Toothy Critter Success Thread, Part II - 2015

[Fishidiot]

Let's see your toothy critter pics and stories!

The prior thread of the same title that ran since 2012 has been locked - you can view it here.

 

[PACOFRANSICO]

Hahaha let the 2015 toothy assault begin!

 

[slay12345]

THIS is definitely on my to do list this year! I'll be making every attempt to hook in to my first toothy critter in PA. I landed a pickeral last year in Camp Lejeune with spinning gear, but I'd love to tackle a musky on the susky with a fly!

 

[TD55]

Be careful what you ask for slay12345. It will ruin you. I know it did me lol.

 

[slay12345]

Can you give any pointers to a beginner? Best time (season and hours) to target them in the Susky River.

 

[Fishidiot]

slay12345 wrote:
Can you give any pointers to a beginner? Best time (season and hours) to target them in the Susky River.

The best advice I can give a muskie newbie is to put in your time. Just get out and keep casting - it's a lot of work. Embrace the skunk. If you see a fish, it's a good day. It typically takes many hours of fishing to catch a muskie. They bite year round in rivers in PA but I'd say the best months are June and Oct-Dec. I like rough weather and cloudy skies. The key, however, is to just get out and keep casting. There's not much rhyme or reason to river muskie fishing.

(there's lot of info about tips and techniques in other threads - see the previous toothy success thread)

 

[TD55]

Slay like Fishidiot said you gotta put your time in. The best times are probably May-June Post spawn and pre freeze fall months October thru December. Fish have to put the feed bag on after spawn to and hard winter to bulk up and then in the fall again to get fat for long winter.

Do yourself a favor and get a 10wt. If you are throwing smaller flies you can get by with and 8 but by all means the 10 is the staple of musky fishing. Also stick to sinking lines intermediate thru type 7 in the 400-450 grain range for throwing the bigger flies.

As far as flies go you are going to want a fly that pushes water. Musky feed much more off their lateral line than vision so using a fly that pushes a lot of water is going to be key.

Leaders keep your leader short 4-5 feet MAX total and use some sort of bite guard either 60-80lb flouro or tieable wire. I have switched from flouro to 40 lb surflon micro supreme. My typical leader is 4 feet of 40lb flouro attached to 12-18" of wire

Then cast and cast and cast and cast again. Put your time in and it will happen.

 

[codym21]

TD why the switch from flouro to wire?

 

[TD55]

I have not had very many bite offs with flouro but when it happens it really just bugs the crap out of you. And when you get a bite off its not good for the fish to have a 10-12" fly stuck in its mouth for any period of time. I have probably had a half dozen biteoffs in the last 5 years or so and everyone of them still stings

 

[slay12345]

Okay, I'm not equipped yet to tie my own big musky flies... where do you recommend I go to purchase a couple to get started?

 

[icyguides]

Slay, i'm sure you can buy them online from various outlets, but i know French Creek Outfitters in Phoenixville has musky flies available. Be prepared to pay $20-30 a piece though. Big saltwater patterns should also work.

Keep fishing, it took me 2 years to get my first musky on the fly.

 

[Acristickid]

musky program achieving higher standard

 

[afishinado]

From the link above:


The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission's musky-rearing program hit some highs this past year.

The agency's hatcheries managed to produce 160,000 purebred muskies for stocking, along with 50,000 tiger muskies. They were about 10 inches long when released. That's up from the average of 7 inches recorded in 2005.

“So we not only produced our most fish ever, but we had our biggest fish, too,” said Brian Wisner, chief of fish production for the agency. “And not just in length. They doubled in weight.”

That's not easy to do, he said. Muskies are an apex predator and they will cannibalize each other in a hatchery at times. Workers have to “train” them to eat dry food, he said.

“You're going against all their natural instincts,” Wisner said.

The stocking program provides about 94 percent of the musky fishing to be had statewide, Wisner said. But it's expensive, costing up to $850,000 a year.

Some sportsmen have complained that's not producing enough adult fish. So commissioner Bob Bachman of Lancaster County asked if the agency knows what it's getting for its money.

“I think it's great. But the question is, how much is it costing us to raise a fish that a person catches and lets go again? That seems like something we ought to be looking at,” Bachman said.

