Muskie Flies

[PACOFRANSICO]

That long flash on the head of his fly is bait fish emulator. But heres my new balsa popper head. Its on a 8/0 gama that I lenghtened with some wire.

 

[sandfly]

Paco,
Are you saying a circle hook doesn't work on a musky ??

 

[lv2nymph]

Paco, do you carve up your own balsa poppers?

 

[PACOFRANSICO]

I dont think circle hooks would work. You have to put the boots to musky hard when you set. I dont think that waiting till they turn and lifting the rod tip would bury it. Pike and musky have a boney mouth. they arent soft like a trout. And yeah I whittled that popper head outta a chunk of balsa.

 

[ebroesicke]

only ever caught 1 musky so this is pure speculation on my part but... if circle hooks work on tuna and billfish, I think they might have a place in musky fishing..I caught a pacific sailfish this summer and to say that thing has a boney mouth is an understatement.

 

[PACOFRANSICO]

Circle hooks pin a fish in the corner of the mouth. Most of my fish are coffin cornered right in the side of the mouth with regular hooks. And I have only deep hooked 1 fish and it swam off. Your encounters with these fish are so few and far between. It might be weeks even months of fishing between takes. So expermenting with a hook that "might" work over something thats proven to me is a waste of time.

 

[sandfly]

I would have to disagree on the circle, pelagic fish such as sails have very bony mouths and circles are used for them...tarpon is another..I have never had to sweep the rod with a circle, just hold on they hook themselves..Have caught dozens of fish on circles and they are not just hooked in the corner, lots of them are in the lower jaw area.

 

[sandfly]

ebroesicke,
Congrats on the sail, they are fun are they not...largest atlantic I have taken was around 60 lb.

 

[ebroesicke]

Paco-

I agree that it would be hard to change due to the limited encounters. It's not like you hit a school of them and can experiment. I do see a definite roll with live bait though to prevent deep hooking. Again I have virtual no musky experience so I am pretty much talking out my a**. Totally acknowledge that.

Thanks sandfly. fish was estimated @ 75 lbs and was awesome. Caught trolling right behind the boat and jumped clear out of the water right after the strike. Wife also had a big blue marlin on which was breathtaking to see it come into the spread and crush a bait.

 

[PACOFRANSICO]

Ebro awsome experience never bin in the salt. But I'm still convinced on the quick strip set on these things they're so unpredictable on the take. I'm not gonna wager a them hooking themselves on a circle hook. I'm gonna hammer it home on my own.

 

[ebroesicke]

yeah, i will ( gonna try for them this year) be doing the same. I use all J hooks for my flies, but I know guys who use them for stripers and blues and also the pelagics. You have to get down to the salt, its a blast, and you never know what you might hook.

 

[plombardo]

Never hooked a pike/musky on circle Hooks. The shank isnt't that long on circles are they?

I would stay sharpest hook Med to heavy wire hook you can get. I don't care for mustads or eagle claw

 

[PACOFRANSICO]

Don't get discouraged if all ya can get your hands on is mustads or eagle claws. They'll get the job done. Just you have to give there hooks alittle TLC & a little more effort on hook set. The 254 eagle claw oshaggnassy is a better hook in my opinion than the mustad 3407.

I've caught plenty of toothies on those two brands of hooks before switching to gamas.

Eagle claw also makes Trokar hooks. There heavy cover worm hook is sharp as hell and a damn good musky hook.

 

[sandfly]

I caught my first fly rod musky in 1970 on a mustad and still use them. I just put a triangle sharpening to the point. it goes in nicely. forget the 3407's and find some 23407D they seem to be sharper, I have them in 6/0 -1 in sizes.

 

[Fishidiot]

Still adding to the the muskie fly box - about one fly every week or two.

This one is for higher in the water column.

 

[zfisher]

Fishidiot, how many feathers are you tying into your tail? And what is the head made of? Cool lookin fly though. I'd eat it if I were a fish.

 

[Fishidiot]

zfisher wrote:
Fishidiot, how many feathers are you tying into your tail? And what is the head made of? Cool lookin fly though. I'd eat it if I were a fish.

Thanks Z.
I'd guess there are maybe 4 or 5 feathers (red) in the main wing and 3 or 4 dark ones in the back section. The head is clipped deer hair.

 

[PACOFRANSICO]

The tuffest material for me to find for my musky flys is the tailing feathers. Its not that tuff to find the lenght its the suppliness for the quill and the tapper thats the hard part. The style of musky fly I tye has 3 materials bucktail, feathers & flash. But the quality of theese 3 things makes or breaks the fly.

 

[Crotalus]

Paco, have you tried the Whting bugger packs? I bought one and like it for he Hangtime style flies, but I haven't used them for tailing.

 

[PACOFRANSICO]

No I thought of it. I be found strung that works, I've even bought saddles but I'm still not happy. Either way your gonna pay a arm and a leg.