Yesterday, we kicked off our 2015 season at BC West. Therefore, we thought it would be appropriate to present you with a step by step of one of the more commonly used steelhead patterns at our lodge over the last few years, Hickman’s Fish Taco. The Fish Taco was developed by Alaska West alum and steelhead guide, Jeff Hickman,…
Read More
Jeff Hickman
Mr. Hankey – Tying Instructions
We have less than a month before we kick off our Alaska season and that means it won’t be long before we’ll be chucking big, gaudy, mouse patterns for our resident rainbow trout. Mousing is by far our favorite way to target trout in our neck of the woods and one of our go-to patterns…
Read More
Nice Fish, Steve
Jeff Hickman shows us Steve Joyce‘s nice king salmon caught with a spey rod at Alaska West. Nice fish, Steve! P.S. It’s king season at Alaska West right now. More on Kings at Alaska West Dec Hogan – When It All Comes Together 5 Ways to Catch More Dave Victor with a Really Nice One
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
Look Ma, Both Hands!
Our friend Jeff Hickman is back today with a great article on why and how you should try spey casting. Jeff is a year-round swung fly steelhead guide and two-handed rod casting instructor in Oregon. You can find him at www.fishtheswing.com. Today’s piece is an adaptation of an article that Jeff wrote for Fly Fisherman…
Read More
Jeff Hickman’s Steelhead Rig
Jeff Hickman is back again. You know him as a go-to steelhead guide in Oregon. He is also part of the Ross and SA Professional Advisory teams, Guideline Eyegear pro staff and a Signature tier for Idylwilde. Jeff will be returning to host a group at BC West this summer and he is already counting…
Read More
Don’t Cast Too Far.
Jeff Hickman is back on our blog today with a very simple but incredibly important spey fishing tip. Don’t Cast Too Far. For some reason, people equate spey rods to long casts. Sure you can cast a spey rod far but that is not the main advantage of using one. Much of the time if…
Read More
Anadromous Nirvana
If you’re not sure why we think this picture is so cool, well, we’ll tell you. That’s a chrome chinook salmon and a big chrome steelhead, caught at the same time swinging flies with two-handed rods within a half mile of the salt on the Dean River. That’s why. P.S. If you follow us on…
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
Early Season Kings
Jeff Hickman is a mainstay at Deneki Outdoors, with a bunch of years under his belt working at Alaska West and Andros South. His main gig now is guiding folks around Oregon, but he also hosts a group of anglers during the first week of our season at Alaska West. Today’s he’s here to tell…
Read More