NOTE: If you’re viewing this in a newsletter or a reader, click here to see the video on our website. Our friend Jack Reis is back and gives us a modern twist on a classic bonefish fly. Take it away Jack! “Unfortunately if you’ve spent time stalking bonefish on the flats, you know that skinny,…
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fly tying
Tying The Barracuda Boy Band
Those of you lucky ones who have been to Andros South know how spectacular the Barracuda fishing can be. Bonefish are always the target species but some of the time it can be fun to mix it up and chase a toothy critter. One of of favorite ways to catch Barracuda is on the surface. …
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Steelhead Flies: Modern ‘Spins’ on Classic Patterns
We recently received a great request from one of our readers (thanks, Ray!) for a fresh step by step post on how to tie some of our favorite ‘smaller’ fly patterns for summer and/or winter steelhead using modern materials and techniques. Naturally, we reached out to our good friend and arguably one of the most…
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How to Tie the GP Intruder – Featuring the Ultra Rig (Video)
A while back we shared a video of fly tying great, Jerry French, giving the finer points of his Ultra Rig; his latest innovation in the world of trailer hook style fly patterns. We’re clearly not the only ones who see the potential in the Ultra Rig. In fact, the folks from The Portland Fly…
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Jerry French on Tying the ‘Ultra Rig’ – Video
Earlier this year we expressed our excitement about Alaska West alum, Jerry French’s latest steelhead pattern; the Ultra Squid. Why were we so excited? Because the pattern was the first on the market to utilize Jerry’s Ultra Rig; quite possibly the most innovative idea for trailer hook style flies we’ve seen since, well, trailer hooks!…
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Fly Tying Hack: Hold Materials With Hair Claw Clips
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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Hareline Ripple Ice Fiber – Why We Like It
Every now and then a fly tying material hits the market that seems to make waves amongst our guide staff of ultra-nerdy and ultra-talented fly tyers. Lately, we’ve fallen in love with Hareline’s Ripple Ice Fiber. We’ve been incorporating it more and more into our salmon and steelhead flies, we really dig it, so in…
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Aqua Flies Intruder Eyes
When it comes to commercial spey/swing style fly patterns (i.e. those that you can pick up at your local fly shop), one manufacturer in particular has been standing out amongst the crowd; Aqua Flies. We’ve been pointing anglers bound for our lodges in Alaska and British Columbia towards Aqua Flies for years. Why? Aside from…
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Cole Cook’s ‘Big Poppa’ – Tying Instructions
Silver season is fast approaching (ahem, we may or may not have already seen a few) and we’re currently experiencing the height of our mind-boggling run of chum salmon on our home river at Alaska West. That can only mean one thing.. It’s popper season! We love tossing surface patterns for our ridiculous runs of…
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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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