White sand flats and tailing bonefish are great and all, but one big reason folks like visiting South Andros Island is that it’s a place where you can enjoy some simple pleasures – like having a beer with your buddies in the back of a pickup truck. More on South Andros Island Josie’s Boat Land…
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Search Results for: big fish
Polyleaders for Single-handed Rods
Polyleaders are great tool that allow for anglers to adapt to a wide range of conditions. In fact, we’ve run several posts in the past highlighting how much we like fishing polyleaders on two handed rods. They’re a great match for lighter setups such as scandi heads or switch lines. However, polyleaders are just as…
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Nymphing For Trout: Hook Sets Are Free!
When fishing for trout in Western Alaska, we dead drift a lot of sub surface patterns in search of the big boys. The majority of a trout’s diet is found near the bottom of the water column. Therefore, nymphing is essential to consistently hooking trout. While most of the time we fish flesh and egg…
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Little Ku
The Little Ku On the Southern Shore of Kukaklek Lake, moments from Rapids Camp Lodge, in the Northeastern section of the Katmai National Park, lies a creek legendary to backcountry Alaskan trout fishermen. Loaded with big Kukaklek leopard rainbows, this piece of water can wreck a trout fisherman for life. Totaling about 10 miles of…
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Untwisting Your Fly Line
There’s nothing more disheartening than attempting to make your shot at a tailing bonefish or permit only to find the tangled coils of a twisted fly line bunched up against your stripping guide. Regardless of your skill level, type of fly line, or whether you fish in fresh or salt water, fly line twist is…
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5 Ways to Control the Speed of Your Swing
When swinging for anadramous species like king salmon or steelhead, more often than not, the slower the swing the better. As long as it is moving just enough to suggest life in your fly, odds are you are in the game. However, from time to time, increasing the speed of your swing can be just…
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Battle Creek
Battle Creek in the Katmai National Park is a favorite destination of Rapids Camp Lodge. Just a 20 minute float-plane ride through some of the most stunning back country the park has to offer, and nestled in a long steep-rimmed valley lies Battle Creek. Flowing from east to west, from Battle Lake into Narrow Cove…
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5 Tips for Casting Heavy Rigs and Flies
With only a few short months away until we start our season in Alaska, we couldn’t help but think about chucking big gaudy flies and rigs to the plethora of species that call our river home. Whether it is heavily weighted flies, split shot ridden nymph rigs, or ‘dredger style’ sink tips, there is nothing…
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Retrieving the Mouse Fly
Mousing for trout in western Alaska is about as cool as it gets. We’re not talking about strapping on the headlamp for night time browns or waiting for a “mouse hatch” every seven years (although they both sound awesome as well!), we’re talking about chucking big gnarly mammal imitations day in and day out to…
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Adam Jackson’s King Rigs
Adam Jackson is a long-time guide at Rapids Camp Lodge, our fly-out operation on the Naknek River in Alaska. Want to know how Adam rigs up when he’s chasing the biggest and baddest of the salmon species? Read on! Make sure you read through the Commentary section – there’s a lot of meat in there….
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