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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swinging flies
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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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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Swinging Flies: How to Set the Hook – OPST Video
When swinging flies for king salmon and steelhead, we’d argue that more fish are lost due to a poor hook-set than at any other point during the fight. Unlike techniques associated with traditional upstream dry fly, nymphing, or even streamer fishing, swinging flies requires a different technique to effectively drive the hook home. How so…
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Spey Fishing: How Many Steps to Take Between Casts (Video)
When swinging flies for salmon and/or steelhead, a common conundrum is how many steps should be taken in between casts. In other words, how much water should you cover with each cast? It’s a question we get asked a lot from our anglers, which is why today we share with you a great video from…
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Swinging for Kings – What’s the Big Deal?
If you follow our blog, you’ve surely noticed we talk a lot about fishing for king salmon using one of our favorite methods – swinging flies with spey rods. Some of you out there may have never used a spey rod. Others may have only swung flies for popular species like steelhead and/or Atlantic salmon…
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Skagit: It’s ‘Ska-jit’ not ‘Ska-get’
We talk a lot about spey fishing here on our blog. That’s because it’s one of our favorite ways to fish moving water for species like salmon, steelhead, or even trout. When we refer to ‘spey fishing,’ the vast majority of the time we’re referring to skagit-style spey casting. That’s the preferred method for most…
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