Anyone fly fish for Musky?
 

I've never fished for Muskies, one of the local lakes I fly fish (for
Bass) also has an exceptional Musky population and some consider it
the best Musky lake in our state. My brother "accidentally" caught
one big one while we were fishing for Crappie (he had an ultra-light
spinning outfit with 4-pound test and no leader). And now I'm
thinking of tying some King-Kong sized Musky flies and giving it a
go.

Is an 8-weight too small for Musky? My (maybe crazy) thinking is that
I might build an 8wt rod that I could use for Bass AND Musky on this
lake. What do you think?

Anyone fly fish for Musky?
 

"mdk77" wrote in message
ups.com...
I've never fished for Muskies, one of the local lakes I fly fish (for
Bass) also has an exceptional Musky population and some consider it
the best Musky lake in our state. My brother "accidentally" caught
one big one while we were fishing for Crappie (he had an ultra-light
spinning outfit with 4-pound test and no leader). And now I'm
thinking of tying some King-Kong sized Musky flies and giving it a
go.

Is an 8-weight too small for Musky? My (maybe crazy) thinking is that
I might build an 8wt rod that I could use for Bass AND Musky on this
lake. What do you think?

Your thinking is not bad. I've caught pike on my 8 wt. with no issues and it
should cross over as a nice bass rod for throwing the large bass flies.
Consider a decent reel with a disc drag and plenty of backing... I assume
Musky are like pike, when caught, they go ballistic. If I had to compare
pike to another species on a fly rod, I would compare them to Steelhead.

Fun stuff,
JT

Anyone fly fish for Musky?
 

mdk77 wrote:
I've never fished for Muskies, one of the local lakes I fly fish (for
Bass) also has an exceptional Musky population and some consider it
the best Musky lake in our state. My brother "accidentally" caught
one big one while we were fishing for Crappie (he had an ultra-light
spinning outfit with 4-pound test and no leader). And now I'm
thinking of tying some King-Kong sized Musky flies and giving it a
go.

Is an 8-weight too small for Musky? My (maybe crazy) thinking is that
I might build an 8wt rod that I could use for Bass AND Musky on this
lake. What do you think?

I'm gonna wait until I actually catch a muskie before I
confess to fishing for them. ;-) I came close this spring
but couldn't overcome muscle memory.

When you set the hook on a muskie you have to keep the rod
tip low and set the hook with a violent horizontal sweep of
the rod. If you raise the rod tip, like I've been doing for
40 years, you just slip the fly right out of its bony, toothy
mouth, which is of course exactly what I did.

The best muskie lake in Illinois is Lake Kinkaid. The water
is way too hot right now, muskie season down there is November
to early June.

An 8wt would work, a 9wt is better. You want something that
can chuck a quarter of a pound of wet rabbit leather so pick
a fast blank.

This guy is arguably *THE* muskie on a fly rod expert:

http://www.wetieit.com/

you can get an idea of the flies etc from his web page.

--
Ken Fortenberry

Anyone fly fish for Musky?
 

On Aug 17, 12:15 pm, Ken Fortenberry
wrote:
snip
This guy is arguably *THE* muskie on a fly rod expert:

http://www.wetieit.com/

you can get an idea of the flies etc from his web page.

--
Ken Fortenberry

That 8-inch streamer looks mighty big. Thanks for the info Ken.

- Dave

Anyone fly fish for Musky?
 

On Fri, 17 Aug 2007 12:15:53 -0500, Ken Fortenberry
wrote:

mdk77 wrote:
I've never fished for Muskies, one of the local lakes I fly fish (for
Bass) also has an exceptional Musky population and some consider it
the best Musky lake in our state. My brother "accidentally" caught
one big one while we were fishing for Crappie (he had an ultra-light
spinning outfit with 4-pound test and no leader). And now I'm
thinking of tying some King-Kong sized Musky flies and giving it a
go.

Is an 8-weight too small for Musky? My (maybe crazy) thinking is that
I might build an 8wt rod that I could use for Bass AND Musky on this
lake. What do you think?

I'm gonna wait until I actually catch a muskie before I
confess to fishing for them. ;-) I came close this spring
but couldn't overcome muscle memory.

When you set the hook on a muskie you have to keep the rod
tip low and set the hook with a violent horizontal sweep of
the rod. If you raise the rod tip, like I've been doing for
40 years, you just slip the fly right out of its bony, toothy
mouth, which is of course exactly what I did.
[...]

If you have the presence of mind, keep the rod tip low and use a line-hand
set. This has the added advantage of keeping the fly in the immediate
neighborhood of the fish, should you miss the initial set...

