North 40 Fly Shop

How to Tie Trevor Covich’s Guide Fly for Steelhead – Video

March 28, 2018 2 Comments

guide fly /ɡīd – flī/ noun. An artificial imitation designed to catch maximum numbers of fish with minimum effort or production time. Typically comprised of inexpensive, durable, and/or readily available materials.

Guide flies are a crucial part of a fishing guide’s arsenal. The ability to turn out a day’s worth of flies in an evening allows guides to consistently put anglers on fish as conditions change, while also leaving enough money/time at the end of the day for important things like beer, fishing gear, and sleep. That’s difficult to do with rhea intruders that can take upwards of 45 minutes or longer to tie.

But guide flies aren’t only valuable to fishing guides. After all, who wouldn’t like to spend less time at the vise and more time on the water actually catching fish?

Our good friends from North 40 Fly Shop teemed up with steelhead guru and Deneki alum, Trevor Covich, to produce a great video on how to tie one of Trevor’s go-to patterns when guiding for steelhead. Trevor’s been putting anglers on andramous fish for a long time, he knows a thing or two about effective steelhead flies, which is why we strongly suggest giving the video a watch below.

Enjoy!

Note: If you’re viewing this in a newsletter or a reader, click here to see the video on our website.

Fred Telleen’s ‘Twisted Sculpin’

January 6, 2018 1 Comment

Our pal and legendary Alaskan fishing guide, Fred Telleen, just put together a great video for North 40 Fly Shop on how to tie his ‘Twisted Sculpin,’ a deadly pattern originally developed for big Alaska rainbows.

It’s no secret we love tossing sculpins for our resident rainbow trout, and you can be sure we’ll have a few Twisted Sculpins in our box this summer. Check out how to tie it below!

Note: If you’re viewing this in a newsletter or a reader, click here to see the video on YouTube.

Fred himself will also be joining us for a week of king fishing at Alaska West this summer. We have a feeling he might chuck a few Twisted Sculpins to our leopard rainbows as well. If interested in joining him, check out the details right here.

A Better Look at Fish-Friendly Photography

December 6, 2017 Leave a Comment

Kyle shea and Dan V. with rainbow trout at Alaska West — *One, two, three.. Lift. Photo: Pat Virnich*.

‘Catch and release’ has become a cornerstone of the fly fishing culture. Not only has it helped conserve fisheries all around the world, the very notion of ‘catch and release’ has inspired a desire in multiple generations of anglers to preserve their own fisheries – which is a really good thing.

That said, despite our best intentions, the truth remains that without responsible release practices, catch and release can still result in fish mortality.

Like it or not, photography has also become a big part of the fly fishing culture. The rise of social networks have created a higher demand for ‘grip and grins’ than ever before, which means there’s a good chance more fish are being handled for photos than ever before. That’s not necessarily a bad thing in our opinion, just so long as they’re handled responsibly.

Its from this very idea that several great organizations such as Keepemwet or Fish Need Water have advocated handling techniques to keep fish destined to be released in the water while being photographed. It’s a great movement and we encourage every angler to keep fish in the water as much as possible when snapping photos (heck, it just makes for a better photo in our opinion).

However, while we’d love for every fish in the world to remain submerged when handled, we also understand that some fish, especially special fish, are bound to be hoisted for a photo from time to time. Therefore, we think its important to highlight the most responsible way to do so.

Our friends over at North 40 Fly Shop recently put together a fantastic article on the best guide and angler practices for releasing rainbow trout which we strongly suggest reading. The article combines scientific data to support the best methods of handling fish with tried and true techniques for handling fish safely for better photos as well. It also outlines our favorite method (the one, two, three.. lift) for hoisting fish for photos as safely as possible as well.

Get on over there and give it a read today. It won’t disappoint.