Rapids Camp Lodge head guide, Tom Provost, is no newbie to swinging flies for trout and today he fills us in on how he targets trout during the most neglected part of the swing, the hang down. Thanks Tom! Swinging for Trout – The Hang Down Drop-Back When swinging for trout or other aggressive species, the dirtiest…
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Trout
Get Your Swivel On
Today we’re coming at you with a great trout rigging tip courtesy of Alaska West guide, Larry McKurtis. If you’re planning on chucking big flies for big trout (especially in Alaska), you might want to read up on this one. Take it away Larry! Get Your Swivel On Here at Alaska West we’re always tinkering…
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Walter Sighting
Hog Johnson, Big Jerry, Jethro.. No matter what you call him, every river has that one fish that haunts all those who fish it. It’s the biggest, baddest fish in the river that many have encountered, but few have held. Here on the Kanektok, we call that fish Walter, and each season our guides and…
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Sculpin Helmets
Throughout our season, one of the most consistent ways to target our big Alaskan rainbow trout is with sculpin patterns. While tossing mice or drifting flesh and egg patterns certainly have their place during parts of our season, a good sclupin imitation is usually a safe bet no matter what time of year. Our trout love gorging…
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Stinger Mice
One of our favorite ways to fish for rainbow trout in our neck of the woods is with mouse patterns. What’s our favorite pattern? Basically anything with an up-riding stinger hook. Why? We’ll tell you. Many commercial mouse patterns available are tied on large, wide-gapped hooks designed for staying put in tough-mouthed critters like bass,…
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Stu’s Egg Intruder – Tying Instructions
Our buddy Stuart Foxall is back with another great step by step! Whether you’re fishing for steelhead, trout, dolly varden, or the like, this is one killer fly whenever spawning salmon are present. Stu’s Egg Intruder – Tying Instructions I came up with the idea of the egg intruder 5 or 6 years ago when swinging…
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Mr. Hankey – Tying Instructions
We have less than a month before we kick off our Alaska season and that means it won’t be long before we’ll be chucking big, gaudy, mouse patterns for our resident rainbow trout. Mousing is by far our favorite way to target trout in our neck of the woods and one of our go-to patterns…
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A Nice Surprise
Sometimes when fishing for salmon at Alaska West, our guests are pleasantly surprised to find that the ‘chum salmon’ they’re hooked up to is actually a trophy sized rainbow. Our early season trout aren’t overly picky, and in no way are we complaining about that. Thanks to Tosh Brown for the killer shot! More on Trout…
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Kyle Shea’s Trout Swinging Rig
Today we’re back with another edition of our ‘Expert Rig‘ series of posts, where we highlight all the details (right down to the knot) on how the experts rig up. As a guide at Alaska West, Kyle Shea gets to fish for big leopard rainbows during his down time. His method of choice? Swinging flies with…
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We’re Excited
Our season in Alaska is just around the corner, and we’re starting to get pretty excited. Why? Because soon we’ll be back to targeting trout like this with mouse patterns, and we’re pretty happy about that. Sound good to you? Drop us a line for more information. More on Trout Fishing Retrieving a Mouse Fly Secrets…
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