Hunting the Hunter
The image of the big white streamer disappearing into the mouth of my first musky on a fly is one that doesn’t diminish with time. When I reflect on that event, the excitement and feeling of accomplishment are as vivid today as on that fine June morning almost 20 years ago. I have relived the same satisfying sense of achievement with every musky I have caught since that day.
While even conventional anglers have called Esox masquinongy “the fish of 10,000 casts,” with enlightened fisheries management, better information, and a vast improvement in fly-fishing gear, the opportunities to take muskies on a fly have never been better than they are today. More and more fly anglers are discovering this fact each year.
Muskies are the largest members of the pike family, and their name is an abbreviation for muskellunge or maskinonge as they are officially referred to in Canada. The name is derived from the Ojibwe word maashkinoozhe meaning “ugly pike.” Like pike, muskies have elongated bodies with dorsal, pelvic, and anal fins set well back, and flat, wide heads with frightening teeth. Most of the teeth angle backward to prevent the escape of captured prey.
Their natural range stretches from Quebec and northern Vermont westward over the lower portion of Ontario, and south with historic strongholds in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. The native range even reaches as far south as West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina.
There are three recognized subspecies within this indigenous area—the Great Lakes, the Ohio or Chautauqua, and the tiger or northern muskellunge. Stocked muskies have created some significant fisheries in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, and a handful of other states. Since muskies are on top of the food pyramid, it is natural that there are relatively few of them in any given body of water. This makes them susceptible to overharvest, and populations in some watersheds have also been reduced or eliminated by destruction of spawning habitat or disease. Stocking programs have either restored or augmented local populations and are a key management tool.
Muskies are mostly solitary fish that use aggressive ambush strategies to feed selectively on high-protein items such as ciscoes, suckers, perch, bullheads, and shiners. While baitfish make up the majority of their diet, muskies also eat crayfish, frogs, birds, and small mammals. They prefer large food items and are known to eat prey up to a third of their own body length. Given their preference to ambush unsuspecting prey, muskies that follow a fly often lose interest before ever going into attack mode.
Muskies live as long as 20 years. This longevity combined with an adequate food source allows them to attain intimidating sizes. The average musky in most waters today is 30 to 38 inches in length and about 8 to 16 pounds. In protein-rich watersheds, they can grow much larger. Thick-bodied fish in the upper 40-inch range or larger can tip the scales from 30 to 50 pounds. There have been documented 50-inch muskies caught on flies and the recognized world record for conventional tackle is the much-debated 1949 Louis Spray fish that reportedly weighed just shy of 70 pounds.
The size and intriguing nature of muskies have created a whole culture dedicated to the patience and persistence that are the hallmarks of successful musky anglers. My introduction to musky lore occurred at a young age. An old taxidermy mount of a muskellunge at a local fishing club on the Niagara River caught my attention from the very first time I set foot in the clubhouse. It was so large, it appeared a grown person could fit their leg inside the gaping mouth.
Eventually, my skills advanced to a point where I have connected with a few of these legendary fish on waters both nearby and distant, including my personal best on a fly that by length and girth calculation weighed more than 35 pounds. Based on my memory, that fish was similar in size to the taxidermy mount that inspired my interest in muskies in the first place.
Enjoy the Hunt
By committing to fly fish for muskies you must happily accept the challenge presented by these top-of-the-food-chain predators. As with other difficult, elusive gamefish, good days are measured in quality—not quantity. Follows, strikes, mere sightings, or encounters of any kind are small but important victories in the musky game, and serious musky enthusiasts normally count these as positive parts of the experience.
You gain knowledge from an encounter in a particular spot or from a certain piece of structure, and that information can be used later. A musky that follows the fly has at least shown interest. The next time, if its mood is different, and the fly is presented more effectively, it may attack.
Maintaining your focus is critical. How you react in a split second can often decide the success of a day or even an entire season. Hours or even days can go by without a fish, and if you blow your single opportunity because your mind wandered off and you weren’t prepared, you will have plenty of time to anguish over that mistake.
But it would be incorrect to paint a picture that fly fishing for muskies is always difficult. Musky fishing is often best on overcast, chilly autumn days. I prefer a stable weather pattern, water temperatures that have not dropped dramatically, and a new moon. Over the years I have experienced numerous days with multiple fish in these conditions.
Finding muskies is usually dependent on assessing structure and finding ambush points. In each body of water there are certain areas that attract and hold fish. Small to medium rivers may be the easiest musky waters to read. Generally, muskies are out of the main current flow, and this easily eliminates much of the river. Slower flows strewn with logjams are prime holding spots. Small bays and pockets created by the contour of the bank, the slack current off to the side of a riffle, and the downstream side of an island all create optimum holding areas. Boulders and bottom contour changes in the middle of a slower run or pool, weed beds, and weedy edges all attract muskies.
On big rivers, structure is more difficult to identify. I look for large weed beds out of the main flow or dramatic changes in the bottom terrain. Both types of structure attract bait, which in turn attracts large predators such as muskies. I have also relied on sight-fishing for muskies cruising sandy flats in the early part of the season. Post-spawn fish commonly frequent these areas before dispersing to more permanent holds for the summer.
In lakes, both weed beds and points created by the shoreline jutting into the water should be your primary focus. Muskies hold along weedy edges, in pockets within the weed beds, and even suspended over the weed tops. My fishing partner Steve Wascher, who has a great knack for identifying structure, looks for inside corners in the weed edges, and has proved this type of structure consistently holds muskies. Points of land are important since the contour condenses and traps baitfish, and the rise in the bottom provides a perfect ambush spot.
On large lakes, some muskies are nomadic, particularly in the summer and fall as they follow large pods of bait. Targeting fish with this behavior is difficult, even with conventional gear. It’s far more productive to identify structure and try to find the muskies that associate themselves with it.
Getting Rigged
Rods that can cast larger flies and handle big fish in tight quarters are the best choices for muskies. I use 9-foot, 9- or 10-weight rods, but there are some new 10-weights that are only 8 feet and provide advantages when working the fly on a short line.
A good musky reel should have a smooth drag that can be tightened down when fighting a fish near obstructions. Just as important as the function of the reel is its weight—it should balance the rod so as not to increase the fatigue factor. A good rod and reel should feel light and comfortable since casting large flies for hours and hours is part of the game.
Lines for musky fishing range from floating and intermediate sinking, to 30-foot fast-sinking integrated shooting heads. Use floaters and intermediates for surface flies or when fishing in the top two to three feet. A floater with an exaggerated weight-forward taper such as the Scientific Anglers Pike/Muskie line aids in turning over large, wind-resistant flies.
Copyright © 2012 Intermedia Outdoors
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