Choosing the right line for your spey rod is important. Even more so than with single hand rods, the wrong line on a two handed rod can greatly hinder casting ability and become extremely frustrating in the process. However, determining which line will best match your spey rod of choice can be confusing. Skagit? Scandi? Grains? Luckily,…
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OPST
How to Catch Silver Salmon – Video from OPST
Last week our good friends at OPST released an awesome video featuring some amazing footage of silver salmon on the fly, and today we share that video with you! Surface takes, fishing tips, fly design.. This video has it all. If you’ve ever wondered what the big deal about fly fishing for silvers is, make…
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The Single-Hand Spey Revolution
Most of the time, when people hear the words ‘spey casting,’ they immediately think of two-handed rods. Heck, we refer to two-handed fly rods as ‘spey rods’ for a reason! However, it’s important to note that by definition spey casting is a style of fly casting, one that can be performed by both two-handed “spey”…
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OPST Steelhead Shanks – Why We Like ‘Em
Finally, the shanks we’ve been waiting for.. We tie a lot of stinger-style flies for salmon and steelhead at our lodges. Judging by many of your comments, you do too! We’ve been playing around with OPST’s Steelhead Shanks lately. They just might be our favorite all around shank for spinning up large profile patterns for…
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OPST at Alaska West – Video
Earlier this summer, we mentioned that the boys from OPST were joining us for a week at Alaska West to test out their new Commando Heads, skagit heads designed with the shorter spey and switch rods of today in mind. One of their goals was to test them out on our leopard rainbows using single handers. That’s…
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OPST Ostrich Intruder Plumes
When it comes to tying large-profile intruder-style flies for steelhead and salmon, one of the most difficult part of the whole process is finding materials of consistent quality. Ostrich herl in particular, a material used in many steelhead and salmon flies, varies quite a bit in terms of quality and can be frustrating to the…
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OPST Swing Hooks – Why We Like Them
When swinging for anadramous fish, we really like fishing flies with trailer hooks. Whether tied on tubes or ‘articulated’ style, flies rigged with a trailer hook offer a number of advantages over flies tied on a traditional long shank streamer hook. However, there’s a lot of debate over the best trailer hook out there. In…
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OPST Lazar Line Running Line
When it comes to skagit casting, we’ve long been fans of mono running lines, particularly when fishing light weight spey or switch rods. Nowadays there are bunch of different options out there, all of which have their advantages and disadvantages. However, a couple weeks ago we were joined by the OPST crew here at Alaska West….
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Nice Fish, Ben!
Deneki alum and Olympic Peninsula Skagit Tactics general Manager, Ben Paull, recently joined us for a week of reminiscence at Alaska West. Ben spent three seasons guiding on the Kanektok, and like many of us, has been haunted by the massive, walter-sized, leopard rainbows that never quite made it to hand. That is until now.. During…
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OPST at Alaska West
We’re pretty excited to have the OPST crew in camp this week at Alaska West. That’s Olympic Peninsula Skagit Tactics for those who aren’t aware. Why are we so excited? Because they’ve been pumping out some pretty innovative stuff for those of us who like, no love, skagit style spey casting.. Not to mention that the company…
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