Further North

Ha! I was trying to catch big pike and kept catching @!%$ING muskies. ? Not really. I was fishing for anything with teeth.

I went quite a ways down the walleye path a few years ago...and discovered that I don't enjoy fishing for them with the techniques that are most successful. I'm just not wired for sitting and jigging, or trolling...my loss.

I built a bait casting rod around Ned rigs, it was a fun experiment. 7' 9" ML TFO Inshore rod, the smallest Shimano Aldebaran reel, 30# braid to about 7 ft of fluoro leader. It's a fun rig to play with...I'm just much of a fan of spinning rods.

I'm pondering adding a heavy two handed rod for musky flies...it'll give me more options, and potentially reduce wear and tear on my shoulder. It may increase distance too, but I'm concerned about how well the techniques I'd have to use will work from a boat. I also have some ideas for new flies, and a couple variations of soft plastics I want to try for pike and musky. This year's new bait was a 10" version of Strike King's now discontinued Smokin' Rooster...I'm thinking of new colors for it in 2022.

42" is plenty big. This one was "only" 40" and she was enough of a challenge to get out from heavy cover on the river. FWIW, river fish are a bunch more fun than stillwater fish...

I knew a few folks would get it... Like muskies...if it was easy, anyone could do it... ?

How about...

That's a sad, pathetic level of desperation. That said...what's the dorky, faked, unnatural pose with the fishing rod? Who does that?

Those work well. My most successful pike and musky lure: ...it's not even close... Too bad they stopped making them... I make my own now, in the original 5" version, and my own 10" version. Its latest conquest:

...if I were going to try to fish for trout with gear, I'd use at least 20# braid, with about 10' of mono or fluoro leader. ...I'd probably use mono because fluoro takes forever to break down.

I have had 2 ft pike get T-Boned by musky...the musky didn't let go until I stuck the net in her face...

Thanks, I have, in Western Ontario...back to back on consecutive days, once. One on gear, one on a fly.

Thanks for the follow up.

Thanks, I have a couple of pretty light set ups already - I fish Ned Rigs on a 7' 9" casting rig, and Senkos as well, but that's getting pretty "heavy". I have an Abu Garcia LTX that might work even better than that Curado, and the small size Aldebaran, I was wondering if that rod needed even lighter.

That's a cool rod... What reel to pair with it?

I tried once, a long time ago. It bored me to tears. I tried it again to make sure I wasn't missing something. Same result. I understand how some folks can enjoy it, but it's not for me. Around here it tends to be more of a social event than the kind of fishing I enjoy.

You can build that Mepps Aguila just about any way you want right on the Mepps website: https://www.mepps.com/information/aglia-dressed-aglia/121#B3 G Around here, the #5 dressed version is one of my top lures. Red and white blade and white dressing; Brown trout blade with brown dressing, green blade and black dressing, and orange blade with black dressing are some of the go-to options. It may vary in your area. Every winter I inventory what Mepps I lost and replace the ones I need right from them. ...and please don't try a braided line leader. Tieable wire is best, commercially tied wire leaders are 2nd best, very stout fluorocarbon leaders are third, and braid doesn't make the list. Any Esox will slice it off like it's not there if they get teeth on it.

River muskies are not as sensitive to the "bite window" idea, or to atmospheric conditions, as still water (lake) muskies are. With a river, if you're drifting it, you're unlikely to be able to pick where you'll be at a specific time anyway...you're going to be where you're going to be. If the "hot spot" is in the first hour of an 8 hour drift, but the "window" is from 4:00 - 6:00...you're simply not going to be able to be there. All that said, I agree 1,000% with the idea that the more time you spend out there, the better you'll get at it. With rivers, recognizing and setting up for the the important stretches is the key to getting muskies attention. They'll still screw with you, and mess with your head, because they're Muckin' Fuskies. ?

Are you fishing down near Delavan, or up near Balsam Lake? If you're up near Balsam Lake, you're not far away and I'm looking at conditions daily...if you're up north, feel free to reach out via private message. ...either way...don't waste time this time of year on shallow stretches, focus on the deeper pools. High, rising water scatters fish, low, dropping water concentrate them.

Exactly...predators can only eat so much before there's no food for them left to eat... Some people don't seem to be that smart...or to care.

80# thrust would be fine for your boat. That's what I put on a boat about the size of yours I built last year before I bought my drift boat. It worked great...and still does...I fish with the new owner often.

I run a 36 volt, 112 lb. thrust Minn Kota Ulterra...I've put it through every kind of hell imaginable and the only issued are user induced. Ain't no such thing as an over-powered trolling motor...

You have a great boat, and a good plan for adapting it. The CMV is a lot wider - 8 ft. - and might draft deeper than would be good for a lot of your water. There's a solid reason why I use the CMV for lakes and my drift boat for the shallow rivers...it all comes down to how shallow the water is. The CMV can get down to about 12" if I raise the motor up...the drift boat can deal with 4".

Strorage was the biggest reason for getting it. All my "stuff" goes below deck - the front of the boat is a floating tackle store. There's more than 20 rods in the rod locker... The folded musky net goes on the floor in the back, starboard side, up against the transom.

I can, and have, done it with one hand when I have a fish on. I don't open the net unless I need it...there's no room for it in the boat, open. I found pictures on-line. That's a cool rig, I like it. My "lake boat" is a Crestliner CMV 1850, the same age as yours. Unless something stupid happens, it'll be my last boat. It suits what I do very, very well.