/daytripper (highly useful when bonefeeshing)

Anyone fly fish for Musky?
 

daytripper wrote:

If you have the presence of mind, keep the rod tip low and use a line-hand
set. This has the added advantage of keeping the fly in the immediate
neighborhood of the fish, should you miss the initial set...

/daytripper (highly useful when bonefeeshing)

I call it a strip-strike -- very useful in sal****er flyfishing, but
difficult to break that years-old trout-fishing habit of using the rod
to set the hook.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

Anyone fly fish for Musky?
 

Fly fishing for Musky - now that sounds like a tough row to hoe.

Anyone fly fish for Musky? trip report
 

" On Fri, 17 Aug 2007 12:15:53 -0500, Ken Fortenberry
wrote:

mdk77 wrote:
I've never fished for Muskies, one of the local lakes I fly fish (for
Bass) also has an exceptional Musky population

Indian Joe suggests--you might need a metal leader of some sort----spent
last week on Rainy Lake {Minn} fishing for walleye but caught a few 25-35
inch northern pike on spinning gear. They usually cut line before I got
them in.
Fished close in next to rocks in canoe for small mouth bass with 6 wt but
stayed confused as wind was moving canoe around anchor. So I put cooler
full of water in front of canoe to keep bow down then could not get to
cooler to store fish!!! Think you need two folks in a big canoe to ff on a
windy lake. Jeff you might want to buy some of my marobou muddlers as I got
two hits from northerners on fly rod but both jumped once- bit line- and
swam away.
But if you just want to catch wall eye on spinning gear get you a rich son
in law who rents a 55ft houseboat-tows his bass boat -a canoe- a kayak- and
spend a week playing with technology--depth finder- fish finder- computer
showing reefs etc---and you can get tired of eating fish each night. Joe

Anyone fly fish for Musky?
 

rw wrote:
daytripper wrote:

If you have the presence of mind, keep the rod tip low and use a
line-hand
set. This has the added advantage of keeping the fly in the immediate
neighborhood of the fish, should you miss the initial set...

/daytripper (highly useful when bonefeeshing)

I call it a strip-strike -- very useful in sal****er flyfishing, but
difficult to break that years-old trout-fishing habit of using the rod
to set the hook.

We're all describing the same thing and yeah, it's real hard
not to lift the rod tip when you see your fly get hit. By now
it's instinctive. I missed my first shot at a muskie and I
imagine I'd do the same fool thing the first few times I ever
tried to catch a bonefish.

--
Ken Fortenberry

Anyone fly fish for Musky?
 

On Sat, 18 Aug 2007 08:21:32 -0500, Ken Fortenberry
wrote:

rw wrote:
daytripper wrote:

If you have the presence of mind, keep the rod tip low and use a
line-hand
set. This has the added advantage of keeping the fly in the immediate
neighborhood of the fish, should you miss the initial set...

/daytripper (highly useful when bonefeeshing)

I call it a strip-strike -- very useful in sal****er flyfishing, but
difficult to break that years-old trout-fishing habit of using the rod
to set the hook.

We're all describing the same thing and yeah, it's real hard
not to lift the rod tip when you see your fly get hit. By now
it's instinctive. I missed my first shot at a muskie and I
imagine I'd do the same fool thing the first few times I ever
tried to catch a bonefish.

Have either of you tried long-shank circle hooks? They are essentially
"self-setting" (keep tension on the line rather than "setting" the hook)
and while they aren't appropriate (or necessary) for all quarry, they
are useful for many of the "hard mouth" species. And if you intend to C
& R, they greatly reduce gut- and deep-hooking. A Google search should
turn up quite a bit of info on them - probably much of the info will be
on the standard-shank "bait" models (for tuna, snapper, etc.), but the
theory of operation is the same and Mustad, etc., makes 2X for flies.

As to "muscle memory" and trying to set with the rod rather than the
line, you might try simply spending some time "practice setting"
immediately before you actually try to fish.

TC,
R

Anyone fly fish for Musky?
 

Anyone fly fish for Musky?
 

On Sat, 18 Aug 2007 14:39:44 GMT, Ken Fortenberry
wrote:

wrote:
Ken Fortenberry wrote:
rw wrote:
daytripper wrote:
If you have the presence of mind, keep the rod tip low and use a
line-hand
set. This has the added advantage of keeping the fly in the immediate
neighborhood of the fish, should you miss the initial set...

/daytripper (highly useful when bonefeeshing)
I call it a strip-strike -- very useful in sal****er flyfishing, but
difficult to break that years-old trout-fishing habit of using the rod
to set the hook.
We're all describing the same thing and yeah, it's real hard
not to lift the rod tip when you see your fly get hit. By now
it's instinctive. I missed my first shot at a muskie and I
imagine I'd do the same fool thing the first few times I ever
tried to catch a bonefish.

