Musky Opener 2011

Musky ninja rockin' the Saber!

Kevin was concerned about the weather. “Are these fronts coming in going to screw up the fishing?” I wasn’t worried. Musky fishing is musky fishing weather be damned. Sometimes it messes with you, sometimes it works in your favor, but either way, the only way you are going to catch a musky is to be on the river with your fly in the water.

Kevin started off the day tossing a 9 weight rod with an unweighted streamer. Beautiful fly tied by Pike Master Dave Lindsay that got Kevin into his first musky last year. Here is the re-cap of that event: Kevin had been working hard to get into a fish. He had been having a lot of trouble with putting the fly into trees and snags. We got to this big log jam that had a lot of debris on it and a perfect cast put the fly right at the edge of the debris. Kevin promptly announces “$%@& I am snagged” as I watch the line move through the water. He then realizes he has a fish and starts getting excited. After a good fight, Kevin gets up on the bank to land the fish. He is visibly shaking. It is a big fish- over 40”. As soon as he removes tension from the line the fly drops out of the fish’s mouth and takes off. No picture. For Kevin it means no musky (even though it is all on video). He has a truly stunned look on his face. This event has haunted him for the past year.

Musky fodder.

I have to admit, I wasn’t feeling the unweighted fly. The water was in the mid 60’s and I had a feeling the fish would not be super aggressive with streamers. We switched to my Pike Saber with a heavy streamer. Kevin got a follow, right up to the boat. The whole canoe was shaking from Kevin’s excitement. It was a nice fish. We went to the edge to give Kevin a minute to calm down and I got out the Redington Predator rod that was rigged with a diver to see if that would interest this fish (which seemed interested, but non committal). That was indeed the case. It came out looking at the fly but would not take. But Kevin stuck with that fly and set up.


We got to a stretch which looks fishy, I have seen the occasional fish in, but never caught anything there. Kevin has a good cast under some overhanging brush and he exclaims “A fish!”. A good fish is after the fly. I coached him on- “pop it, let it sit, pop it, let it sit- POP IT POP IT!!!” She was following and opening her mouth, very interested, but not ready yet. Those last two fast pops were too much for the fish and she hammered the fly. Very impressive to see a big fish hit topwater 15 feet from the boat. 

Congrats Kevin! Gorgeous fish- and relief from your nightmare!

Kevin initially was more concerned about getting the line on the reel than playing the fish but I got that changed quickly. The Predator worked great as a fish fighting tool. She jumped a bunch and made some good runs. I had to lock down the drag for Kevin. I had a 16 lb leader on there and I knew he could put plenty of pressure on the fish. The last part of the fight took place out of the canoe. When she started to roll on her back I knew it was over. I had never used a Boga on a musky before, but I had a good feeling about making it a lot easier to handle them. Kevin was very pleased about that. It was a gorgeous fish. We didn’t tape it, but I think it went easily 42” or so. After a few pictures the fish swam away. Kevin wore a look of awe and relief. The nightmare he lived for the past year was over.

Like a kid in a candy store...

The business end

Tossing a streamer. I need to lose some weight...

Saber caught musky!

I took the deck. I took the deck for a long time too. Kevin wanted me to get a fish before switching out again. I had a slashing strike on my streamer from a smaller fish, then a non-committal follow, and another non-committal, and another and another… I was losing faith. I saw a musky in the midst of a school of suckers and tossed into them. I had a take but no hook set. That made me feel better, but I wanted a fish. Then I put the fly in front of a branch hanging in the water and the game was on. The Pike Saber was tossing this big streamer beautifully and I knew it was more than up to the task of landing this fish. Big weighted streamers had always been a good choice on this water and this proved it once again. The fish came to hand pretty quickly. It was a nice fish in the low 30” range. It went back after a quick photo shoot. Kevin on deck again.

Kevin breaks 40"- look at the pride in his face!

The wind started to pick up and it was getting tough to paddle. Keeping the boat in a place a fly caster can put the fly in spots they need to go in tight quarters can be tough at the best of times but when you add 20 mph winds it gets to be a real bear. Kevin was doing his best to get the fly where it needed to be and I was doing all I could to keep him on track to do it. Tight, tight quarters made it difficult. There are times that there is a channel only 20 feet wide between the trees to get a cast into. I was busy fighting the wind as he fished.

Then Kevin did it!  Finally, he broke the 40” mark! Under 40” that is. And he did it in spectacular fashion. That next fish was a one hander. Maybe 20”. All that mattered to me is that I got to fish again.

Count Muskula

The wind was still howling and I had a solid take but it disappeared as quickly as I felt it. We hit this big log jam that always looks great but has never produced anything beyond bass. This time was different. A good fish followed out from the front of it. Then Kevin and I were talking about how the logs in the back were the same as last year. This is where I tried to sit down on a log, it dumped me, ripped my shirt open, scratched my back up nicely, and put me under the water. Just after saying “That is where it happened” BAM, a fish takes the fly hard. Two muskies in the jam this year!  

