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…
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Spey
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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The Lady Caroline – Tying Instructions
A couple weeks back we put together a step by step on how to tie the Colburn Special, a traditional hairwing pattern for salmon and steelhead. Traditional salmon flies are no less productive than they were 100 years ago, and more and more anglers these days are finding the joy in not only tying, but…
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Fight Dirty – Down and Dirty
Just a reminder that when fighting big fish, we really like the down and dirty approach – pulling hard, with the rod tip low and to the side, thus bending the rod deep into the butt section. Click on almost any part of the previous sentence for a visual of what we mean. We find…
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Kara Knight’s Steelhead Rig
Kara Knight is our lodge manager at BC West. That means she gets to stomp around the Dean during her down time – we know, not a bad gig! Here’s Kara’s rig of choice when swinging flies for big, bad, Dean River steelhead. Kara Knight’s Steelhead Rig Fishing on the Dean takes you into an…
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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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SPEY TV Episode 3: Snap T,Z, and C
Our buddy George Cook is back with another great edition of Spey TV, a video series dedicated to all things spey related. Today’s topic? The finer points of perhaps the most widely used skagit casts out there, the snap T. From casting variations, to fishing situations, to the basic history of the cast, this video…
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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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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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Managing Running Line for Less Tangles
When it comes to spey fishing, we talk a lot about managing running line. That’s because it’s really important for casting mid-long distances. There are lots of great ways to manage running line when spey casting, and what works for some does not always work for others. For example, some anglers prefer to pinch loops…
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