Winter muskie fly fishing

[deaddriftx]

I have taken muskie on the fly during the warmer months but i would like to try the allegheny river this winter. I'll be honest i don't know anything about muskie winter behavior. I have done tons of research but there seems to be alot of contradiction out there. So i was hoping to find someone out there that knows something about winter muskie fly fishing. My biggest concern is locating them. Do they go deep and become dormant? I have read that mouths of smaller tributaries are good. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Fishidiot]

Anonymous wrote:
I have read that mouths of smaller tributaries are good. .

Lots of wisdom here. 🙂

In my experience, river muskies don't go dormant in winter although during long periods of very cold water they can be somewhat inactive. As soon as a warming trend happens, they often turn on. Nevertheless, I've had river muskies hit lures aggressively when slack areas were iced over. Fish slower and lower in deeper areas with little current. Deep, slow, shoreline eddies with woody debris are worth checking out.

 

[deaddriftx]

Thanks fishidiot you gave me some hope

 

[wgmiller]

Find some warmwater discharge if at all possible...

 

[deaddriftx]

Yea the warm water discharge is i great idea. I know of one i am going to hit this winter.

 

[jjsjigs]

Discharge from sewer plants bud... that's where the forage fish hang out to keep warmer. Therefore, muskie and pike will always be lurking. Much like barflies around an open bottle of Jim Beam.