Further North

Tuesday I floated a hunk of river with an old friend, and another friend and his son from central Illinois. We saw six muskies (four follows, two on, but none in the net...that's what musky fly fishing looks like). Our friend from Illinois took the first "in action" photos of my drift boat, and I thought some of you might like to see them. I figure leaving the background in is OK, because the only way anyone knows it is if they've floated it... A short video too: We'd just had a follow, and Brian was in "throw back" mode.

I'm actually about 90 minutes east of @gimruis, but much more rural. ...and I have rivers where most folks can't get conventional watercraft. Floated about 9 miles yesterday, had six musky follows, two on, none in the net.

Yeah, you deal with probably 20x the pressure I do. Maybe more. ...the water isn't any clearer though.

Tieable wire is more supple than that fluorocarbon, have you considered it? ...and the light weight don't even drag a small bass popper down on a fly rod. You know your stuff, I am just curious.

Wire leader is best, hands down. Any fluoro or mono that'll work with your 10# braid will get cut sooner of later. Tieable wire is the best wire out there. AFW Surflon is one. Rio (typically found on fly fishing websites) is another, and offers 13 multi-strand coated wire, which should match favorably to your 10# braid. I FG knot it into my braid (Alberto will work), then I tie in a clip of some kind (I use Mustad Fastach, both with, and without a swivel, depends on the lure I'm using) with a Perfection loop. That's as fail safe as you'll get, and no, the wire does not inhibit the action of the lures.

You're probably right, but I am gifted with the ability to not care what others claim and say...I mean...consider the source...

I wouldn't even do that. Getting my name attached to a record is about the last thing I want.

Anything over about 40" is pretty big fish, IMO. 50" is sort of the Holy Grail. Weight isn't really a thing in musky circles. No way to get it with any accuracy without hurting the fish.

Esox are unpredictable and frustrating...and do stuff like that all the time... A friend caught one on a small bass popper about a month ago...

I know a bunch of the the guys guiding in this video. It's a short-ish peek into the nuttiness that is fly fishing for muskies.

A buddy who was giving me static about tying 13# wire in front of my bass poppers was trying my fly rod, and the new wire leader set-up...said it'd kill the action. He had a 28" musky rocket up from under the fly, grab it, clear the water completely, and land back in the water 3 ft. away...it hooked itself, and the wire held. He thinks it's a great idea now. Not as cool as in the boat, but esox can be acrobats.

Perfect for flies!

They're an aggressive fish, right? Seems like a good target for flies.

? Fair enough. ...but I'd rather have that than donating a bunch of lures and flies...

Cool. Any catch of toothy fish on ight line without a leader is a gift from the fish gods and should be celebrated.

I have a7', and another I think is 8' 6" or 8' 4". Two piece. Haven't used either in years. Improves casting distance casting. Degrades accuracy. Action on both is great.

Welcome to the club! We saw 7 today, had two on, none in the net, in about 8 miles of a river float. They can be like that, sometimes.

Musky, not a pike (gator).

I am probably missing something, but the idea that rod length on small streams...with fly gear...helps an angler make casts easier in tight situations has always been a head scratcher for me. It's the length of fly line outside your guides that's going to cause problems...in my head anyway....and that doesn't change based on rod length. It reminds me of the guys who claim that shotguns with shorter barrels work better in the grouse woods...

No fish is fine, particularly if I'm drifting a river. Last Thursday's drift produced no fish, but we saw otters, a bear cub in a tree, deer, eagles, an osprey, green herons, a muskrat, a pileated woodpecker, geese...and lots more. Good conversation with a good friend, and a day out doors casting flies and getting fresh air. Can't beat that.

I'm not that much of a trout angler...but I have three 4 wt. rods: One 8 ft., one 8 1/2 ft., and one 10 ft., for nymping. I prefer my 8 1/2 ft. rod, but the 8 ft. rod gets it done well too. And a 9 ft. 5 wt. is kinda the "gold standard." ...I'd hang an intermediate line on the 8 wt., and you'll be set for bass. 1 ips, maybe 2.

First: I agree that a 5 wt. is a great place to start for trout. It'll do about anything you like. Second: A 5 wt. is only effective for bass if you stay with small flies - think small poppers and woolly buggers. It will not cast larger bass flies (bigger poppers, larger streamers) with any efficiency at all. Personally, a 6 wt. is the lightest weight rod I'll use for bass, and I'm much more likely to go to an 8 wt. Like the 5 wt., an 8 wt. will throw just about anything - small to large - that you'll want to fish bass with. Yes, some people use 5 wt. rods on bass. They're likely using pretty small flies - like @Fallser above - but it's far from ideal if you're going to target bass with any regularity, and want to throw the bigger flies. They are also probably not new to fly fishing.

Very cool! Tigers fascinate me...I wish we had more of them.

The most successful soft plastic I use on esox is a Texas rigged (over tieable wire) Strike King Smokin' Rooster. I don't know why, but they go after it with a vengence. This 43" musky is one of two that ate one on LOTW this June, along with dozens of pike. ...unfortunately, Strike King stopped making the Smokin' Rooster at some point during COVID. They sold their remaining stock to Sierra Trading post - and I bought as much as they'd sell me, leaving me with about 700 in various colors. I also had a mold made, to make them in esox triggering color combinations.

If you don’t have at least a medium heavy rod and steel leaders, you're under geared for musky unless you get very lucky with hook placement.