Have either of you tried long-shank circle hooks? They are essentially
"self-setting" (keep tension on the line rather than "setting" the hook)
and while they aren't appropriate (or necessary) for all quarry, they
are useful for many of the "hard mouth" species. And if you intend to C
& R, they greatly reduce gut- and deep-hooking. A Google search should
turn up quite a bit of info on them - probably much of the info will be
on the standard-shank "bait" models (for tuna, snapper, etc.), but the
theory of operation is the same and Mustad, etc., makes 2X for flies.

I've never tried circle hooks but from what I understand they're
designed to embed in the roof of the mouth. That wouldn't work
on a muskie because the roof of a muskie's mouth is all bone and
damn near impossible to stick a hook in.

No, they are designed to hook in the corner of the mouth. I think
you'll find them in use for muskie.

TC,
R

Anyone fly fish for Musky?
 

Anyone fly fish for Musky?
 

On Sat, 18 Aug 2007 11:29:25 -0500, Ken Fortenberry
wrote:

wrote:
Ken Fortenberry wrote:
I've never tried circle hooks but from what I understand they're
designed to embed in the roof of the mouth. That wouldn't work
on a muskie because the roof of a muskie's mouth is all bone and
damn near impossible to stick a hook in.

No, they are designed to hook in the corner of the mouth. I think
you'll find them in use for muskie.

Interesting. Next time I'm in the fly shop in Boulder Junction
I'll ask if anybody ties muskie flies on 'em.

FWIW, I'd turn to Google rather than limit yourself to a particular shop
as far as info. I just did, and you'll find quite a bit of info. From
a _very_ quick glance at the results, circle hooks have a fair following
(actually, more than I imagined) among muskie fishers.

TC,
R

Anyone fly fish for Musky?
 

wrote in message
...
On Sat, 18 Aug 2007 08:21:32 -0500, Ken Fortenberry
wrote:


Have either of you tried long-shank circle hooks? They are essentially
"self-setting" (keep tension on the line rather than "setting" the hook)
and while they aren't appropriate (or necessary) for all quarry, they
are useful for many of the "hard mouth" species. And if you intend to C
& R, they greatly reduce gut- and deep-hooking. A Google search should
turn up quite a bit of info on them - probably much of the info will be
on the standard-shank "bait" models (for tuna, snapper, etc.), but the
theory of operation is the same and Mustad, etc., makes 2X for flies.

As to "muscle memory" and trying to set with the rod rather than the
line, you might try simply spending some time "practice setting"
immediately before you actually try to fish.

TC,
R

I have no experience with circle hooks and Musky, but we used them while
fishing for Halibut up in Alaska a couple years ago. They proved to be very
effective. I had the same problem of not using the rod to set the hook, but
letting the halibut take the bait and set the hook. They are designed to set
the hook in the corner of the mouth (as you mentioned) when they turn after
taking the bait. If you set the hook, it would just pull out of their mouth.
It was difficult to hold back from setting the hook, similar to learning a
sweep or line set on Musky. The first few bites, everyone yarded back on the
rod to set the hook. Ultimately it was a great day, the boat limited and my
buddy and I both landed 90 pounders.

I had never thought about using the circle hooks on other species, but I
don't see why they wouldn't work well...

Thanks,
JT

Anyone fly fish for Musky?
 

On Aug 20, 9:58 am, "JT" wrote:
wrote in message

...



On Sat, 18 Aug 2007 08:21:32 -0500, Ken Fortenberry
wrote:

Have either of you tried long-shank circle hooks? They are essentially
"self-setting" (keep tension on the line rather than "setting" the hook)
and while they aren't appropriate (or necessary) for all quarry, they
are useful for many of the "hard mouth" species. And if you intend to C
& R, they greatly reduce gut- and deep-hooking. A Google search should
turn up quite a bit of info on them - probably much of the info will be
on the standard-shank "bait" models (for tuna, snapper, etc.), but the
theory of operation is the same and Mustad, etc., makes 2X for flies.

As to "muscle memory" and trying to set with the rod rather than the
line, you might try simply spending some time "practice setting"
immediately before you actually try to fish.

TC,
R

I have no experience with circle hooks and Musky, but we used them while
fishing for Halibut up in Alaska a couple years ago. They proved to be very
effective. I had the same problem of not using the rod to set the hook, but
letting the halibut take the bait and set the hook. They are designed to set
the hook in the corner of the mouth (as you mentioned) when they turn after
taking the bait. If you set the hook, it would just pull out of their mouth.
It was difficult to hold back from setting the hook, similar to learning a
sweep or line set on Musky. The first few bites, everyone yarded back on the
rod to set the hook. Ultimately it was a great day, the boat limited and my
buddy and I both landed 90 pounders.

