You could fish it here!

If you’re a spey geek who reads our blog regularly, you’ve heard a bit about the Airflo Skagit Switch head.  We told you about it way back in 2010, and last year we wrote our review of it.

Our summary on this head is basically that…

• It’s a modern Skagit head by Airflo designed for shorter spey rods and switch rods.
• It actually works on rods in the 13 foot range too.
• It turns over big tips and flies really well.
• If you’re casting in tight quarters, there’s nothing like it.

Tom Larimer is our buddy and also one of the masterminds behind this head.  We’ve got a quick video clip today of Tom talking a bit about the basics around the Airflo Skagit Switch.  Click the video below to animate Tom.

NOTE: If you’re viewing this in a newsletter or a reader, click here to see Tom talk about the Skagit Switch on our web site.

More on Spey Gear

• Our Main Page on All Things Spey
• Sage TCX Switch Rods
• Scott Fiberhammer

Sea lice removal rig.

Jeff Hickman is back again.  You know him as a go-to steelhead guide in Oregon. He is also part of the Ross and SA Professional Advisory teams, Guideline Eyegear pro staff and a Signature tier for Idylwilde.

Jeff will be returning to host a group at BC West this summer and he is already counting down the days.

Here’s the setup that Jeff prefers for removing sea lice from chrome steelhead on the Dean.

The Summary

• Ross Reach 7130-4
• Ross F1 size 5
• Scientific Anglers Skagit Extreme, 520 grains

The Detail

• 275 yards of 30lb Dacron backing, attached to the spool with an arbor knot
• Scientific Anglers Floating Monocore Shooting Line 25lb, .030″ ”I loop both ends of the running line. This is best done by doubling the end over itself and securing a 10″ loop with two nail knots of 16lb Scientific Anglers Freshwater Tippet. I loop one end to a non-slip loop knot in the backing.”
• Skagit Extreme Head, looped to the other loop in the front end of the running line
• Scientific Anglers T-12 tip, cut to 8 – 14 foot lengths, attached to the Skagit head using the factory loops
• 4″ Butt section of 25lb Scientific Anglers Freshwater Tippet attached to the leader end of the tip using an Albright knot
• 2 to 3 feet of 16lb Scientific Anglers Fluorocarbon Tippet, looped to the butt section with a non-slip mono loop
• Pink/Purple Hickman’s Sid Fishes tied on using non-slip loop knot

The Commentary

“In mid July on the Dean, having higher water conditions with a fair amount of color is common. This means that the steelhead are more comfortable and will typically travel and hold closer to the edges in fairly shallow water. It’s often not necessary to wade deep, cast far or try to dredge the bottom. The lighter setup with the 13’ 7″ weight rod is plenty to put 15+ pound steelhead on the beach, and it’s much more enjoyable to cast and fish all day than a heavier, longer rod. What is important is that you have a reel with a reliable drag system and one that can hold a lot of backing! I have been spooled on the Dean – it happens regularly. The new Ross F1 size 5 reel can hold a ton of backing and the sound it makes when it’s spinning at warp speed is one of my favorites!”

More Steelhead Rigs

• Scott Baker-McGarva
• Dana Sturn
• Ken Morrish

Obligatory spinning reel shot. Photo: Louis Cahill

A recent conversation with a fellow ‘angling professional’ brought to light the fact that there are lots of different opinions out there when it comes to backing and flats fishing.

Some overriding backing philosophies that come to mind are

• Use whatever you can fit more of on the reel
• Use whatever is simplest
• Use whatever is strongest
• Use a combination of materials, for various and sundry reasons.

What Kind of Backing Do You Use for Bonefish?  Why?

We’re curious as to how you rig your bonefishing reels with backing, and we want you to leave us a comment and let the world know.

We’ll start.  Your humble editor prefers plain old boring 30# dacron backing, preferably in a hi-vis color like yellow.  It’s plenty strong, and its simplicity gives some peace of mind.  It’s nice to be able to see the backing easily if the light is funky.

OK, now it’s your turn.  Leave us a comment and let us know what kind (or kinds) of backing you use when you’re bonefishing and why!  NOTE: If you’ve viewing this in a newsletter or a reader, click here to leave a comment on our web site.

More Reader Input

• Favorite Bonefish Rods
• Favorite Trailer Hooks
• Photo Haiku Contest

When he says small water, he means it.

And once again you get to learn about how the experts rig themselves to fish for trout in Alaska!

Today’s rig is a little different from your more common “target and land giant rainbows in big water” setup, and it comes courtesy of Kevin Price.  Kevin is one of the finer guides in Northern California, and he’s on the Scott, Idylwilde and Scientific Anglers pro staffs.  Oh yeah – he’s also put in some time at a lodge up North called Alaska West.

