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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rigging
Swinging for Trout – The Tumble Rig
We really enjoy swinging flies for trout on small spey or switch rods. Here at Alaska West, that usually means swinging large sculpin or flesh flies on or near the bottom. In other words, getting your fly down is often the name of the game. Earlier this year, we were fortunate to spend a week…
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Rigging Tip: Bunny Tails and Stinger Hooks
We fish a lot of articulated ‘leech’ style flies at our lodges. Why? Because they work really well! In fact, we just ran a step by step fly tying post on one here. However, one down side to most stinger style leech patterns is that once the stinger hook becomes dull or straightened, the hook…
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Spooling Fly Line Correctly
One of the more frustrating things in fly fishing is a twisted fly line or running line. There are many ways that line twist occurs, most of which can be fixed. However, the most common culprit of line twist occurs right from the start, when it’s wound onto the reel! Here are some tips when winding on your…
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Rigging Beads for Trout – 3 Methods
It’s that time of year again. Our early run salmon (namely king, chum, and sockeye) are in full spawning mode, and because of that our rainbow trout and dolly varden are impatiently waiting for any lone salmon egg that happens to come tumbling down river. Salmon eggs are an easy meal for trout and dollies…
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Get Your Swivel On
Today we’re coming at you with a great trout rigging tip courtesy of Alaska West guide, Larry McKurtis. If you’re planning on chucking big flies for big trout (especially in Alaska), you might want to read up on this one. Take it away Larry! Get Your Swivel On Here at Alaska West we’re always tinkering…
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All About Spey Rigging
We make sure to pick the brains of the many guests who frequent our lodges on what topics they would like to see most on the blog. Whether in Alaska or the Bahamas, a reoccurring request is a more comprehensive explanation of spey gear. Modern rods, lines, tips and so on are constantly evolving and…
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Reinforcing Welded Loops
When targeting strong fish such as king salmon, tarpon, permit, or even bonefish, any added security in your tackle is a good thing. These fish have the ability to make runs deep into your backing and test the strength of your entire setup from your drag down to your tippet knots. Most of us are…
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Easy to Swap Leaders
If you’re bouncing around a river swinging flies for steelhead or salmon, you’re probably going to need to swap sinktips every once in a while. You’re hopefully not making a change every 20 minutes, but when you move from a ripping boulder garden to a glassy tailout, you need to make a change. Today’s tip…
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Fishing Dropper Rigs
What’s a “Dropper Rig”? Maybe you know and fish them all the time, but just in case you don’t… “Dropper” is the term for a nymph pattern that’s fished in combination with a dry fly. The nymph pattern drops in the water and floats below the dry fly, so it’s called a “dropper”. Simple, right?…
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