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…
Read More
Tips
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
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,…
Read More
Swinging Flies – Elevate the Rod Tip
A while back we ran a poll on whether or not you like to hold a loop when swinging flies for andramous fish. We received a number of fantastic comments on many angler’s preferred swinging ‘style,’ and if you haven’t read them, we recommend you check them out! When it comes to swinging flies, personal…
Read More
Spicing Up Your Fly With a Bead
There’s no denying the effectiveness of bead fishing for trout in Alaska. As the prolific runs of salmon in Western Alaska approach the end of their migration, thousands of eggs are released by each female salmon providing millions (if not billions) of protein-rich morsels for our resident rainbow trout, Arctic grayling, and dolly varden. The…
Read More
Nymphing Without an Indicator – 8 Tips
Last month we ran a post on the advantages of nymphing without an indicator. Judging by the number of comments we received, we’re happy to report that nymphing without an indicator is a popular topic! Therefore, today we’re coming at you with a follow up post on how to increase your success when fishing without…
Read More
Spey Casting – The Lift
Many spey casting faults can be traced all the way back to the very beginning of the cast, that’s right, on the lift. It’s the lift that sets the stage for a well executed cast, yet it receives little attention from those looking to fine-tune their casting. However, we won’t waste time trying to convince you…
Read More
Casting on the Flats – Roundup
Every month or so, we like to run a roundup of posts related to a specific topic. We do this because we’ve written a lot of articles on a lot of topics, over two thousand actually, and you probably haven’t read them all! Today’s roundup topic? Fly casting on the flats! Learning to cast well under…
Read More