Summer is fast approaching (trust us, it is), and our Alaska operations are gearing up for another fantastic season. There’s no way we could sum up all the reasons we love Alaska in one post, but one of our favorite aspects is the incredible variety of species we’re able to target each season. There’s no question,…
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Search Results for: rainbow alaska
Sight Fishing for Trout – 10 Tips
We’re really lucky to have an extremely diverse trout fishery at Alaska West. It’s not uncommon during any part of our season to catch trout by swinging flies, stripping streamers, dead drifting sub-surface patterns, or skating mouse flies on top. However, one of our favorite ways to target big leopard rainbows is by sight fishing…
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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…
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Dry Flies
At Alaska West, our trout tend to key in on rodents, not mayflies, and we’re really happy about that. More on Mousing for Trout Mousing for Trout – 5 Tips Mousing for Trout – Try a Strip Set 19 Reasons to Fish a Mouse Fly
Keep Your Fly in the Water
One of the universal truths in fly fishing, regardless of what species you are pursuing, is the longer your fly is in the water, the greater chance you have to catch fish. After all, a fly in the air catches no fish. With that said, we haven’t mastered the art of ‘shadow casting’ yet.. And we’ve seen…
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Sculpin
Sculpins are an important food source for our resident rainbow trout at Alaska West. We spend a great deal of time at the tying bench trying to imitate the appearance of these fat headed bait fish as closely as possible. Why? Because the trout love ’em! Particularly during the beginning and end of the season….
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Holey Rocks
Thanks to long time Deneki General Manager, Mike Sanders, for a great write up on an Alaska West tradition that surprisingly, we’ve never ran a post about.. Until today! Holey Rocks Over the years at Alaska West, we’ve found a lot of strange and interesting things along the banks of the Kanektok River. The most valued…
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Spey Fishing – The ‘Engaged Fly’
Ever wondered whether your fly is swinging at the right depth, at the right speed, or even in the right water for the quarry at hand? We receive comments all the time about how or where the fly should be traveling when swinging for anadramous species, and for good reason.. It’s tough! Thanks to long-time spey-guru…
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Stu’s Quick-Tie Sculpin Tube Fly – Tying Instructions
When we asked you, what you would like to see more of on our blog, many of you suggested we run more step by step fly tying posts. Some of you were a little more specific, requesting tying instructions on some of our favorite sculpin patterns. A few of you even requested information on tying…
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All About Switch Rods – Interview with George Cook
We love fishing switch rods at our lodges in Alaska and British Columbia. For the most part, we think of them as ‘mini-spey rods,’ and use them when swinging flies for everything thing from dolly varden to king salmon. We get a lot of questions from our guests and readers about the use and practicality of…
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