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…
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Chum Salmon
Bring the Kids Along
If you have followed our blog much, you know we love having families with kids join us at Alaska West. The Kanektok River is a great place to get kids excited about fishing due to the fact that it’s so darn productive. Although typical of a younger beginning angler, “I’m bored” or “I wish there…
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Alaska West Guest Video
Magnus Jepson joined us at Alaska West last week with the Global Fishing group from Europe. They caught king salmon, chum salmon and rainbow trout – and they put together one of the better videos we’ve seen about the fishing. Hit play below to get in on the fun. Thanks, Magnus! NOTE: If you’re viewing…
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What We Catch at Alaska West
At Alaska West our fishery is not only incredibly productive – it’s got so much variety you couldn’t hope to sample it all in one trip. Here’s a handy guide to the species we catch at Alaska West, in very rough order of when you might catch them, except for the oddballs thrown in at…
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Pacific Salmon Feeding in Fresh Water?
Pacific salmon don’t feed in fresh water – everybody knows that, right? Wrong. Brian Morrison, fisheries biologist and author of several recent posts on fish lifecycles in Western Alaska, is back today to tell us about some recent research findings that prove conventional wisdom wrong. Read on. Salmon Feeding in Fresh Water? Many anglers have…
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Chum Salmon Mini Gallery
Brian Niska, as you may now, is the owner of Whistler Fly Fishing, a spey rod designer, and one of our crack team of guest spey instructors at Alaska West and BC West. He also takes some great photos. We’ve got Brian to thank for today’s mini-gallery about swinging flies for chum salmon at Alaska…
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Top Salmon Fishing Posts of 2011
Our end-of-the-year ‘top posts’ series marches on. We’ve already given you our top bonefishing posts and our top trout fishing posts, and today it’s all about salmon. Our Most Popular Salmon Fishing Posts of 2011 Jeff Hickman’s King Rig. All the detail on how Jeff rigs up to chase king salmon on two handed rods….
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Ode to Mr. Chum
Tom Larimer hosted one of our spey instruction weeks at Alaska West this summer, and on his way home he wrote up a couple of guest posts for us. Today’s is all about the awesome chum salmon. Thanks Tom! Ode to the Chum Salmon While Mr. King, Mr. Rainbow and Mr. Silver are the reasons…
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Chum Salmon – Fly Fishing Techniques
Last week, Brian Niska told us a bit about chum salmon and the Kanektok River. Today, he continues with some tactics and gear advice. Who’s Brian? He’s a much better spey caster than you are. He loves teaching people how to cast and fish flies for anadromous fish. He runs a fly shop and guide…
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Chum Salmon on Swung Flies
Brian Niska is one of our guest spey instruction gurus at Alaska West. He also owns Whistler Fly Fishing. He put together a couple of great posts for us about the hardest working fish in the river – the chum salmon. Brian’s teaching spey casting for two weeks at Alaska West this summer. One of…
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