Toothy Critter Success Thread

[Fredrick]

Not really a success story but my son and I took the kayak out on Marsh yesterday and I seen a tiger staged up next to a bush in the water. So I circled back around and tied on the biggest fly I had with me and on the first cast the fish followed the fly all the way to my kayak. I tried a feeble attempt at a figure 8 but there wasn't too much room with my son in the kayak. The fish stopped at about 6 inches from my fly right at my kayak. When my son who is 4 seen the musky he jumped up real fast, so I stopped him before he got up all the way. At first I thought maybe he was scared trying to get away from the musky. After the musky swam away I asked him why he got up when he saw the musky and he said that he was going to get his net to catch the fish for me I couldn't help but laugh since his net is barely big enough for a sunny. My son then asked me why I was laughing so I explained to him that the fish he was trying to net was almost as big as he was and would never fit in his net. For the rest of our trip all he wanted daddy to do is catch some muskies.

 

[Fishidiot]

That's a success story Fred. 🙂

Some muskie guys actually count follows and consider this a form of success but your story has the goods.

 

[jay348]

Fishidiot wrote:
That's a success story Fred. 🙂

Some muskie guys actually count follows and consider this a form of success but your your story has the goods.

Absolutely a success!

I was there on Saturday for a couple hours. Got a cast stuck in a branch and went over to get my fly...sure enough, smaller musky just hanging out beneath me and tight to the bank. Cruised away as soon as I realized what I saw. Blew that one but I did get my fly back!

Then a couple gear guys caught a nice one (mid 30s or so) about 50 yards away...still pretty cool to see.

 

[streamerguy]

I did it!!!! I caught him in a small outflow of a lake, so I guess it's cheating, but a musky is better than no musky! My first on the fly

 

[Crawdad31]

Nice Musky bro! I don't think it's cheating, I prefer creeks and rivers to lakes anyway. Congrats!

 

[Paulson]

How is Marsh for Musky?

 

[jay348]

Awesome fish streamerguy...congrats!

Paulson, is you're referring to marsh creek lake, its pretty heavily stocked with musky. But its a popular bass lake, so it sees a lot of pressure...esp on weekends.

They're a common sight, but getting them to bite is a challenge to say the least. If you're considering it, I would suggest going soon before they move to deeper water.

 

[PACOFRANSICO]

Great looking fish there buddy.

 

[Crawdad31]

Well...I finally decided to specifically target Muskies...I put my time in on the bench, map work, online research and went to a local spot I new they would be. Had a double 5/0 Buford all ready to go.. 5th cast into it, out of nowhere pops up this easy 40 inch fish... My heart was pounding because she was on it and I mean on it, even nosed the fly, seen her open her mouth just to stop... followed up to me I tried the figure 8 and she slowly pealed away...I will definitely say I probably choked.. I have never seen a fish that size before, the head alone was Enormous..keep reading it gets worse and better all at the same time.. We played hide and seek for a little, I decided to go explore some more and keep on down stream, come back later..

Next good hole I find, a couple casts into it and up following my fly is mid 40's fish, made the first fish look not very big as soon as she popped up, i'm stripping that fly in and i see the white of her mouth and she stops, i bungle the figure 8 again, she follows a couple times and same thing practically putting her nose on the fly, another 38ish musky even follows out of the same hole...at this time I'm pretty much in shock..3 muskies so far all around 40 and up. I hit one more hole and a few casts again, one pops up, as soon as he follows I start speeding up the retrieve, and this fish is on it man, still didnt 100% commit to killing the fly...

I feel like I am doing something wrong when these fish are that keyed into a fly, they wouldnt follow a single color change, I switched to a couple of hangtimes and nothing. Burnt Orange Buford and that was it...It was a great day and good as it can be without catching fish, seeing that many big muskies makes me happy, I need some help though, something I am doing is wrong, or its what musky do?

