When it comes to single-hand casting, we always recommend our guests spend some time practicing their cast before their trip. Shaking some of the rust off before taking your much anticipated trip is a sure-fire way to enhance your experience! Casting practice doesn’t have to occur on the water however. In fact, we would argue that casting…
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Spey
Spey Fishing – Watch How Your Fly Lands
When swinging flies for salmon and steelhead, we talk a lot about the importance of ‘fly profile,’ the broadside silhouette the fly takes on while in the water. Many fly tyers go to great lengths trying to achieve a desired profile, and it is this idea that has stemmed many modern steelhead and salmon patterns….
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Spey Fishing – The ‘Engaged Fly’
Ever wondered whether your fly is swinging at the right depth, at the right speed, or even in the right water for the quarry at hand? We receive comments all the time about how or where the fly should be traveling when swinging for anadramous species, and for good reason.. It’s tough! Thanks to long-time spey-guru…
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Grant Turner’s Alaskan Steelhead Rig
We know many of you enjoy our expert rig series of posts, where we highlight every detail of the setups used by the experts chasing fish in our neck of the woods. It’s been a while since we’ve put out an expert rig, so we reached out to Alaska West guide, Grant Turner for the…
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Winston’s New Microspey Trout Rods – Video From Alaska West
Last week, Winston Fly Rod Co. went live with their new website, complete with hi-res photos, videos, and everything else that is good. With it, they released a video showcasing their new series of two-handed ‘Microspey’ trout rods in action. Why are we telling you this? Aside from the fact that these are some of…
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All About Switch Rods – Interview with George Cook
We love fishing switch rods at our lodges in Alaska and British Columbia. For the most part, we think of them as ‘mini-spey rods,’ and use them when swinging flies for everything thing from dolly varden to king salmon. We get a lot of questions from our guests and readers about the use and practicality of…
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Selecting Sink Tips
When swinging flies for salmon and steelhead, a question we get asked a lot is ‘what sink tip should I use?’ or ‘how do I know what sink tip to start with?’ Like all things fly fishing, there is no rule of thumb that pertains to every situation. There are far too many variables from…
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Swinging for Chums
With a current closure on king salmon at Alaska West, we’ve been targeting more species on the swing than ever this season. We love fishing with a two handed rod and the opportunities available are endless on our river. We have a hefty run of strong, chrome bright, sea-lice toting chum salmon throughout the majority…
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Top 5 Posts on Gear for the Summer
Summer fishing is officially in season, and a lot of you are gearing up for remote fishing trips. With that in mind, today we’re presenting you with… Our Top 5 Posts on Summer Fishing Gear New Essential Gear for Fishing Trips. Bet you don’t have a DeLorme InReach SE! Traveling with Spey Rods. Lots of…
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What’s Your Favorite Spey Running Line?
Most Skagit-style spey setups these days involve a separate running line – the thinner diameter line behind the head that isn’t involved in casting, but allows mending and line control and a ‘handle’ for you to pinch when you’re swinging your fly. We’ve written quite a bit about running lines here on the Deneki blog….
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