Booked a week of musky fishing in Wisconsin this past winter.
Day 1
Great day on a beautiful river. Spent the first hour working on casting the larger flies and getting the figure 8 down. Landed my first pike, which was really cool even if it wasn't the green ghost I was after.
Did have two musky follows and the biggest surface explosion I've ever seen on a fly. I cast into some overhanging branches that had a buildup of leaves, needles and foam. The fly landed in the foam and I made one strip and the surface exploded. Felt nothing so I kept stripping in and saw a much bigger ghost tracking the fly. It wouldn't commit but I was so full of adrenaline I could barely catch my breath for a minute or two.
Day 2
Another beautiful day floating a small river. I did manage another pike to keep the skunk off the boat but aside from a slight grab on my second cast of the day there were no signs of musky. Got to fish beautiful water and was getting the hang of the process of fly fishing for musky.
Day 3
Different guide today but got to fish a larger river on a sweet jet boat. Right off the bat had a musky follow but couldn't even work it into the figure 8 due to a giant rock between us and the fish. Caught another pike which is always good practice on strip setting.
The guide mentioned a tributary we could run to for smallmouth to take a break from musky. My tired arms were sending signals to the brain making me seriously contemplate switching to lighter rods and smaller flies. Luckily I then found two suicidal smallmouth that ate big musky flies. With the two smallies to hand I had my Wisconsin smallmouth so I could continue grinding for a musky.
Day 4
Fished some smaller waters which were known for higher densities of musky. We started by fishing a smaller surface pattern (diver) along the weed beds. The heavens opened up and there was a massive sideways surface grab. I strip set even though this fish was gonna be hooked no matter what and came tight to a nice musky. In the months leading up to the trip I watched plenty of musky videos and many fish come quickly to the net. This musky had other ideas. It ran around the boat as I prayed it would stay hooked. After a nice tussle it made it into the net. I'm usually a quiet guy but after three days of seeing ghosts and an amazing surface grab a loud "Yeeeaaah" came out of my lungs and echoed across the water.
It was the perfect first musky for me. Good sized, great fighter, and a topwater eat. The rest of the day was typical musky fishing. No moving any fish but enjoying the process and working hard to stay engaged the entire time.
Day 5
The previous days work were starting to take a toll. My hands and shoulders hurt from casting large flies and working the figure 8's day after day. After the surface eat the previous day I spent an hour tying up a large popper for day five. Today was a larger lake day out of a jon boat. Started the day fishing the popper. It was an exciting way to fish but no eats. The six green ghosts following did get the heart pumping. The hands and shoulders started feeling better, either from getting lubricated from fishing or the high dose of Aleve and Tylenol. Eventually we switched back to the larger subsurface glider and started fishing with faster and more erratic retrieve. As I was coming to the top of a figure 8 another musky came out of the depths and just mauled the fly right in front of us. This green goblin was not as frisky and was in the net right away.
Fished hard the rest of the afternoon but even the follows vanished. Happy for another successful day.
Day 6
Back in the drift boat on a hot blue bird day. My hands were screaming uncle when I first started casting. Just like blisters on a long hike or run, the pain in my hands vanished using them. We saw a couple follows but they were not in a biting mood (typical musky). A bit later in the day just as I was about to start a figure 8 a larger musky (guide said it was in the 48" range) came up and grabbed the fly. I came tight briefly but then there was nothing. All I could do was lean over the gunwale in mental anguish as I had a feeling that this was my shot for the day. I did end up hooking and landing a pike.
As we started getting closer to the takeout the fatigue of the past six days of fishing built up. I thought we had two more spots to fish and I told the guide I had one more spot left in me. Luckily there was only one more weed line to fish so I was able to make it through without quitting.
Day 7 was cancelled due to the massive storms rolling through the Midwest. As I pulled away from the launch after making the decision to not fish a bolt of lightning went all the way to the ground about a 1/2 mile away. Made the decision easier to swallow. Left the hotel a day early and headed to Madison where I got to spend a little extra time at the fly shop due to the tornado sirens.
If you're interested in fly fishing for musky in Wisconsin I highly recommend the Musky Fool guides. I fished with Nick for five days and Josh for one day. Both were great guides and I will be going back. I am hooked on musky and already have a boat on order to hit our local musky fisheries in Western New York.
