What to tie for every season and species in Alaska

It's always fun to tie your own flies for special fishing trips and Alaska is a fly tying enthusiast's dream! Each species can be caught on a variety of flies throughout the season. Here is a short run-down of the seasons, species and some ideas for effective fly tying.

SUMMER (JUNE 1ST - AUGUST 15TH)

By far the most popular time to be in Alaska. The weather is generally cooperative and the rivers are alive with activity. The first salmon arrive in late May and early June and the trout are starting to get more and more active after their spawn in the spring time.

KING FLIES: Large Intruders, Spey Flies, String Leeches and Jumbo Critters - Personally I like Chartreuse and Black or Purple and Black color combinations.

RAINBOW TROUT AND DOLLY VARDEN FLIES: Stimulator Dry Fly, Hares Ear Nymph, Flesh Fly, Wooly Bugger, Mouse Fly and Plastic Bead.

The trout can be picky this time of year, but the tactics to catch them are as varied as all the fly fishing techniques out there: swinging soft hackles, dry flies, Czech nymphing, skating mice and dead drifting flesh and bead patterns.

FALL AUGUST 15TH - OCTOBER 31ST

Starting around August 15th, Silver Salmon (Coho Salmon) become more and more plentiful and are a blast on flies! For Rainbow Trout and Dolly Varden, the only fly you'll need is a plastic bead in either 6 mil or 8 mil sizes. The fall season around August 15th - September 15th is known as the bead bite and can produce epic results with upwards of 50+ trout/Dolly Varden landed a day per angler!

Sockeye Salmon, King Salmon and Pink Salmon will be spawning during this period and hungry trout will wait behind them to steal any loose eggs that miss salmon beds. Some of the biggest trout can be caught this time of year on beads.

Coho (Silver) Salmon are very aggressive and are willing to take a fly with a wide variety of presentations. My favorite thing to do is swing flies with a spey rod, but they can also be caught in large backwater sloughs and slow water by casting big leeches, zuddler minnows and flash flies and retrieving them. You can often sight fish for Cohos and to watch one chase down a fly and smash it is something to behold!

It is possible to catch trout on other flies than plastic beads during the bead bite, but they are so egg-oriented, that it would be nearly insane to fish with anything else but a bead. I have, however, skated a mouse during the bead bite on a small stream and caught one of the biggest fish of my life. It was about a 10-1 ratio from bead to mouse though ;)

Trout

After the Bead Bite
Sept 15th - Oct. 31st

This giant 32" rainbow trout fell for a string leech slowly swung through a likely holding area. The trout of the fall are usually at their peak of fitness. They have just gorged themselves on salmon eggs and they are the biggest they'll be all year.

As the salmon spawn starts to wind down, trout fall back into more traditional "trout" water and can be taken by a variety of methods: swinging streamers and dead drifting flesh flies and egg patterns.

This time of year is most trout angler's favorite time to chase fish in Alaska. The tug on a tight line from a 25"+ trout is enough to send shock waves through your entire body! This time of year, you never what size fish you'll get on the other end of your line. You could honestly catch a fish of a lifetime on any given cast!