Every month or so, we like to run a roundup of posts related to a specific topic. We do this because we’ve written a lot of articles on a lot of topics, over two thousand actually, and you probably haven’t read them all! Today’s roundup topic? Fly casting on the flats! Learning to cast well under…
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casting
Practice Makes Better
Perfect is an awfully big word when it comes to fly fishing.. We’ve yet to meet a perfect caster, but we all want to be better anglers right? We always recommend our guests spend some time practicing their casting before a trip, but we also understand that life can get in the way of our…
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Spey Casting in Tight Quarters – Part 3: Less Overhang
It’s time for part 3 of our mini-series of tips on spey casting in tight quarters. Today we offer you a simple but often forgotten tip among many two handed anglers. The next time you find yourself short of casting room, try casting with less overhang. Most modern spey lines (we’re talking mostly skagit and scandi heads here)…
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Spey Casting in Tight Quarters – Part 2: Back Against the Wall
Today we’re back with part 2 of our ‘spey casting in tight quarters’ mini-series of posts. Last week we kicked off the series with an explanation of how to use casting stations to work down a run shrouded with sections difficult or even impossible to cast from. Today’s topic? How to make fishable casts when backed up…
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Spey Casting in Tight Quarters – Part 1: Casting Stations
When swinging flies for salmon and steelhead at our lodges, we’re pretty lucky in that most of the runs we fish consist of long, wide open gravel bars, devoid of obstacles, with virtually endless back casting room. It makes it pretty easy to get lost in the rhythm of cast, step, swing and repeat, and ultimately makes…
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Don’t be a Creeper
A while back we ran a post on creep, a common fly casting error, most often the culprit of tailing loops. However, creep isn’t only a single hand casting error, it wreaks havoc while spey casting as well! Alaska West guide, Jason Whiting reminded us of this fact while critiquing his own cast. Although if…
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Spey Casting on Grass – Grass Leaders
When it comes to single-hand casting, we always recommend our guests spend some time practicing their cast before their trip. Shaking some of the rust off before taking your much anticipated trip is a sure-fire way to enhance your experience! Casting practice doesn’t have to occur on the water however. In fact, we would argue that casting…
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The Reach Mend
Manipulating the fly line so that your fly behaves correctly in the current is one of the most important skills an angler can master. Its called mending, and its one of the many techniques perfected by that 10% of anglers that catch 90% of the fish. Most of us understand the importance of mending line when fishing moving water (if not, click…
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Fishing From a Boat – Cast Downstream!
At our Alaskan operations, we’re really lucky to have access to some extremely diverse trout fisheries. At any point during the season at Alaska West, we target trout by sight fishing for rainbows in side channels, fishing the main river on foot, or fishing from our jet boats ‘drift boat style.’ The beauty of our river is that trout can…
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Presenting on the Backcast – 3 Common Mistakes
Being able to present the fly quickly and effectively on the back cast is one of the most important casts to know on the flats. Presenting the fly well on your back cast enables you to cast safely when the wind is on your right shoulder (or left shoulder for you leftys), as well as cast to fish on either side…
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