Kevin likes fishing really small water for trout in Alaska, and it shows in his rig.  Have a look for a different take on Alaskan trout fishing!

The Summary

• Scott S4 804/4 – an 8 foot 4 weight [A 4 weight for Alaska? Yep, read on.]
• Ross Evolution LT #2
• Scientific Anglers Sharkskin Ultimate Trout Double Taper #4  [A double taper for Alaska?  Yep, read on.]

The Detail

• 30 pound Dacron backing attached to the spool with an arbor knot.  ”I use 30 just so I’m not worried if I happen to switch this reel over to a heavier rig.”
• Albright knot from the backing to the back of the fly line.
• Scientific Anglers 7.5′ 2x Trout leader attached to the front of the fly line with the factory loops and a loop to loop connection.
• Tippet of Scientific Anglers Fluorocarbon II 1x attached to the leader with a blood knot.
• Idylwilde Garrett’s Belly Dancer Bullhead #10 in Olive, tied on with a non-slip mono loop.  ”I like it because it’s got a good amount of weight, but because it rides hook up it doesn’t snag up much.”

The Commentary

“I tend to fish more of the braids on the Kanektok and the Arolik, and more of the smaller water, so I use a little smaller rods and smaller reels.  The small water is a little more intimate. 95% of it is sight fishing – you’re seeing the specific fish that you want to catch, and I really like that.”

“I like the double taper line because it roll casts easier, and it presents the fly a lot softer than a weight forward line.”

“Shorter rods are easier in those little channels with lots of brush and cover.  A rod that’s a foot smaller and a little softer helps a lot with roll casting. That rod plus the double taper also makes it easier to load the rod at short distance.”

“A rod like that S4 4 weight will turn over a fairly decent sized fly. I’ve seen some pretty good sized fish landed on these types of rods even though they’re smaller than typical for Western Alaska.  The water is I like to fish is totally gin clear and really shallow – so the lighter line matters.”

More Trout Rigs

• Rick Sisler
• J.E.B. Hall
• Jeff Hickman

Breaking News: Deneki Recommends Inexpensive Gear

There are some really cool purpose-built fly boxes out there.  Threader boxes, streamer boxes, tube fly boxes, slit foam, solid foam, no foam…you name it, there’s a fly box for it.  We totally get specialization – just ask your editor’s wife about the ‘selection’ of fly rods in the basement.

That being said, we spend time on the water with a lot of folks who fish an awful lot, and the ‘fly’ boxes that we see in use the most are made by Plano.

Plano 3600

The model 3600 that you see in the picture above is a particularly popular choice.  It’s big but not huge and is customize-able with its movable dividers.  A couple of them fit great in a medium or large boat bag.  They’re durable and light and you can see through them so you know what’s inside.

Picking one up on Amazon will set you back $4.97.  That’s right – 3 cents less than 5 dollars.

Fly Mothership

You’re not going to put these babies in your pocket or in a hip pack.  They’re typically used as a ‘mothership’ – the home base for a wide selection of flies.  When you’re starting your day fishing, you can grab a handful of flies and stick them in a smaller box (or a ziplock).  After your fishing day or maybe your fishing trip, the remaining flies get put back in the big box.  Over time this keeps things much more organized than in your typical “5 or 10 medium sized boxes all crammed with flies that may or may not be a good combination” scenario.

If you’re still trying to come up with a New Year’s Resolution, how about “I’ll keep my flies much more organized this year?”  For once we’re recommending the least expensive option – why not pick up a couple and give it a try?

More Good Gear

• Mega-List of Gear Posts
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Man and trout. Photo: Dusan Smetana

Jeff Hickman, as you probably know by now, is a long-time veteran of fishing in the Northwest.  He’s spent a whole bunch of years guiding at Alaska West, and he knows his way around Oregon pretty good too.  Oh yeah, the Ross and Idylwilde Pro Staffs somehow let him in the door.

Want to know how Jeff rigs himself up to chase the incredible rainbow trout of Western Alaska?  Read on.

If you’re interested in a whole bunch more information about Alaskan rainbow trout – including tips, gear reviews, expert rigs and more – you should check out our All About Rainbow Trout page.

The Summary

• Ross 9′ 7 weight RX Rod
• Ross F1 Size 4 Reel
• Scientific Anglers Mastery Textured Magnum Taper WF7F

The Detail

• 30 pound Dacron backing attached to the spool with an arbor knot.
• Fly line attached to the backing with an Albright knot.
• Scientific Anglers Atlantic Salmon/Steelhead 6ft 16 pound tapered leader attached to the front of the fly line using the factory loops and a loop to loop connection.
• Non-slip mono loop to either a Mr Hankey or Egg Sucking Super Sculpin. “With these guys, the bigger the fly the bigger the fish.  These are two must-have flies for Alaska.”

