We tie a lot of tube flies throughout the year at our lodges in Alaska, British Columbia, and even in the Bahamas (that’s a topic of another post). Until now, we have tied most of our tubes using tube fly adapters and mandrels made to fit directly into the jaws of any standard fly tying…
Read More
Search Results for: tube flies
Tie Your Own Flies!
Catching a fish on a fly you tied yourself is a special thing. It gives you a closer connection to the sport and the fish itself. If you have never experienced this, Alaska is the place to do it! Whether you’re a beginner or experienced fly tyer, here are a few patterns that we tie…
Read More
Fly Fishing Videos on YouTube
Did you know that we have a channel on YouTube that’s currently home to 67 videos on fly fishing? Did you know that the vast majority of those videos are focused on tips to help you be a better angler? Here’s a little sample. If you’re viewing this in a newsletter or a reader, you’ll…
Read More
King Flies – Size Does Matter
Jeff Hickman is a two-handed rod steelhead guide from Oregon who owns Fish The Swing LLC. He is a signature Idylwilde flies tier and Deneki veteran who will be joining us again this season to guide kings at Alaska West. Here is a quick little tip from Jeff about fly selection when targeting Chinook salmon. Size Matters It seems…
Read More
Rainbow Trout Flies – 5 Favorites for Alaska
As we mentioned on Friday, it’s trout time at Alaska West. Late July trout fishing rocks! If you’re headed to Alaska West to chase our legendary leopard rainbows, here are 5 flies that we think you should bring along. Idylwilde makes some pretty awesome trout flies – these are all available from your local Idylwilde…
Read More
Classic Flies Work Too
True, at BC West we like fishing big burly modern patterns like the Wombat, Intruder variations and Silvey’s Tube Snake. Don’t forget, though – the fish don’t know that big flies are supposed to be cool now. Classic patterns like the General Practitioner, the Dean River Lantern and the Lady Caroline still deserve a place…
Read More
Silvey’s Tandem Tube – How to Rig It
Installment #3 is a very special episode in our tube fly rigging mini-series by Eric Neufeld. It’s about a fly called Silvey’s Tandem Tube that requires some special attention in order to perform its best. Brian Silvey has a series of Idylwilde tube flies – the Tandem Tube, the Tail Light, and the Tube Snake…
Read More
Swinging Flies – Cast, Then Step.
Cast, mend, swing fly, take a few steps downriver, repeat. That’s how you fish for steelhead, right? Not necessarily. Michael White stops by in video form today, straight from the Dean River, to tell us a bit about how he likes to present flies to steelhead. The basic idea – rather than stepping downriver after…
Read More
Larimer’s Reverse Marabou Tube Fly
One of Tom Larimer’s go-to flies these days for winter steelhead, summer steelhead and king salmon in Alaska is one of his own designs – the Reverse Marbou Tube. NOTE: If you’re viewing this in a newsletter or a reader, click here to hear Tom talk about his steelhead and salmon fly on YouTube. The…
Read More
Selecting Steelhead Flies
In the past month we’ve had Tom Larimer stop by our blog to give a 6-minute master class on spey casting anchor placement, and a 1-minute diatribe (well, for Tom it was a diatribe) on fishing your fly actively. Today we hear Tom’s thoughts on picking which steelhead fly to fish – especially which color to…
Read More