Further North

I tried a cradle and didn't care for it - I found it nearly impossible to use by myself. I've been using the Stowmaster 94" nets since then, they collapse down to a very unobtrusive size ans leave my decks clear to strip fly line onto. With a little practice, they can be used solo. The thing with muskies is that "They all count". I'd much rather catch fish in mid 30" the low 40" range in shallow waters than the bigger fish...they fight harder, IMO. Keep plugging away, and you'll get to where you want to be!

Another follow up: We were met at the put in at another river by some young men - roughly the age of the river-owners in the original post. They arrived a few minutes after us, and they parked, walked over as we were launching, introduced themselves, and asked what our plan was for the day. When we told them we'd be floating down-river several miles, they told us they were planning to work the area around the dam, then head for another river for a short float. It's things like this that inspire me to think we're not doomed.

Such a contrast between different parts of the country. We were really dry - all the rivers except one were unfloatable - until about a month ago, and we've had decent, steady rain since. As I was mowing my lawn for what hoped would be the last time this afternoon, I realized I'd have to do it again...so I didn't bother mowing the paths out back.

That's the one! Wow. We're no where near that, and we're only 90 miles east of you.

I haven't decided, I need to see how the flows shake out...and I don't like to name rivers - or lakes - on social media.

I wish that'd happened here. ...but I'll find out tomorrow. We got a nudge over 2" yesterday and Thursday night.

Good job, and congratulations!

Yeah, I"m watching that. That'll foul up what was a stable system even more. 😉 We moved five muskies today, not one of which was interested in eating a fly. Rotten bastiches. 😀 ...but one slow thinking smallies came out after a fly nearly as big as it was, so there's that.

Yeah, they barked at us. They tried to have a verbal altercation with us, but became frustrated with us laughing at them. Perhaps we could have been more understanding, but when some jackwagon starts a conversation with, " I just need to say this..." adults are not going to be predisposed to give it the attention the jackwagon feels he deserves. Fishing has been great; catching, not as good...and yes, water levels are way up. I feel like it should have made things better, but it hasn't worked out that way. Rivers are wonderful...and frustrating, at the same time. ...you still need come over and fish.

Today's float was almost exactly the opposite. We were the boat that launched first, and not far from where we ran into the river-owners, another angler in a boat moving faster than ours caught up with us. He moved over to the other side of the river as he went past, and pleasant conversation took place about what each boat had seen so far. He moved on and we went back to fishing.

Thanks.

I would rephrase that as "...some people have different priorities, or life gets in the way of putting in the work, time, and effort required to put wild birds in the bag, or even attempt to." Lots of people just don't have access to the numbers and quality of birds that you and I do, living where we live, and the time and expenses of travel to get to that many birds can easily exceed the cost of taking Fido to a hunt club. When we lived in SE WI, my career was in full swing, and my daughter was young, my access to birds was limited to a very small number of wild pheasants, a few woodcock, put and take pheasants, and game farms. Anyone who lives in an area like that has the same limitations on bird availability, and traveling on the weekends is expensive and not something you can always fit into a busy life. When we lived in SE WI a few friends and I belonged to a small, reasonably priced, and really well run hunt club. No fancy clubhouse (just a converted barn), no staff (just the owner and his wife) and no facilities. Incredible cover, and quite a few leftover birds that quickly learned to thrive in the heaviest impenetrable cover on the property. Getting any of those birds in the air was an achievement, and plenty made it through a season more than twice as long as the public season, which made them escape artists of remarkable caliber.

Rich and famous people only wind up in those circumstances if they choose to. Anyone who is afraid to fail is domed to failure. This is the value of hunt clubs; exposure of the dogs to lots of birds and opportunities to train. ...there are also the birds that escape the daily releases, which often become some of the toughest birds to actually hunt because of the constant pressure that lasts much longer than the actual hunting season. A released bird that survives a season becomes one of the most difficult to hunt.

