Our king salmon seasons in Alaska and British Columbia are underway, so today we present you with a friendly reminder of one of the most common mistakes made when fighting big fish on spey rods – not putting enough pressure on the fish! Take the photo above taken of Alaska West guide, Ben West, while…
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King Salmon
Timeless Tips: 5 Ways to Catch More King Salmon
We’re currently in the midst of our king salmon season at Alaska West and BC West. These are not your normal king fisheries – we’re swinging flies for hot chrome fish just a few miles for the salt, and that really turns our crank! Needless to say, we’ve got kings on the brain so we thought we’d pass…
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Opening Day at Alaska West
We just kicked off our season at Alaska West and we’re happy to report that our first run of king salmon have arrived! Despite higher-than-average water conditions, our opening day yielded steady action, with some healthy adult kings landed, and more than a few heartbreakers lost. We’re going to be on-site all season long and…
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Timeless Tips: Talking Salmon to a Steelheader
Jason Koertge has caught a lot of fish on swung flies. Besides having landed 52% of the kings and steelhead that have swum into Oregon since 2003, Jason has also chased kings with us on the Kanektok and the Dean as well. Needless to say, he’s learned a lot in the process, and in particular…
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Timeless Tips: 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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Timeless Tips: 9 Questions About King Salmon You Were Afraid to Ask
Today we’re coming at you with another addition of a series of posts addressing some basic questions on the topics we cover most. We’ve already covered some of the basic questions involving Alaskan trout, bonefish, and even spey fishing. Now its time to address the biggest and baddest of them all, the king salmon. 9…
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There’s Only One Bristol Bay
Our good friend and Sportman’s Alliance for Alaska director, Scott Hed, recently passed along a great writeup sharing a personal experience while stomping around Bristol Bay at our own Rapids Camp Lodge. For those interested in the true power of the Bristol Bay region itself, along with the current status of the proposed Pebble Mine…
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Prime King Openings at Alaska West
This just in: We just had a couple of cancellations for two of our most popular weeks of the season at Alaska West. June 24th – July 1st July 1st – July 8th What’s so great about these weeks? How about some of the best spey fishing for chrome bright king salmon on the planet….
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Swinging Flies: How to Set the Hook – OPST Video
When swinging flies for king salmon and steelhead, we’d argue that more fish are lost due to a poor hook-set than at any other point during the fight. Unlike techniques associated with traditional upstream dry fly, nymphing, or even streamer fishing, swinging flies requires a different technique to effectively drive the hook home. How so…
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Swinging for Kings – What’s the Big Deal?
If you follow our blog, you’ve surely noticed we talk a lot about fishing for king salmon using one of our favorite methods – swinging flies with spey rods. Some of you out there may have never used a spey rod. Others may have only swung flies for popular species like steelhead and/or Atlantic salmon…
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