The Commentary

I like to use a 7 weight because it will throw the bigger sized flies with better accuracy and land the big boys.  Also, hooking salmon on these rivers on trout flies is not uncommon.

I think the SA Magnum is the best taper for throwing big bugs, and the mist color won’t spook fish in low, clear water

My preferred method for rainbow fishing at Alaska West is pounding the bank both on foot in side channels or out of the boat while rowing downriver. This is best done with repetitive accurate casts as close to the bank as possible, keeping a tight line swinging and stripping with a mouse pattern or streamer.

Rainbow trout in the Kanektok and Arolik Rivers are one of my favorite species to pursue. To me the trout in those rivers are a lot like summer steelhead. They can be the same size, they eat swung flies both top water or subsurface and they fight hard with jumps and long runs when hooked. The biggest differences between the two is the rainbows are mostly non migratory, they are speckled with a lot more spots and they are really hungry…no fly is too big for them!

To deliver these big flies with accurate casts tight to the bank you need the right setup – a fast action rod with the accuracy to put the fly where it needs to be, but also the backbone and sensitivity to land the fish after its hooked, an aggressively weight forward tapered line to throw a giant fly and a reel with a strong, reliable drag to keep them out of the root balls!

More Gear for Alaskan Trout

• Rick Sisler’s Rainbow Rig
• JEB Hall’s Rodent Rig
• 5 Favorite Flies for Trout in Alaska

Loop colour indicates weight.

Our buddy Tom Larimer is back today to tell us a little bit about the Airflo sinktip system and its color-coded loops.

Tom’s day job is guiding anglers for steelhead in Oregon.  He’s learned a thing or two in his day, though, so he also works as a line designer for Airflo.

Airflo has a new system of color-coded loops on their sinktips, and Tom talks about it in the video segment that follows.

We don’t want to steal Tom’s thunder…but here’s a summary of how the system works.  Simple is good!

Airflo’s Color-Coded Sinktip System

• All of the sinktips have a color-coded loop.
• Lighter colors mean lighter tips.
• Darker colors mean heavier tips.

Here’s how Tom explains it.

NOTE: If you’re viewing this in a newsletter or a reader, click here to learn about Airflo’s sinktips on our web site.

More on Spey Gear

• Tom’s King Rig
• The Death Star
• Scott Fiberhammer

Which do you like? Why?

Look, we know you steelhead and salmon types are a bunch of opinionated…well, we know you’re opinionated.  That’s OK – we are too.

We want to hear your opinions on a topic that’s near and dear to the hearts of those of us who swing articulated and/or tube flies – what’s your favorite trailer hook?

What’s a Trailer Hook?

Lots of bigger flies tied these days for steelhead and salmon are either tube flies – flies tied on tubes that that don’t have a hook at all – or articulated flies tied with a loop that you attach your own hook to.  Some folks call them stinger hooks.

Since these flies allow you to choose your own hooks…you have to choose your own hooks!  Earlier this month we heard from Will Novy-Hildesley, a regular reader of our blog.  He suggested that it would be really interesting to hear which trailer hooks people use, and why.  We couldn’t agree more.

What’s Your Favorite Trailer Hook?

So, if you fish for steelhead or salmon and use flies that require trailer hooks, we want you to leave us a comment right now and tell us which trailer hooks you fish, and why.  Here’s the deal, though – for this to be helpful, we want the details!

We want manufacturers, model numbers and sizes.  We also want to hear why you like the hooks you like.  Do you think they’re ‘sticky’?  Do you think they’re strong?  Do you like that they’re offset, or not offset?  Do you like the chemical sharpening process?  The fact that you can get them in red?  That they’re made with fine wire?  That they’re made with thick wire?

OK, you get the idea.  Chime in with a comment and let us know which trailer hooks you fish and why.  We appreciate you sharing  your thoughts, and our other readers do too.

Thanks so much to Will for suggesting the topic.  We love hearing from you folks about what you’d like to see on our blog – if you’ve got ideas on what you’d like to see from us, please drop us a  line.

More Reader Input

• What’s Your Favorite Bonefish Fly?
• Share Your Favorite Fishing Tip
• 10 Ways to Have a Better Fishing Day

Everybody loves beads. Photo: JEB Hall

In the past couple of weeks we’ve learned from J.E.B. Hall about how he rigs up and chases rainbow trout in Alaska with mouse patterns and sculpin patterns.  Today we wrap up our mini-series on JEB’s trout rigs as he tells us about how he uses beads to imitate salmon eggs.

Once again, it’s built around a 6 weight Sage One, and all the stuff you want to read is down in The Commentary.

JEB, thanks for the master class in Alaska trout rigging and fishing!

