We spend a lot of time traveling to and from our fishing lodges around the world, and we’ve picked up a few tips for the traveling angler along the way. We’ve also had the good fortune of spending time with of our well traveled guests, many of whom have shared their experiences with us as…
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Tips
Sight Fishing for Trout – 10 Tips
We’re really lucky to have an extremely diverse trout fishery at Alaska West. It’s not uncommon during any part of our season to catch trout by swinging flies, stripping streamers, dead drifting sub-surface patterns, or skating mouse flies on top. However, one of our favorite ways to target big leopard rainbows is by sight fishing…
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Fishing Photography 101 – The Rule of Thirds
Photography has become a big part of the fly fishing culture, and we’re fortunate to fish with some pretty incredible photographers at our lodges. We’ve received a few requests in the past for more information on fly fishing photography, so today we thought we’d share a super simple tip to help you take better photos!…
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Stay Classy
Modern intruders and tube flies are cool, and we fish a lot of them. However, today we’re coming at you with a friendly reminder that the classic patterns still work too! In fact, it’s safe to say that anglers have been catching steelhead and salmon on classic style flies for far longer than they have with larger…
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Carry a Permanent Marker
The ability to adapt to changing conditions is often the key to success on the water. Although we’d all love to have every fly, gadget, or gizmo with us to tackle anything mother nature throws at us, it’s not necessary, not to mention expensive! So, today we offer you some super simple advice to help…
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The Foxy Leech – Tying Instructions
Contrary to popular belief, flies don’t have to be incredibly complex to catch fish. In fact, often times the most effective flies are the simplest. Bunny leech style flies are a prime example. When tied in varying sizes and colors, the bunny leech is an extremely effective fly for trout, steelhead, salmon, or many other cold water…
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Managing Running Line – Finger Loops
We do a lot of fishing with spey rods at our lodges in Alaska and British Columbia. Most of the time we use Skagit or occasionally Scandi style spey lines, consisting of short shooting heads connected to a level running line. Distance is achieved by casting the heavier head outside of the rod tip allowing…
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Taking Care of Your Waders – 8 Tips
A dependable pair of waders is one of the most important pieces of gear to the cold water angler. Make no mistake however, waders aren’t cheap. At upwards of 800 dollars these days for premium waders, it makes sense to take good care of them. Inevitably all waders will wear out at some point, but…
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Stu’s Tube Mouse – Tying Instructions
We dig tube flies, and we really love catching big Alaskan trout on mouse patterns. So, naturally we think mouse patterns tied on tubes are pretty darn cool. One of the most creative (and fishy) tube mice we’ve seen is that pictured above, created by our good friend and professional fly tyer, Stuart Foxall. We thought…
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Shooting Line Under Control – The ‘OK’ Sign
It’s no secret that shooting line is an essential skill in nearly all avenues of fly fishing where distance is concerned. Flats fishing is no exception. However, a common mistake we see when shooting line (in a purely fishing scenario) is completely letting go of the fly line. Angler ‘X’ makes one, two, three false casts,…
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