 

[Fishidiot]

Craw,
Sounds like you had an awesome day. What you describe with the muskie follows is a common thing (although you saw a lot of 'em for a first muskie trip - I've had multiple days without even a single follow). The conventional wisdom when a fish is following, esp "hot" fish like you describe, is to speed up the retrieve and, if possible, effect a change in direction. This can be difficult with a fly rod. With respect to colors, you'll get different opinions on this but I'm in the camp that thinks it usually isn't critical. If the fish was going to strike or just follow, it probably won't make much difference what color you use. Nevertheless, it's worth switching up and trying new flies and depths etc.

The good news is it seems you have found a real hotspot(s) and odds are good you will nail one of these fish. Muskie anglers often return in subsequent trips to try and catch a fish that followed last time.

 

[Crawdad31]

Fishidiot, thanks for the advice, it was a bang up day for sure I really really didn't expect to see that many fish or that many big fish. I did do a lot of research to narrow down the waters that would give me the highest probability of running into fish because I can only wade and float tube...I'm going to hit the bench, keep reading and studying, watching more videos and keep chasing them, it's only a matter of time. I believe we have a full moon coming this week. I will be back for more punishment..haha

 

[PACOFRANSICO]

You have days were they follow ever cast and not eat. It's not that your "doing" anything wrong. Ask good musky gear guys follows out number eats. That's the game you have to play when ya hunt em. Mark the fish and go back to em.

I choose color in terms of what's easy for me to see in the water (and what past experience has worked)I want to be able to see the fly as I'm fishing it. And I switch if I get a fish following, color & sz switches can trigger a fish.

 

[PACOFRANSICO]

TD55 & I did some turns on the Allgheny Monday. Had a good day We got 5 pike. I hooked my 1st fish on the figure 8 and picked up 2 more. It was a great time got some needed time on the oars. It was awesome watching TD stick a fish while I was on the sticks.

 

[Fishidiot]

Nice!
I'm really impressed with the size of the pike you guys have been sticking recently - definitely not "hammer handles." The fish look really healthy and fat and many of them are over 30 inches in length. Sometimes post spawn pike during the warmer months can get rather lean looking.....but not the pike you guys have been hitting.
PA isn't really known as a destination pike state but we have some good fish if you know where to look for 'em.

Monday looked like a good day for fishing (at least here in the SC) with big clouds and a cold front moving over. Days like this have often treated me well when after pike/muskies. As it was, I had yesterday to fish - bright sun, post frontal conditions and not a cloud in the sky. I hucked muskie streamers all afternoon on my favorite river and didn't see a fish. Couldn't even tempt a bass. Bluebird days are tough.
My hard luck streak with toothy critters continues. :-(

 

[DJBerg]

man paco every time i get on this damn thread, i wanna call my buddy and say lets go!

dat der's a beaut!

 

[PACOFRANSICO]

Thanks guys toothy is a toothy but you know.....The musky just aren't co-opin, that's to me is the measuring stick. But we have bin flat smoking bigger pike than usual. Hey DJ heres another from last month I didn't post. Just to get ya juiced up.

 

[DJBerg]

thanks, got a spot in mind that i know i can get to by foot. and the river to drop back down...

may also have to have feet and bones playing on the phone while it's happening :-D

 

[Crawdad31]

Paco, nice chunky pike, thanks for the advice as well on my earlier post. Keep the pics comin guys it keeps me motivated. Especially now im in one of those "vampire black" times you mentioned awhile back.

 

[TD55]

We definitely slayed the pike that day. 2 at the boat launch and missed a 3rd. No musky though. I floated that section me and Paco floated Monday with some other guys Saturday and one of the guys missed a 40ish fish at the boat. Now that I taught paco how to run the oars I get to fish a lot more lol

 

[Crawdad31]

Anyone catchin any Muskies? I've been paying dues pretty hard. Out of the last 3 times I've been out had nothing but follows the last two times. Each time four Muskies made appearances. No hook ups. On Father's Day though the creek was a little brown and swollen. I hooked up and fought a 40-42ish fish. It was epic, my hands were shaking afterword, unfortunately I lost the fish, she shook the hook loose. It was pretty damn awesome though, for not catching it.