WARNING: This is not a very technical review. Simms launched their line of Gore-Tex footwear this year, and we’ve been spending a lot of time since wandering around fishy places in their Harbor Shoes. Are they revolutionary, containing some incredible new fishing technology not present in shoes made by ‘actual shoe companies’? Nope. We like…
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Search Results for: gear for alaska
Chinook Flies for the Dean
Brian Niska is on site at BC West this week, chasing chinooks with an intrepid group of anglers. They arrived on Saturday, and Brian immediately sat down and sent us a write up on the flies he’ll be fishing during his trip. Thanks, Brian! Chinook Flies for the Dean River It’s 10:30 pm here on…
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Andros South Fishing Report – March 2011
March at Andros South is typically one of the nicest weather months of the season and this year was no exception. The season has been wonderful so far with very few bad weather days since we began back in late October. Our temps in March were between 75 and 85 degrees every day with winds varying from…
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Tube Flies – Introduction
Today we’re starting a little mini-series of posts featuring Eric Neufeld, in video format, talking about tube flies and how to rig them. Who’s Eric Neufeld? He’s an alumnus of Alaska West, and he’s the the Pacific Northwest rep for Idylwilde, Simms and Ross, and he’s a smart dude who likes futzing around with his fly…
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Landing Nets
Thanks to loyal reader Kevin Kelly for getting in touch with an excellent question. Kevin didn’t recognize the landing nets that he’s seen in a lot of our pictures from Alaska West, so he asked about them, and we put together this post about them. Got any questions we can answer for you about our…
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Chum Salmon – Fly Fishing Techniques
Last week, Brian Niska told us a bit about chum salmon and the Kanektok River. Today, he continues with some tactics and gear advice. Who’s Brian? He’s a much better spey caster than you are. He loves teaching people how to cast and fish flies for anadromous fish. He runs a fly shop and guide…
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Team Carhartt
Our team at Alaska West wears a lot of high-tech outerwear. You can’t throw a rock around our camp without hitting some Gore-Tex or a chunk of new-school soft shell. But the folks on our camp staff – the crew that works really, really hard to give our guests a great home for the week…
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Top 5 Mistakes Fighting Big Fish
At Alaska West and BC West we see a lot of big fish fought by our guests – we’re talking steelhead and king salmon here. Sometimes our anglers do a great job fighting the big ones. Other times…not so much. Fight hard, fight smart, and get it over fast! Top 5 Mistakes Made Fighting Big…
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Abel Pliers
After quite a few years of hearing good things about Abel’s fly fishing pliers at our lodges, we decided to buy a pair and try them out. We liked them a lot. Abel’s pliers aren’t cheap. We got the least-expensive option – Model #2, the smaller size, in black. They’ll cost you $130. You can…
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Getting In and Out of a Jet Boat
It seems pretty simple, but bad things can happen when people get in and out of boats carelessly! What’s the most common cause of broken rods at Alaska West? Anglers losing their balance on the way into a boat, resulting in errant boots impacting rods. By far. What’s the most common cause of (thankfully minor)…
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