”, which has us scratching our heads.. “Yeah, exactly how…
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Price’s Five O’Clock Shadow – Tying Instructions
We love fishing mouse flies for trout whenever possible. However, not all mouse patterns are created equal, and today our buddy Stuart Foxall presents us with a great step by step on how to tie one of the most clever mouse patterns of all time, Kevin Price’s Five O’Clock Shadow. Enjoy! Price’s Five O’Clock Shadow…
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Jordan Sly’s ‘Wake and Eggs’ Rig
A couple weeks ago, Alaska West operation’s manager, Jordan Sly, gave us a great post on the life history of one of the most underrated fish in our river, the dolly varden. In case you missed it, make sure to check it out, here! Today, Jordan is back with another edition of our ‘expert rig‘…
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Spooling Fly Line Correctly
One of the more frustrating things in fly fishing is a twisted fly line or running line. There are many ways that line twist occurs, most of which can be fixed. However, the most common culprit of line twist occurs right from the start, when it’s wound onto the reel! Here are some tips when winding on your…
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What’s Your Favorite Tippet to Fly Knot?
It’s been a while since we’ve ran a poll here on the Deneki blog, so today it’s poll time! We love hearing from you, our readers, on all aspects of fly fishing. We’ve ran polls in the past on everything from your favorite switch rod, to your favorite backing for bonefish, and everything in between. Oddly enough,…
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Track Straight for Better Accuracy
Whether casting to a tailing bonefish, tucking a mouse pattern under an overhanging branch, or delivering a size 18 BWO upstream of some fishy pocket water, being able to put the fly where you want it is a valuable skill in all avenues of fly fishing. There are many potential causes for a lack of…
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