 |
| Relatively clean desk- a photo was a must! |
So after taking some time to clean up my fly tying desk (something much needed) I started cranking out some bigger flies. I have been thinking alot about muskies on the fly. I have been targeting these apex predators with the long rod for about 15 years now. I am always tinkering with flies to make them bigger and castable at the same time. It hasn't always been an easy combination to pull off. Recently a lot of great artificial materials have come on the market which allow for this combo.Combine that with some ideas given to me by everyone's favorite pike fishing redneck Ken Capsey I decided to tie up some of the biggest flies I have twisted up.
 |
| Musky sized flies indeed! |
|
|
All of these flies are tied with two hooks. Many years ago I was getting more than a few takes from muskies without getting a hookup. The flies were long and I thought that part of it was that I was getting short strikes. I got to the vice and came up with a good tandem hook system. It worked pretty well too! My buddies Marty and Tim have also been using a similar system for muskies with similar success. It seems to be a 50/50 split between the front and back hooks. Seems like the tandem hook worked out nicely!
 |
| Perch style |
The other style that I worked into these dual hook flies deserved a nod to Ken's Money in the Bank fly. This is a great way to add length to a fly by using a trailing hook on a loop of wire attached to the front hook. It also provides a nice amount of movement when it is in the water. Pike and muskies do like a lot of motion in their flies.
The thing that really blows right now is that today is the last day of the musky season in New York. I won't be fishing musky for quite some time now... real bummer. So for a while I will just keep cranking out some big flies, dreaming of those hot summer days slinging big flies with a 10 weight out of my canoe, waiting for that flash of bronze and gold.....
 |
| These flies work great on suckers too! |
what species of sucker is that? I don't have that one on my lifelist yet...
ReplyDeleteThat would be Catastomasaurus dungstaineri Mr. Roughfisher!
ReplyDeletethats one ugly fish ..........:-)
ReplyDeletethe dungstaineri are not known for their looks but they are highly intelligent and noted for their style....
ReplyDeleteDrew-
ReplyDeleteI too have been working on my big flies for a couple of years. I prefer long skinny flies with an epoxy head. This causes the fly to be more aerodynamic when casting, but opens up in the water. I throw ten inch flies 60 feet all day with an 8 weight.
James-
ReplyDeleteI have done the same thing, but I have found that if the hook is not far enough back in the fly then short strikes tend to happen. By putting a second trailing hook in the fly I really saw impressive gains in hooking fish. When you are dealing with big muskies and there might only be one or two fish in a day every advantage counts. And the 10 weight helps handle heavy heads that give a great jigging motion.