Commission executive director John Arway agrees, and said the agency has tried to get a better return on its investment by putting more fish in fewer waters with high potential, rather than sprinkling a few muskies everywhere.

“We used to be in shotgun management mode, where we put fish everywhere and took credit for where they showed up and didn't talk about where they didn't,” Arway said.




Great story! One thing I didn't realize is "the stocking program provides about 94 percent of the musky fishing to be had statewide".....wow!

Commissioner Bachman from Lancaster stated above, "I think it's great. But the question is, how much is it costing us to raise a fish that a person catches and lets go again? That seems like something we ought to be looking at,” Bachman said.

He seems to question the value of a fish stocked that is caught but released and not harvested!....I don't get it! A fish stocked and caught and released ten times by ten anglers during its lifetime has ten times the value of a fish caught once and harvested.....ten happy anglers vs one! No?!?

The program is successful, but that kind of thinking from the Commish is what really leaves me shaking my head (and sometimes shaking my fist!) :roll:

 

[Fishidiot]

afishinado wrote:
Commissioner Bachman from Lancaster stated above, "I think it's great. But the question is, how much is it costing us to raise a fish that a person catches and lets go again? That seems like something we ought to be looking at,” Bachman said.
He seems to question the value of a fish stocked that is caught but released and not harvested!....I don't get it! A fish stocked and caught and released ten times by ten anglers during its lifetime has ten times the value of a fish caught once and harvested.....ten happy anglers vs one! No?!?
The program is successful, but that kind of thinking from the Commish is what really leaves me shaking my head (and sometimes shaking my fist!) :roll:

I think the wording in the PFBC post was sloppy. Bachman is a good fella and friend of C&R anglers and I'd bet that what he meant to say here is that because a fish is released it is worth more to anglers and for this reason we need a good understanding of hatchery costs.

Overall, though, this is indeed good news. The PFBC muskie program is getting more efficient and successful at raising bigger fish. This combined with the growing research that suggest that yearling size muskies survive better than fingerlings bodes well for the future of toothy fishing in our state.

 

[slay12345]

How about heavy 80# mono as a bite guard?

 

[afishinado]

Fishidiot wrote:

afishinado wrote:
Commissioner Bachman from Lancaster stated above, "I think it's great. But the question is, how much is it costing us to raise a fish that a person catches and lets go again? That seems like something we ought to be looking at,” Bachman said.
He seems to question the value of a fish stocked that is caught but released and not harvested!....I don't get it! A fish stocked and caught and released ten times by ten anglers during its lifetime has ten times the value of a fish caught once and harvested.....ten happy anglers vs one! No?!?
The program is successful, but that kind of thinking from the Commish is what really leaves me shaking my head (and sometimes shaking my fist!) :roll:

I think the wording in the PFBC post was sloppy. Bachman is a good fella and friend of C&R anglers and I'd bet that what he meant to say here is that because a fish is released it is worth more to anglers and for this reason we need a good understanding of hatchery costs.

Overall, though, this is indeed good news. The PFBC muskie program is getting more efficient and successful at raising bigger fish. This combined with the growing research that suggest that yearling size muskies survive better than fingerlings bodes well for the future of toothy fishing in our state.

Perhaps a different meaning to the quote, I really don't know, but overall the PFBC direction has been more to value and favor harvest over C&R. I agree that Bachman is a professional fishery expert and has overall been good Commissioner during his tenure.

 

[TD55]

Slay stay away from mono for a bite guard unless it is something like mason's hard mono. Regular mono is too soft and you will get bit off more than likely

 

[afishinado]

slay12345 wrote:
How about heavy 80# mono as a bite guard?

Some wire rigs out there are more flexible and thinner than 80lb mono and it won't get cut through by the toothies.

I agree, if not wire than heavy fluoro tippet which is harder and tougher than regular mono.

 

[salvelinusfontinalis]

Josh,

I have a spool of 40+ lb fluorocarbon mirage if you want it.
I also have some wire bite guards .

 

[TD55]

I would not go any less than 60lb for your bite guard. 40lb will get shredded. And I don't even like 60. 80 would be my choice for flouro. Or get some tieable wire like the AFW sufrlon micro supreme or rio's stuff.