Sometimes all it takes is a little flesh. Photo: Ramsey Smith Trout that live in the lower sections of rivers like the Kanektok and the Arolik in Western Alaska get a lot of their calories from salmon flesh. That means that at Alaska West we spend a lot of time tying and fishing patterns that…
Read More
Rainbow Trout
Swinging for Naknek Rainbows – Video
Fall on the Naknek River, home to our Rapids Camp Lodge, is a trout-spey angler’s dream. In fact, we’d go so far as to say you’d be hard pressed to find a better river to chase trophy-sized resident trout with spey rods anywhere else in the world. How good could it really be you ask?…
Read More
More Cowbell
I got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. -bruce dickinson
Double Rainbow
If you are lucky, you may see a double rainbow but not very often do you get to see both ends! These acrobatic rodent eaters are right out our backdoor at Alaska West. No matter what part of the season you come to visit, we can guarantee you will have plenty of opportunities to target…
Read More
Catching the Rainbow Trout of your Life
Rapids Camp Lodge is located in King Salmon Alaska and is our fly out lodge offering access into the countless backcountry river’s of Bristol Bay. During the month of September however, it can be difficult to get into the float plane and leave the river that flows right out our backdoor, the famous Naknek. Draining…
Read More
Why the Kanektok River is so special?
One cannot talk about top fishing lodges in Alaska without mentioning Alaska West. Admittedly we take a little bit of credit for, in our opinion, the best Tent Camp lodge in the state but we also know to give credit where credit is due. The main reason Alaska West is so special is because of…
Read More
Target Species // The Leopard Rainbow
There are Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) found throughout this planet but I honestly consider the Leopard Rainbows of Alaska to be a species of their own. Scientific nomenclature does not however take into account my opinion but anyone who has had the privilege of catching Leopard Rainbows in Alaska surely knows what I am saying. …
Read More
Rick Sisler back at AK West
For those of you who have been following the Deneki family for years, you are probably familiar with Rick Sissler. Rick has been an important member of the Deneki team since he started guiding at Alaska West in 1998. After guiding the Kanektok for almost a decade, he became the Operations Manager at AK West…
Read More
Timeless Tips: Sight Fishing for Trout
We’re really lucky to have an extremely diverse trout fishery at Alaska West. It’s not uncommon during any part of our season to catch trout by swinging flies, stripping streamers, dead drifting sub-surface patterns, or skating mouse flies on top. However, one of our favorite ways to target big leopard rainbows is by sight fishing…
Read More
Nice Fish, Bill!
A couple days ago we mentioned that we just wrapped up the last day of our season at Rapids Camp Lodge. However, what we failed to mention was that on that last day of our season, despite some unrelenting weather, our good friend and long time Rapids Camp Lodge guest, Bill Anderson, tied into this…
Read More