Muskie Love

[Txfly]

Very nice fish...fifty inches though?, maybe 40 unless he's 7 feet tall.

Here's a 44 1/2 being held by a guy that's about 6 feet tall.
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[Txfly]

shhh......It's muskie time again......

I have a trip planned two weeks from now.   

You gonna throw fly this time?

I've been raising fish all winter ,we raised four last Saturday, I'd guess I've brought 40-50 into the eight over the last few months.
I've hooked three more and my buddy got the one in the above post.

We will want to see pictures.

[flatlander]

Just unbelievable...I'm going to have to give this a try.  Beetle--when are we going?

What's the setup? A 10 with a 300-350 ST on it?  How much of it is blind vs sight casting? 

[Beetle]

That's a great pic Tx.  My biggest was 42" but that one looks a lot "healthier".

I am going to try it on fly this year.

Malcolm- in my limited experience, I would say you spend a lot of time "fish finding" and on occassion have the rare chance to cast at one.   Hard to say because they often follow it in.  Tx can answer this question with much more authority.   I fished for many years and never saw one.  Now it seems I see one (or more) everytime I go.

[flatlander]

I am going to try it on fly this year.

I will row and provide the 10 wts (if you get some counter weights for those oars...ugggghhh!)

[Txfly]

That's a great pic Tx.  My biggest was 42" but that one looks a lot "healthier".

I am going to try it on fly this year.

Malcolm- in my limited experience, I would say you spend a lot of time "fish finding" and on occassion have the rare chance to cast at one.   Hard to say because they often follow it in.  Tx can answer this question with much more authority.   I fished for many years and never saw one.  Now it seems I see one (or more) everytime I go.

I thought you did a 46 and 47 last year on the New?...Maybe my brain is just getting old.

[Txfly]

Just unbelievable...I'm going to have to give this a try.  Beetle--when are we going?

What's the setup? A 10 with a 300-350 ST on it?  How much of it is blind vs sight casting? 

It depends on where you're fishing....I have places that all we do is sight cast. Most all others you're fishing structure and slack water. You really, REALLY have to keep your eyes open, sometimes those fish will follow and be six feet under your fly, right under it. You HAVE to think that every cast will pull up a fish.
On the day we got the big fish above, we raised somewhere around 50-60 fish, all sight cast to. In all honesty it was probably 15-20 actual fish, but we had that many follows, most of them were that size or bigger and that was the only eat we got, my buddy put the fish into the figure eight, the fish turned away like every other one that day, but for some odd reason, she spun back around and ate.

I've been toying w/ a bunch of different lines. The 330 is where I am right now, I also use a 12wt ghost tip on a ten wt rod (in the tight river), I am throwing flies up to two feet long. I have fished up to a 450 gr, but it's too hard to manipulate the fly. The inter's. seem to cover all the bases the best, I have some flies that are very heavy, and some that are unweighted. It is work, and it's frustrating 99% of the time.

Three weeks ago, I went 2 landed for 5 follows, two weeks ago (the day before the snowstorm) I went 1 hooked (lost before boated) for 6 follows. Due to the cloud cover/ rain/ stained water, I was only casting to structure. I pulled a few fish off a feature-less bottom, I was fishing near a leaf/ debris line that in another spot a few weeks earlier had been holding fish. My theory to that is the leaves are decomposing and raising the water temp a few degrees as the NO2 is being released...but of course that could just be bullshit.
It's not for everyone for sure, but when you raise that first fish, it will be etched in your head forever.

[flatlander]

What presentation/retrieve gets the most follows?  Are you ripping it by them with a two-handed retrieve or teasing them with a slow retrieve?

[River Man]

If that fish was not 50", I apologize for my error.  I received the email showing one fish as 33" and the other 50" (it was in the caption).  I just received this one and it's labeled as 31".  Just passing these along.

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[Txfly]

None needed, Blake.
They are awesome fish regardless!
Did he get those around here, or out of state(s)?
I don't recognize the dead trees

[Txfly]

What presentation/retrieve gets the most follows?  Are you ripping it by them with a two-handed retrieve or teasing them with a slow retrieve?

No, not fast this time of year...it'll kill your arms to boot.
Get their attention first, then try different things, it changes, but you have to watch how they react.
Most of the time for me when I speed it up into the two hander, it turns them off. twitching and teasing seems to keep their interest, then go into the eight...then curse when they leave.
Rinse.
Repeat.

[River Man]

Hey Scott,

They all came from West Virginia.

[Woolly Bugger]

c r a z y big a s s toothy c r i t t e r s!

[flatlander]

I love it...fresh water cudas.  Thanks for the info TxFly 0--0

[Txfly]

I love it...fresh water cudas.  Thanks for the info TxFly 0--0

Not really...Cudas will eat anything that rips by them.
Skies are WAY harder to feed than a permit.
The apex of freshwater, for a reason.
I warn you, don't do it. You'll never want to trout fish again.