Musky on the fly

[stompinlines]

Takin the drift boat up to some streams in northern wisconsin for musky opener.
I've got my 8 and 9 wt and bucket of junk to throw at em.
Anyone chase these toothy critters with a fly rod?
Haven't really thought about leaders yet.

[thin cover]

I have fished for both musky and pike on the fly. Use wire leader for sure. I had a 30" pike cut right through 60lb test in 5 seconds of fighting. I use a 9 weight. I dont do it that much so never hooked into a trophy, but have a buddy that fishes for pike/musky 90% of the time and has landed plenty of 15lb fish on his 8 weight no problem.

Lets see some pics of those slobs when you are done

[2FUNKY]

I live in Pike and musky country and fish for them a bunch, both fly and gear. I personally hate steel leaders, don't like how they effect the action of lures and fly's. I throw a lot of suspending baits and steel makes them sink as well as making fly's sink to fast. I prefer 40lb flouro leaders. I have only lost one fish due to bite off, caught 4 fish before that one, I usually retie after 2-3 fish or at least inspect the leader, I must of had a big nick in my line. If you go steel get the Berkley super fine wire leaders.

Your rods are fine weight wise. I have yet to get a Musky on the fly but have caught a few on gear. Be ready to throw 8-10+" fly's. Your wrist and arm will hate you by the end of the day.

Post some pics, river Musky sounds fun.

[schwerty]

I've been fishing for pike and musky with a fly stick most of my life. Steel leaders may put a little funk on the action of the fly but that doesn't matter all that much with those beasts. They are usually hitting your fly out of aggression. They are angry sob's and while it is difficult to find them, (musky...not pike), when you do they are not as finicky as other species when taking streamers. Shit, they routinely follow flies to the boat. In my experience, warm water toothy fishing is not about perfection, even in rivers. A steel leader still provides good action and saves bite offs. The speed of your retrieves can make the difference, IMO.

Have fun up der in the nort woods.

[snapt]

The RIO Pike/Musky and Toothy Critter leaders work well. Learn the figure 8 with a fly rod, its a PITA but it does work quite often when they follow and don't commit.

[NMmatt]

Wire leaders / Toothy Critter is the way to go for big pike, but big musky can be caught just fine with 40 lb leader. We have 2 lakes with trophy-sized musky, but I'm sure they are more pressured and wary than what you may be targeting. All the muskyheads out here use flouro for the reasons funky mentioned.

[stompinlines]

Well Im hooked. Im not sure why its taken me so long to chase these toothy critters with a fly. All three of us broke our musky fly cherries. Used 10 WT rods with sharkskin line and 50# flouro leaders. That line shoots like a motherfucker. Which is good because after a full day of double hauling big meat, I needed the help. Boated 5 musky all in the 28-32" range. Nothing big. Had two mid 40's flash at the boat and scare the shit out of us. Also got into a handful of 18" smb. As aggressive as the musky chew was, we learned that the pikes teeth are closer together and inflict more damage on the leader and fly. Headed back next weekend for another two days. Time to start tying.

Edit: The figure 8 was a royal pain. I switched over to the stirring the soup method, much easier with that much stick in the water. And yes, the guy finger banging the gills was a rookie and was yelled at both times.

[2FUNKY]

Fucking bad ass man! First time out and multiple musky on the fly, good job, even though they are dinks.

[schwerty]

Good work! Those things are super addictive.

[stompinlines]

Yeah it is addictive. Fishing water you know 50"+ musky lurk will keep my attention. Shwerty you ever try two hand overheads for musky? Saw a guy doing it from the back seat. The guy was dead nuts on the bank with a 10-12" fly.

[schwerty]

Nope. But, I know of a couple guys back there that do. I'll be back in a couple weeks and rattle their brains about it. Definitely a good way to cover some ground! I'll be back there in a couple wks and prolly be on musky water for a day and possibly a day in Sturgeon Bay for smallies, if they are still in the shallows. Might try to borrow a two hander for musky and give it a whirl.

[stompinlines]

Nice. Im chasing smallies in sturgeon bay over 4th of july near dale stroscheins resort. Got a salmon charter on the books too.
You ever fish with Paul Hansen or Larry and Wendy in Hayward? Trying to get my hands on a second drift boat this weekend. Nobody rents them and I dont feel like coughing up 500 for a day.

[Millsie]

You'll have a great time in Sturgeon Bay. If you have yourown boat, you might wnt to check out some of the bays farther north. Not as much pressure and the water is uysually cooler. Muskies in the area, too. I used to flyfish muskies on the small lakes near Eagle River. Have a cabin up that way. Love to hook up sometime.

[schwerty]

Nice. Im chasing smallies in sturgeon bay over 4th of july near dale stroscheins resort. Got a salmon charter on the books too.
You ever fish with Paul Hansen or Larry and Wendy in Hayward? Trying to get my hands on a second drift boat this weekend. Nobody rents them and I dont feel like coughing up 500 for a day.

Never fished with a guide up there. Unfortunately, I don't know anybody with a drift boat around there.

Looks like ill be up in DC chasing smallies a little earlier than you are. I will save a few for ya!

[schwerty]

Hey SL - if you are in Mke, I'll be downtown 7/1-7/7. Mostly workin and fam stuff but I might be able to work in a few surf casts or breakwater casts.

[stompinlines]

Didnt see your post until today shwert.
How was the smb bite in DC?
Was up there thur thru today. Conditions were great.
Trolled the reef on friday for kings. Went 14 for 20.
5 were over 27lbs. Biggest was 40" 30lbs. The average weight this weekend was stupid. There will be some big boys harvested come this fall. Got into a few smb but ended up dropshotting perch for a fry.

[schwerty]

DC was good. Fish were moving deeper but still accessible with a fly line. Nothing huge, (for those standards), but caught a bunch and had a blast. I was mostly out at Big Cedar Lake durning my Milwaukee time. I musta picked on 100+ bluegills and about half that in smallies on a 2wt over the course of 5 days. Mostly sporadic casting from the pier. Very amuising! Didn't have the chance to fish the Big Lake. I opted for a booze cruise/bar hop on the lake and river instead.

Looks like the king bite was good up there!

[stompinlines]

Made it back to the north woods. Found a gem of a stretch. Two days. Twelve miles with a nice fire pit in between to char meat and over serve ourselves on brown liquid and lay on the ground. Threw the box at em. Poppers drew up some bulldog smallies. Pulled out the clown box for the toothy fucks. Had a few sniffers and two takes. One big gal spit at the boat, the other didn't.

[skiJ]

( Please ) name that river ...

[schwerty]

Nice work!

[east or bust]

Sweet thread, theres a man made res. about an hour from my house where they stocked some musky 20 years ago to control the other species. Long story short the population took off. It receives a decent amount of pressure, haven't gotten one on the fly yet.

A couple of my buds who go with gear:

[Pow4Brains]

Ballz that is a nice fish SL. Strong work!


Sent from my SCH-I535 using TGR Forums

[thin cover]

Nice fish SL!

These guys(VT Fly Guys) slay pike and musky on the fly and primarily tie pike and musky junk to throw at them. The quality of their flies is unreal, shoot them a message if your are looking for great toothy stuff to throw.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vermo...84320178321765






and some VT Bonefish

[teleee]

Nice work! I need to try this.

[DeathVan]

A buddy of mine is a fiend for those beasts
I love those massive "flies"



Cool thread!