This fish was better than my first and it was a digger. It keep digging straight down and fighting hard. It did come up for a jump or two. Then it rolled the leader around itself. Then it was ready to come to hand. A little CPR (Catch, Photo, and Release) and the fish was off. A fast turnaround time- I was fishing less than 15 minutes and Kevin was back on deck. And I was fighting that wind again. Oh Joy. The rest of the day was uneventful, except of course for the bloody wind. I had to paddle directly into it for much of the last part of the day.

Last fish of the day. Great colors.

We got to our take out point and I managed to swamp Kevin in the back of the boat which lead to some laughter. It was a great day overall, even with the wind. Kevin’s concern about the front coming through never materialized. The fish weren’t hot and heavy, but there were a few players around. Not a bad start to musky season 2011.

 Post script- I had video rolling for much of this so expect some cool musky vids soon!

It's Pickin' Up!

My first of the season!

The season is getting going- better late than never. After record flooding and fairly high water levels in many Vermont streams and rivers things are finally pulling back together. More importantly- the fish are on!

I headed down to "the Creek" and found it surprisingly uncrowded. Very nice to see but indeed unusual for the past year or so. I did see one guy and quickly realized it was Tyler from Classic Outfitters. Just before I went over to talk to him I hooked up with my first smallmouth of the season- a spunky 18" hen with a round belly full of eggs. Pretty sweet!

Tyler "swinging" for gar

As I walked down to see what Tyler was up to, he said "Do you have any gar flies?" and pointed to a 3 foot fish in shallow water. He had it slash at a Zonker a couple of times but it stopped responding to it. I set him up with a Clouser I had that I thought might get the fish interested. I should know better and carry gar flies with me- this isn't the first time I have seen these critters around in May.  Despite my help the gar wouldn't eat. 

My first MC smallmouth this year (not the last!)

I got another nice fish- this one 19.5", a Master Class smallie! Just what I was after! After a couple of photos she went back in. My guess is that she was about 3 lbs or so. This fish is what a lot of guys will tell you is a "5 pounder". Five pound fish can be found but they are a rarity to be honest and they are usually at least 22" or 23" long.

I got into another fish close to where the first one came from. Another gorgeous fish at 17" and it jumped quite a bit. Not two minutes after releasing that fish I had a bump... I thought it was a small fish when it first showed until it tail walked over a branch... this was a good one! It went in the air a couple of times and I brought it in. Another fat female but this one was a bit longer- 20.5"! This fish was pushing 4 lbs too. Very pleased about that!

That is a piggy! (I do mean the fish)

I told Tyler what I was doing and showed him the technique I was using to get their attention but for whatever reason they weren't responding for him. He did get a couple of nice bass on Sunday but sometimes these early fish can be fickle with color and presentation. The first fish that show up are female and they can be a bit more difficult than the males. They have a preference for different flies than the later fish do. If you want to find out what those flies are you will just have to hire me to take you out!

And so it begins....

Weird Day

Trophy brookies in that?  Yessir!

It was a strange day on the water and by the end of the day all I could think of was a quote from Ghostbusters adding in my own quotes to it:

"Huge brookies in ditches, suckers taking Clousers, largemouth in fast water, cats and dogs living together..... mass hysteria!"

That about sums it up. Kevin and I did a float and ran into some exceptionally large brook trout in a place they really should not have been. Very cool to see, but weird, very weird.

Suckers eating minnows?

Then we hit a Lake Champlain trib in Northern Vermont. Kevin put on a big ol' chartreuse and white Clouser minnow and I had on a big olive cone head zonker. He was at the head of a pool and hooked up within 5 minutes. Awesome!  As I ran over to it to see what it was it didn't look at all like the bass we were looking for. Sure enough, it wasn't. It was a big ol' white sucker that latched onto his Clouser. Cool catch, but a sucker on a Clouser..... weird...  The fish was 18", had warty protuberances on it, and was spilling milt. A spawning male. 

Where did this come from?

Not long after that I was standing in the same spot slowly working back my fly and something hits it. I got a look pretty early on and it looked very bass like and it was..... but not a smallie- a largemouth in fast water. Good sized fish, 18", but not what I expected.... weird.....

Kevin got a 12" fallfish then walked down to water I had been fishing and hooked up again with that Clouser. This time it was a smallie- a fat 17" lady.  Females come in first so things are just starting. 

This makes sense!

I managed to hook into and lose something and that was pretty much then end of getting into fish. Seeing how high up the lake was on this trib..... weird....   seeing how high the lake is..... weird..... Kevin outfished me 3 to 1.... weird (not really, but had to say it!)

And I should have some big news this week- a pending state record!  More about that when it goes through!

Apparently I was fishing with a pregnant man too!

Fly-Fishing-Vermont-in-February

Phil Monahan asked me to put something together for the Orvis News Blog. Check out the first piece I wrote about fishing Otter Creek with Jesse Haller of the Middlebury Mountaineer right here:

Fly-Fishing-Vermont-in-February

Looking forward to writing more for them too!  But no worries, I will keep putting lots of goodness here as well!