Ever thought a third hand would come in handy when tying flies? You’re not the only one. While there are many fly tying ‘material clips’ on the market designed to fix to your vise to hold single strand materials out of the way while tying, we’ve found the majority to do a less-than-adequate job of…
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Search Results for: fly tying
Fly Tying Tip: Scruff Your Dubbing
We just finished up a great couple weeks at Alaska West with our good friend, professional fly designer/tyer, and Deneki blog contributor, Stuart Foxall. As you might expect, he showed us a few things, and today we thought we’d share one of those things with you. As a commercial fly tyer, speed is critical to…
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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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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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What’s Your Favorite Fly Tying Thread?
We’re less than a month away from the opening day of our summer seasons in Alaska and British Columbia. That means we’re spending a lot of time at the vise these days to fill our boxes for another great season, and we hope you are too! Needless to say, we’ve got fly tying on the…
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New Fly Tying Shanks from Aqua Flies
If you’ve been following along on our blog/newsletter or have spent any time with us at our lodges in Alaska or British Columbia, you know we love fishing stinger/trailer hook style fly patterns for everything from king salmon, to steelhead, to resident trout and char. For years, the majority of stinger style ‘shank’ flies constructed…
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Steaming Fly Tying Materials
A few weeks ago we shared with you a clever hack for rejuvenating those beat-up flies at the bottom of your boat bag or wader pocket using a quick steam treatment. Admittedly, we forgot to include the tip that gave us the idea in the first place.. The same process works wonders on tying materials too!…
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Jerry French’s Steelhead Sculpin – Fly Tying Video
A while back we shared a great fly tying video put together by our pals at North 40 Fly Shop on the Summer Sculpin, a great sculpin pattern for trout designed by anadramous authority and Alaska West alum, Jerry French. Well, they did it again, this time with a more steelhead worthy version of the…
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Jerry French’s Summer Sculpin – Fly Tying Video
Our friends at North 40 Fly Shop recently teemed up with Alaska West alum, Jerry French, on how to tie Jerry’s ‘Summer Sculpin’ – A killer fly pattern for trout and steelhead wherever sculpin are found (hint: that’s just about every river in the world). If you like tying flies, and are planning on swinging for…
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Fly Tying Tip – Securing Lead Eyes
Ever wonder why the eyes on your fly keep rolling around the shank? You’re not alone! Whether you’re tying bead chain bonefish flies or lead eye intruders, eyes that spin after a few eats can be extremely frustrating. More than a few of our guests have asked how to keep eyes from spinning around the shank….
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