Toothy Critter Success Thread

A biggest pike I've caught so far. Tried a new spot. It payed off.
 
Upper Allegheny

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Nice Pike!! That's a tape stretcher! I was hoping someone would update this thread soon. No Muskies yet??
 
Gotout this week, nothing but follows. But it's just a matter of time.
 
Wow! That's a very nice pike TD.
Interesting and very dense spot patterns on his gill cover - a real beauty.
 
Total noob to fishing for these guys fly gear or otherwise. I know a pond that holds pickeral though and was thinking of getting out there on my kayak.

I'm assuming a wire leader is needed for pickeral as well as pike and musky??

I'm headed up to cabelas today with the lady friend cause she has never been, thinkin I might grab some odds and end while there that my local sport shop doesn't stock.
 
wire yes. i like the 7x7 tieable stuff, but there are other options. cabela's has it. Some guys go with like 100lb flouro shock leader too.
 
I love this thread..... I have been looking to get into a 9-10 wt but, my reasoning wasn't pike it was SNAKEHEAD.... Dare I say it.... But now pike will be my home water fish..... Has anyone ventured into Md. for the Invasive Toothy Critters ?
 
I notice you are using 9 - 10wt. rods but what kind of length and action? More like a steelhead rod or a shorter more stout model?
 
JV,
Snakeheads have something of a growing cult following on the lower Potomac river but I have not personally pursued them as I prefer the upper Potomac where they don't exist thankfully (at least not yet). There are some guides who can probably get you into to them. There are some waters around Philly with 'em but I don't hear about guys targeting them.

As for the rod, I usually use a 10WT for muskies - the same rods I use for salt. 9' medium fast. You're throwing very big flies but sometimes you will be casting close or around cover and some rods might be a bit on the fast side. Conventional gear muskie guys like very long bait casting rods but with soft tips that make casting easier. I'm not one who pays particularly close attention to rod action so others may suggest a different take on this (of course).
 
I like a fast action 10wt for musky. Like Fish eluded too a softer tip section help with throwing the lighter intermediate lines. But I want the lower 3/4 to have back bone. For chucking the full sinks. Not all 10 are created equal. For me the closest thing to perfection is the Beulah blue water.
 
I've had some good success with the toothies lately. Which has also caused a lot of frustration. Had my first hook up on a musky, a pretty nice tiger pushing 30. Very cool hook up, i raised a bigger pike that I was trying to temp with a figure 8 and out of the corner of my eye I see this musky coming out from right field like a freight train, that thing was in kill mood for sure, I missed it on the x and then hooked up on the bend, this was all in 2-3 feet of water, lots of violent head shakes then off. By far the coolest take I've had yet and the most frustrating.

I've been out three times in the last couple weeks, had hook ups each time and lost fish shortly after. It's making me crazy. Anyone more experienced ever run into this kinda of slump with hooking up? 2 out of 3 fish were on the figure 8.
 
They got a hardest mouth in fresh water. And if ya make the wrong move and prick em on the out side of the mouth or not trout set em there gonna hold on to your fly and just shake it and drop it. False hook sets. Set, set, and strip set again on em. Then lift your rod to figh em. I went 6 eats before I landed a fish when I first started the musky ride. During that time my buddy landed 8. It works on ya mentally and physically. I gets freaking Dracula black. Believe me. You can beat the top of the mountain, a rockstar 1 second. Then turn around & be rock bottom bargain basement low the next.

The only advice I can give is trust your process. Stick to what you believe and know, its going work. Having confidence in knowing it will happen goes a long way during the quiet times between fish.
 
next on the musky inspirational hour....
 
Today's fish. Just a little guy but its toothy.
image-3_zps93690241.jpg
 
PACOFRANSICO wrote:
They got a hardest mouth in fresh water. And if ya make the wrong move and prick em on the out side of the mouth or not trout set em there gonna hold on to your fly and just shake it and drop it. False hook sets. Set, set, and strip set again on em. Then lift your rod to figh em. I went 6 eats before I landed a fish when I first started the musky ride. During that time my buddy landed 8. It works on ya mentally and physically. I gets freaking Dracula black. Believe me. You can beat the top of the mountain, a rockstar 1 second. Then turn around & be rock bottom bargain basement low the next.

The only advice I can give is trust your process. Stick to what you believe and know, its going work. Having confidence in knowing it will happen goes a long way during the quiet times between fish.
Click to expand...

I hear ya, I'm not one to quit, my problem is it makes it worse it makes me want out on the water more, after the first fish I landed I was pretty hooked on them. I can't get myself to fish anything else, except for stripers at night. Quite the little obsession, funny thing is I wasn't fishing for them with gear, in fact I'm not sure why I decided to do it, however so glad I did, because like you and TD have said, there is nothing like it. Nice Pike by the way.
 
You guys seem to really know what you're doing... I have a couple of basic questions. I'm thinking about going fly fishing for some muskies in regional streams. I know where they are because I've seen them while fishing for bass. If you are wading, alone, and happen to hook a fairly large size fish. How would you land it and handle? I'm thinking maybe beaching it would be the best option, if possible? Do you always pick it up under the belly and below the mouth? Do you wear gloves?
 
Lightly beach it. If its coffin cornered just remove the hook. But if the flys gone (which is usually the case) get the jaw spreaders ad take the hook out its mouth watch the gills. I don't use gloves no need if your careful. I hate bogas grips they can damage a fish badly. A big musky the last thing ya wanna do is lift it by the gills or head. If your gonna lift it. Tail it and slide your hand under the belly up behind the 1st set if find.
 
Just curious, are these musky and pike wild or are they stocked as fingerlings? Forgive my stupidity, I've never fished for these species.
 
All the pike I have caught are 100% wild and have bin in the same waters since the 70s with no stocking. 99% of tigers in pa are stocked as fingerlings there a rare find naturally. I'd say the big percentage of purebred are stocked too. There's probably some natural reproduction but there's so real way telling the stocks from wild as far as I know.
 
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