Hey, did you guys know that if some guys launch at the same river launch you're planning on fishing almost three hours before you (they launched about 5:40 AM, we launched about 8:30 AM) and you catch up to them three hours after that, not rushing at all, just floating at a normal pace, that it's poor fishing etiquette? 😂

I agree with this. To a point. That "management" is too often influenced by special interest groups. Those groups include, in no particular order: Farmers Business Politicians with agendas Species specific fishing focused groups, like: Walleyes Bass Musky Trout Salmon Panfish, usually in the form of... Ice anglers Tourist industry influenced (think lodges and campgrounds) groups. The decisions are often heavily influenced by groups that have their own self interests foremost, and not the health of the ecosystem. I serve on our local CORE group, and people would be amazed at how much influence a snowmobiling group, ATV group, or even an off-road bike group can have on a proposal for a trout stream...

Yep. I tie a bass colored Murdich Minnow (in both regular and musky sizes) for fishing around here. They work well.

Rock bass are fun, and pound-for-pound, aggressive, hard fighting fish. If they made it five pounds...even three...anglers wouldn't be able to get enough of them. I'm happy to catch them any time they eat what I'm chucking, flies or gear...they make me smile.

Muskies and pike eat bass... 35 days?

I've not seen the "Alabama Bass" topic, and a search turns up nothing useful. Can someone provide a link?

That's the answer. Use tieable wire, tie it into the main line instead of using the commercial leaders with swivels at the top, and go to town. I catch hundreds of bass all year 'round on rods set up like this, I don't lose any baits or lures to toothy fish, and I catch bunches of pike and musky... In my experience, using lighter (nothing more than 25#) multi-strand tieable wire (it's very flexible) I don't see any impact on action. I'm using 13# coated multi-strand on bass poppers and small flies like Ol' Mr. Wiggly and the wires isn't heavy enough to sink these small flies...I doubt it'd impact the neutral buoyancy of a jerkbait. I'll test it if I think about it next time I'm out and have gear in the boat. Try tieable wire. This stuff, in 11#, or even 17# will work. I'm fishing smaller flies than howitzers on it and and the float just fine. https://www.afwfishing.com/products/parent_Surflon_Micro_Ultra_Nylon_Coated_1x19_Stainless_Steel_Leader_Wire.asp?childskumatch= ...or this in 13# or 26#: https://www.afwfishing.com/products/parent_Surflon_Micro_Supreme_Nylon_Coated_7x7_Stainless_Steel_Leader_Wire.asp?childskumatch= I'm using the 13# a lot on Surface Seaducer medium sized heads, and even #6 Boogle bugs with no useful loss of floating, or action.

...you know what I'm gonna say...so I won't say it, this time... ?

They all count.

Congrats! I've caught dozens of muskies on bass-sized tackle, including a #5 Mepps. You don't need big stuff to catch them. I'm not terribly fond of seeing that fish laying on a wooden dock though...

Great advice, I won't add anything other than to confirm you don't need giant baits/lures to catch muskies. My three most successful lures over time have been 5" Strike King Smokin' Roosters, #5 Mepps and a a one ounce Doctor Spoon, with the smaller Doctor Spoon coming it right behind them. Oh yeah: Use wire bite guards. I tie 25# - 30# tieable wire leaders right into my main line braid with FG knots, or in the case of single strand Knot-2-Kinky, which is virtually invisible, an Alberto Knot. This means there's no upper swivel to run into your guides, which you'll do, sooner or later. I tie in a snap with a swivel at the end (in my case a Mustad Fastach because there are no moving parts in the snap so they can't fail) to make swapping lures out. The exception to this is the rod I have rigged for Smokin' Roosters - on that one I tie a three wrap Trilene knot in the tieable wire directly to a 5/0 EWG Swim Bait hook (I like red Gamakatsu) and swap out the baits when they get beat up. I use a 1/4 oz. Stainless steel weight, and a pink bead to stop the weight from beating up the knot.

You'd find it exceptionally difficult to fish for most of that time where I live. ? Yep. Where I live - NW WI - is gong to be whole bunch different from someone down south...