The Summary

• Sage 690-4 One
• Sage 4250 Reel
• Scientific Anglers Textured GPX WF6F

The Detail

• 150 yards of 20 pound Dacron attached to the spool with an arbor knot.
• Fly line tied to backing with two 7 turn nail knots coated in Aqua-seal.
• Leader is 8.5-9.5 ft. in length, with a 30lb Maxima Chameleon butt section built out to your choice of 3x-0x Rio Fluroflex Plus (based on water clarity).
• “Flies of choice” are 6mm-8mm plastic beads painted with a variety of top secret fingernail lacquers. Beads are rigged free sliding on the tippet with a “stopper” 5 turn nail knot of 20lb Maxima Clear placed 2″ above a size 6 Gamakatsu Drop Shot Hook or a size 8 Owner Mosquito Hook. Split shot are dropped off a long tag end from a blood knot tied in-line about 24″ above the hook.
• Indicator is a ¾” Idylwilde Sindicator.

The Commentary

Rainbows love salmon eggs like fishing guides love beer. If there are eggs in the water, then there are sure to be trout somewhere nearby. A prime example of how powerful a hold the egg spell has over trout can be observed early in the spawn before the river bottom is filled with redds. A single pair of spawning chums that has begun to drop eggs can attract a dozen or more rainbows in the 20 yard stretch below their nest.

The best imitation of a salmon egg is a plastic bead painted with nail lacquer. Notice I use the words nail lacquer and not nail polish. Polish or “nail enamel” chips easily and wears off after a few drifts. Nail lacquer, on the other hand, has staying power when applied in multiple coats and can make for a durable bead that can be fished over and over.

When rigging beads remember to keep them looking as natural as possible. Salmon eggs don’t have sticks inside of them, so using toothpicks to peg beads seems a bit silly if you are trying to be as effective as possible. Bead knots work okay, but damage the line and still don’t allow for a round appearance. A stopper knot placed above the hook will allow the bead to free float and give it a natural appearance. This knot also allows for some adjustability if the hook is lost or damaged and needs to be replaced.

Salmon eggs do not swing or swim. They do not try to evade their predators.

They tumble and bounce with the current. They dead drift. When fishing beads to rainbows you need to have a dead drift and the best way to achieve a dead drift is by fishing with a strike indicator. In this situation the indicator is used more for guaranteeing a good drift than it is for showing the take. The take is often visual and the bead has long been spit when the indicator moves.

For those who have some sort of predisposition concerning the piety of indicator fishing this advice may be hard to swallow. Anglers who enjoy catching fish drift after drift typically have no prejudice toward this effective technique.

Tips

• Paint your beads and carry a wide variety of colors and sizes. Shopping for nail lacquer is a great way to meet some ladies at cosmetic counters and in the pharmacy. Be sure to mention Alaska and something about salmon. Next thing you know you’re making them dinner. Please use some discretion. This advice is void for married folks.
• Change colors often when the fishing is tough. Sometimes a variation of color or size is all it takes.
• Don’t be scared to go weightless in slow moving side channels.
• Ram’s wool and poly yarn make great indicators for skinny water and spooky fish.
• Rainbows may not be located directly behind spawning salmon, but can be found hiding just downstream in structure such as snags or below drop offs.
• Blind fishing beads in deeper river structure can be effective for finding bigger fish.

More Alaska Trout Fishing Knowledge

• Bead Fishing for Rainbow Trout
• Spey Fishing for Trout: Tactics
• Cotton Candy – The Old Standby

Tom lets his Rage fly.

Many of us who learned to spey cast using Skagit-style systems have never felt that comfortable casting floating lines.  There, I said it!  Your fearless editor was raised on T-14; I’m really bad at casting even Scandi heads.

These days in the Pacific Northwest, lots of us fish Skagit heads and sinktips most of the time.  But on certain rivers at certain times of the year, dry lines work great!  The problem is, even if you’re a more versatile caster than yours truly, it can be hard to switch back and forth between Skagit/sinktip and the Scandi and longer-belly line systems that are more appropriate for fishing on or near the surface.

Enter the Rage

Airflo has just come out with a new head called the ‘Rage Compact‘.  It’s a floating head that’s designed to load your rod more like a Skagit head.  Simple as that!

We spent some time this fall fishing the Rage Compact, and we think that Airflo has hit the mark with this one.

• It feels much more like a Skagit head – we just made our normal, slow, “raised on T-14″ casting stroke and out she went.
• It punches through the wind just like a Skagit/sinktip sytem.
• You can fish tight spots with little to no back-cast room…just like with today’s shorter Skagit heads.

Our buddy Tom Larimer had a lot to do with the design of the Rage Compact.  He’s got a lot more detail in a post on his blog about the design of this head – you can check that out right here.

If you’re a Skagit kind of person who’s been looking for a floating line solution, it’s here – and it’s called the Rage Compact.

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