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….
Read More
King Salmon
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
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…
Read More
Nice Chinook, John
B.C. West guest, John Cambria, and guide Shane McKay giving us a lesson on what ‘chrome bright’ really means. Nice work, guys! More from the Dean Steelhead Rig Roundup BC West Mini Gallery – Steven Brutger Edition Reason Number One to Fish the Dean
Kanektok King Salmon Doing Well
As many of you are aware, the king salmon fishery on the Kanektok River (home to our Alaska West operation) has been closed to sport fishing for the past two seasons. However, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game recently released the numbers for the first commercial salmon opener of the season and we’re happy…
Read More
Hickman’s Fish Taco – Tying Instructions
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