If you’re a regular to our humble little blog, odds are you’ve heard the name Stuart Foxall before. Stu is a professional fly designer for Aqua Flies as well as part of Loop Tackle’s development team. You could say he knows a thing or two about swinging flies for big, bright, anadramous fish. In fact,…
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King Salmon
Prime Steelhead Spots at BC West
Not all steelhead are created equal. At BC West, our steelhead have earned the reputation as some of the hottest steelhead on the planet. That comes with no surprise however.. Located on the Dean River, steelhead in our neck of the woods are forced to ascend a steep canyon only 1 1/2 miles from the mouth of…
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Prime King Salmon Spots at Alaska West
As far as we’re concerned, when it comes to fly fishing, swinging flies for big, bright, sea-lice ridden king salmon is as good as it gets. At Alaska West, we’re extremely fortunate to be located on arguably one of the best rivers to target king salmon on the fly in the entire world – and…
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Quick Change Sink Tips
We’re a big advocate for the more time your fly spends in the water, the more fish you’re going to catch. Therefore, we usually recommend focusing more on changing up your presentation, than constantly changing up your fly, sink tip, leader, and so on – particularly when swinging up species like steelhead or king salmon….
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Fighting King Salmon – From Start to Finish
Last week, Deneki regular, Stuart Foxall, presented us with a great post on proper fly presentation when swinging for king salmon. In case you missed the post, make sure to check it out, here! Stu’s back today with a great follow up on what to do when all goes to plan – you know, when…
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Swinging for Kings – The Broadside Presentation
We love swinging flies for anadramous fish, and we do a lot of it at our lodges in Alaska and British Columbia. However, swinging flies effectively often takes more than simply casting across the river and letting your line swing on through.. After all, it’s how your fly swims, not your line, that matters most. With…
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Help Out Your Net Man
As they say – Behind every great angler is a great net man.. Okay, maybe no one says that, but they should! Landing big fish takes team work. Any body who has attempted to put the mesh on a hot fish in heavy current knows that there’s just as much skill required of the net…
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Spey Fishing from a Boat
We really love working our way down a run on foot, swinging flies, and catching big fish like king salmon on spey rods. Who wouldn’t, right? At Alaska West, we’re really lucky in that our fishery is about as perfect as it gets for swinging flies – long, lazy, low gradient runs made up of big…
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Hopeful News for Kanektok King Salmon
As many of you are well aware, sport fishing for king salmon on the Kanektok River (home to our Alaska West operation) has been closed for the past two seasons due to low escapement numbers. However, last season we were excited to report that according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, commercial harvests…
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Pacific Salmon Mini Gallery – Spawning Colors
We talk an awful lot about ‘chrome bright salmon,’ but we’d be lying if we said we didn’t think some of the colors pacific salmon take on as they start their spawning ritual were anything short of spectacular. We’re lucky that some of our lodges are located so close to the ocean that we’re able…
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