I had never thought about using the circle hooks on other species, but I
don't see why they wouldn't work well...

Thanks,
JT

I'll have to give these a try. I researched these on the Internet.
They're supposed to be really good when used properly. But I gotta be
honest, they look like they wouldn't hook anything. They look pretty
weird with the point tucked in like that.

Anyone fly fish for Musky?
 

On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 15:41:05 -0000, mdk77
wrote:

On Aug 20, 9:58 am, "JT" wrote:
wrote in message

...



On Sat, 18 Aug 2007 08:21:32 -0500, Ken Fortenberry
wrote:

Have either of you tried long-shank circle hooks? They are essentially
"self-setting" (keep tension on the line rather than "setting" the hook)
and while they aren't appropriate (or necessary) for all quarry, they
are useful for many of the "hard mouth" species. And if you intend to C
& R, they greatly reduce gut- and deep-hooking. A Google search should
turn up quite a bit of info on them - probably much of the info will be
on the standard-shank "bait" models (for tuna, snapper, etc.), but the
theory of operation is the same and Mustad, etc., makes 2X for flies.

As to "muscle memory" and trying to set with the rod rather than the
line, you might try simply spending some time "practice setting"
immediately before you actually try to fish.

TC,
R

I have no experience with circle hooks and Musky, but we used them while
fishing for Halibut up in Alaska a couple years ago. They proved to be very
effective. I had the same problem of not using the rod to set the hook, but
letting the halibut take the bait and set the hook. They are designed to set
the hook in the corner of the mouth (as you mentioned) when they turn after
taking the bait. If you set the hook, it would just pull out of their mouth.
It was difficult to hold back from setting the hook, similar to learning a
sweep or line set on Musky. The first few bites, everyone yarded back on the
rod to set the hook. Ultimately it was a great day, the boat limited and my
buddy and I both landed 90 pounders.

I had never thought about using the circle hooks on other species, but I
don't see why they wouldn't work well...

Thanks,
JT

I'll have to give these a try. I researched these on the Internet.
They're supposed to be really good when used properly. But I gotta be
honest, they look like they wouldn't hook anything. They look pretty
weird with the point tucked in like that.

With a circle hook, you don't set the hook, you simply maintain tension
and the fish does the "setting."

TC,
R.

Anyone fly fish for Musky?
 

There are no Muskies in any of the water I have fished I have fished in
Labrador and wanted to try Pike on a fly I used a short shank stainless
steel salt water hook with a wide gap for the main hook. I used 30 lb test
mono doubled to place a stinger hook with the point facing upward into the
wing.as I wanted to build a long streamer style wing. I took a steel leader
an cut the clip off the end leaving the swivel on the other end to tie the
leader to. the leader was pulled through the eye of the hook toward the
bend. I wrapped the thread along this keeping the steel leader straight on
top of the shank back to the point of the hook. I brushed a layer of cement
on the threads and left it to dry. Then I placed the mono on either side of
the bulge made by the steel leader and pulled the extra piece of steel
leader over the top and wrapped the thread forward to the eye then back to
the point and onto the shank immediately behind the bulge left by this
action. Tie in a pice of gold oval for a tag a silver oval for the rib and
flat silver for the body. Wrap the tag first to fill in the lump made by
the previous material then wrap the thread forward to the eyefollowed by the
flat silver body and the oval silver rib. For the wing I used a Mickey Finn
tied with the longer yellow bucktail over laid with long red bucktail then
another layer of yellow with some of the brownish yellow on the top.

I caught several pike with this fly which surprisingly turned over well on a
four lb tippet. All the pike were caught as they turned with the fly seating
it securely in the corner of the mouth. I also caught a five and a half lb
speckled trout on the stinger hook.

"jeffc" wrote in message
...
Fly fishing for Musky - now that sounds like a tough row to hoe.

Anyone fly fish for Musky?
 

"jim hill" wrote in message
news:aWUIi.67782$Pd4.32837@edtnps82...
. . . I wanted to try Pike on a fly I used a short shank stainless
steel salt water hook with a wide gap for the main hook. I used 30 lb
test
mono doubled to place a stinger hook with the point facing upward . . .

I caught several pike with this fly which surprisingly turned over well on
a
four lb tippet. All the pike were caught as they turned with the fly
seating
it securely in the corner of the mouth.

What size hooks (for both main and stinger)
do you recommend?

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)