Day 1
Great day on a beautiful river. Spent the first hour working on casting the larger flies and getting the figure 8 down. Landed my first pike, which was really cool even if it wasn't the green ghost I was after.
Did have two musky follows and the biggest surface explosion I've ever seen on a fly. I cast into some overhanging branches that had a buildup of leaves, needles and foam. The fly landed in the foam and I made one strip and the surface exploded. Felt nothing so I kept stripping in and saw a much bigger ghost tracking the fly. It wouldn't commit but I was so full of adrenaline I could barely catch my breath for a minute or two.
Day 2
Another beautiful day floating a small river. I did manage another pike to keep the skunk off the boat but aside from a slight grab on my second cast of the day there were no signs of musky. Got to fish beautiful water and was getting the hang of the process of fly fishing for musky.
Day 3
Different guide today but got to fish a larger river on a sweet jet boat. Right off the bat had a musky follow but couldn't even work it into the figure 8 due to a giant rock between us and the fish. Caught another pike which is always good practice on strip setting.
The guide mentioned a tributary we could run to for smallmouth to take a break from musky. My tired arms were sending signals to the brain making me seriously contemplate switching to lighter rods and smaller flies. Luckily I then found two suicidal smallmouth that ate big musky flies. With the two smallies to hand I had my Wisconsin smallmouth so I could continue grinding for a musky.
Day 4
Fished some smaller waters which were known for higher densities of musky. We started by fishing a smaller surface pattern (diver) along the weed beds. The heavens opened up and there was a massive sideways surface grab. I strip set even though this fish was gonna be hooked no matter what and came tight to a nice musky. In the months leading up to the trip I watched plenty of musky videos and many fish come quickly to the net. This musky had other ideas. It ran around the boat as I prayed it would stay hooked. After a nice tussle it made it into the net. I'm usually a quiet guy but after three days of seeing ghosts and an amazing surface grab a loud "Yeeeaaah" came out of my lungs and echoed across the water.
It was the perfect first musky for me. Good sized, great fighter, and a topwater eat. The rest of the day was typical musky fishing. No moving any fish but enjoying the process and working hard to stay engaged the entire time.
Day 5
The previous days work were starting to take a toll. My hands and shoulders hurt from casting large flies and working the figure 8's day after day. After the surface eat the previous day I spent an hour tying up a large popper for day five. Today was a larger lake day out of a jon boat. Started the day fishing the popper. It was an exciting way to fish but no eats. The six green ghosts following did get the heart pumping. The hands and shoulders started feeling better, either from getting lubricated from fishing or the high dose of Aleve and Tylenol. Eventually we switched back to the larger subsurface glider and started fishing with faster and more erratic retrieve. As I was coming to the top of a figure 8 another musky came out of the depths and just mauled the fly right in front of us. This green goblin was not as frisky and was in the net right away.
Fished hard the rest of the afternoon but even the follows vanished. Happy for another successful day.
Day 6
Back in the drift boat on a hot blue bird day. My hands were screaming uncle when I first started casting. Just like blisters on a long hike or run, the pain in my hands vanished using them. We saw a couple follows but they were not in a biting mood (typical musky). A bit later in the day just as I was about to start a figure 8 a larger musky (guide said it was in the 48" range) came up and grabbed the fly. I came tight briefly but then there was nothing. All I could do was lean over the gunwale in mental anguish as I had a feeling that this was my shot for the day. I did end up hooking and landing a pike.
As we started getting closer to the takeout the fatigue of the past six days of fishing built up. I thought we had two more spots to fish and I told the guide I had one more spot left in me. Luckily there was only one more weed line to fish so I was able to make it through without quitting.
Day 7 was cancelled due to the massive storms rolling through the Midwest. As I pulled away from the launch after making the decision to not fish a bolt of lightning went all the way to the ground about a 1/2 mile away. Made the decision easier to swallow. Left the hotel a day early and headed to Madison where I got to spend a little extra time at the fly shop due to the tornado sirens.
If you're interested in fly fishing for musky in Wisconsin I highly recommend the Musky Fool guides. I fished with Nick for five days and Josh for one day. Both were great guides and I will be going back. I am hooked on musky and already have a boat on order to hit our local musky fisheries in Western New York.
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post. Good ol’ Salmo has no qualms being specific, which I appreciate.
