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 flies
Deneki Chronicles: 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 the desired profile, and it is this idea that has stemmed many modern steelhead and salmon patterns….
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Which Color Should I Pick?
The following are Stuart Foxall’s weapons for the Kanektok River this week. Stuart is a good friend of Deneki and a veteran on the Kanektok. He never wonders to himself, “which color will work today?” He already has his confidence patterns ready to go! And when fishing for an anadromous fish that is appropriately refereed…
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Timeless Tips // Let them Eat It!
We see this all the time at our lodges while fishing two of our favorite methods, swinging flies and mousing, guests can get a little too eager or trigger happy out there. When swinging flies, often times you will feel a few taps followed by a deep pull. Don’t go ripping the fly out of…
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George Cook on the Importance of ‘Engagement Range’ When Swinging Flies
Our good friend and legendary sales rep for some of the most respected brands in the biz, George Cook, has been at the forefront of modern spey fishing since the beginning. Simply put, he’s been swinging flies for steelhead, sea-run browns, resident trout, and everything in-between long before it was cool. So, when he’s willing…
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G. Loomis IMX-PRO Short Spey 71111-4 Review
Over the past six months, we’ve been fortunate to swing flies for everything from dime bright king salmon, to feisty wild steelhead, to some of the largest native resident rainbow trout in the world. That’s allowed us to put some of the latest and greatest spey gear to the test, in full hopes that we…
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Timeless Tips: Swinging Flies – Don’t Block Your Hookset
In any avenue of fly fishing, one thing that separates successful anglers from not-so-successful anglers is complete, undivided, fully engaged, focus whenever your fly is in the water. Many fish are lost (or perhaps never hooked at all) from anglers who’s minds were wandering or whom were not expecting a fish to eat the fly in…
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Swinging Flies – 3 Random Tips
Its no secret that swinging flies on spey rods is one of our favorite ways to fish. We know that its many of yours too, which is largely why we’ve put together a whole bunch of tip articles on spey fishing on our blog, and today we thought we add a few more. Enjoy! Feel…
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How to Choose the Right Spey Rod for Trout – Video
Over the last ten years or so, the notion of ‘trout spey’ has become one of the fastest growing sectors of fly fishing. We love targeting trout on swung flies with small spey/switch rods and we do a decent amount of it at both of our lodges in Alaska. Nonetheless, with more trout-appropriate spey rods…
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Mend to Fix
Mend: /mend/ verb. To repair (something that is broken or damaged). Synonyms: repair, fix. When fishing moving water, whether swinging flies for steelhead and salmon or dead drifting nymphs and/or dries for trout, great mends catch more fish than great casts. After all, a proper mend can create a effective presentation, and effective presentations (not casts) are…
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