We love swinging flies for anadramous fish, and we do a lot of it at our lodges in Alaska and British Columbia. However, swinging flies effectively often takes more than simply casting across the river and letting your line swing on through.. After all, it’s how your fly swims, not your line, that matters most. With…
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Stuart Foxall
How to Repair Split Jungle Cock Nails
When it comes to fly tying materials, particularly in the world of salmon and steelhead flies, its safe to say there’s no feather more prized than jungle cock. Due to their stunning contrast of color and natural durable enamel-like coating, jungle cock eyes (or ‘nails’) have been sought after by fly tyers for over a hundred…
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The Morrish Mouse 2.0 – Tying Instructions
Ken Morrish’s ‘Morrish Mouse’ is arguably one of the most well known (and effective) mouse patterns ever created. In fact, it’s one of our favorite flies at Rapids Camp Lodge. However, originally tied on a traditional down-riding hook, some believe the original Morrish Mouse has a tendency for shorter strikes and potentially a higher rate…
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Stacking Tubes
A while back, fly tying great, Stuart Foxall, shared a great step by step with us on one of our all-time favorite patterns for salmon and steelhead, the Hoh Bo Spey. He didn’t stop there however, he also gave us a great post on how to tie the Hoh Bo Spey on a tube as…
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The Undertaker – Tying Instructions
Yesterday marked the first official day of winter, and for many that means it’s officially fly tying season. To celebrate, today we present you with a great step by step by legendary fly tyer, Stuart Foxall, on how to tie a classic salmon/steelhead pattern, the Undertaker. Not only is the Undertaker an effective fly for…
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Tying Different Color Heads
Last week we shared some fly tying tips from Stuart Foxall on how to finish your flies with tidier looking heads. Today, Stu’s back with a quick tip on how to class up those same heads with some color. Tying Different Color Heads So now we know how to tie neater, cleaner looking heads. But…
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Tying Neater Heads
Nicely finished heads are the mark of a great fly tyer, and today professional fly designer, Stuart Foxall, is here with some step by step tips on finishing your flies with cleaner looking heads. Enjoy! Stuart Foxall on Tying Neater Heads A consistent problem I see from most inexperienced fly tiers are beautifully tied flies…
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Reeling Right or Wrong?
Over the course of the year, we’re lucky to share the water with a lot of super great, super fishy, people from countries all over the world. That lends itself to some healthy angler debate at times, allowing us to keep up to date on the latest tips and techniques in the fly fishing world….
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‘Ed Ward Style’ Intruders with Stuart Foxall
We’re in the heat of our king salmon season at Alaska West, which means we’re tying on a lot of intruder-style flies these days. Why? Because by its very nature, the intruder was designed to incorporate minimal materials (for ease of casting) while still presenting a large profile in the water (something that tends to…
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The Bunny Snaelda – Tying Instructions
Last year our pal and long time Deneki guest, Nic Jepson, shared with us a great step by step on how to tie the Franc N Snaelda – a killer European fly pattern originally designed for Atlantic Salmon that we’ve witnessed work extremely well on our king salmon at Alaska West. Today, professional fly designer,…
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