While digging through photos from the weeks past we were recently reminded of a commonly (and regretfully) forgotten item at our lodges; rain pants! We always encourage our guests to pack quality rain gear when traveling to our lodges, both in Alaska and the Bahamas. By that we mean both a rain jacket and a pair of…
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Search Results for: King Salmon
Cole Cook’s ‘Big Poppa’ – Tying Instructions
Silver season is fast approaching (ahem, we may or may not have already seen a few) and we’re currently experiencing the height of our mind-boggling run of chum salmon on our home river at Alaska West. That can only mean one thing.. It’s popper season! We love tossing surface patterns for our ridiculous runs of…
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Fishpond Headgate Tippet Holders
Last week we told you about Maxima’s Sharktooth Line Management System; one of our favorite ways to tame unruly leader and tippet material. However, with five species of salmon, trout, dolly varden/char, and grayling roaming around our waters (sometimes all at the same time), we tend to carry a whole bunch of different leader and/or…
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Maxima Sharktooth Line Management System
Whether we’re swinging flies for salmon and steelhead or skating mouse patterns for resident rainbow trout, when it comes to leader material plain ol’ Maxima Ultragreen has become a staple at our lodges in Alaska and British Columbia. Why? It’s super strong, abrasion resistant, relatively stiff for nylon monofilament, and pretty inexpensive compared to most…
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Fly Tying Tip: Anchoring Jungle Cock Eyes
We’re excited to have our good friend and world-renowned fly tyer, Stuart Foxall, in house this week at Alaska West. That means evenings in our ‘lounge-tent’ have been transformed from a casual social hour to a fly tying masterclass, and in no way is that a complaint. Stu recently shared a great tip with us…
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AquaTalon Swing Hooks
Our good friends from Aqua Flies have teemed up once again with our pal and Alaska West alum, Jerry French, to bring the latest in hook design with their new AquaTalon Swing Hooks designed specifically for swinging flies for salmon, steelhead, trout, or anything for that matter. Although he needs no introduction, Jerry is arguably…
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The Stain Remover – Tying Instructions
A while back our pal, Daniel Cope, gave us a great fly tying step by step on his go-to pattern for coastal steelhead; the Steelhead Phantam. For those who don’t know Daniel, he’s one heck of a fly tyer. He’s also a frequenter of our humble little blog, so naturally we were honored when he…
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Fly Tying Step by Steps – Roundup
Way back in 2014 we started putting together detailed fly tying step by steps on how to tie some of our favorite fly patterns for salmon, steelhead, trout, bonefish, and more. We’ve accumulated quite a few since then, so we thought it was time to put together an updated roundup of all of our step…
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Custom Dyed Arctic Fox from Waters West
If you’ve ever tuned in for some of our step by step fly tying posts, odds are you’ve noticed we love tying with Arctic fox. Arctic fox (particularly the tail) is an incredible material. It’s easy to handle, extremely durable, and offers incredible movement in the water. Plus, unlike many natural materials, it also holds color…
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Plan D Articulated Fly Boxes – New and Improved
Way back in 2016 we told you about the first release of Plan D Articulated Fly Boxes – fly boxes designed specifically to house articulated and ‘stinger-style’ flies (something we use a lot of at our lodges). Plan D’s innovative ‘eye-hook’ and slotted foam design was the best solution to taming free-swinging articulated patterns we’d…
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