Further North

I've fished Ontario a fair amount. There is lots of water you can drive to that has big pike, and musky. Both my personal best pike (one on gear, one on the fly) - right around 48" - came from a lake in NW Ontario that you can drive to, and gets almost no pressure for pike. Sorting out where to fish is always a challenge the first couple days until you figure out what pattern the fish are on, as there is so much water, structure, and cover that it all looks good. In Canada, "Heavily fished" tends to be nothing like pressured water here in the states. I have spent full weeks on Lake of the Woods where I have only seen a few boats the whole week while out fishing, as opposed to dozens a day down here, and LOTW is one of the most popular destinations in Canada. ...I'm sure there's exceptions to that (there always is) but generally speaking, the Canadian version of heavily fished is a fraction of what the US definition looks like.

I wish I could help, but that's completely out of my area of operations. If I were heading to new water - a river in particular - in search of muskies, I'd hire a guide for at least the first day.

More "not my ties". Brian Vander Maazen from Amaazen Outdoors donated a float trip to our RGS banquet (along with a guided upland hunt), and I wanted to spice up the presentation a bit...so I asked my friend Dustin to donate a half dozen flies or so. This is what arrived this morning: ...that's 41 flies. Thanks Dustin!

I've been a little remiss... Last week's flies. The top one is one I tied...took most of the time at fly tying club last week. Mostly learning, but it'll fish. Much better taper than I've managed in the past. Practice may not make perfect, but it certainly improves fly tying. 2nd fly is one of four I got from a friend tied by Ian Devlin. The guys loved the fly, and we're speculating on what action it'll have in the water. Tons of profile, almost no cross-section...hoping it darts side to side like a son-of-a-gun. The 3rd fly was tied by Gabe Park, one of the local guides that comes to fly tying club. He works with Hunter Dorn at Wisconsin Fly Fishing Company, and down at Musky Fool. Gabe impresses me with his knowledge and overall fishiness...he's quiet and thoughtful...Anyway, the fly is the fly fishing equivalent of a glide bait...like a Suick, but with fur, feathers and flash. The fly is a beast, and you [i]might[/i] be able to toss it with a 10 wt., but a 12 wt. is the better bet. The density o f the bucktail in the front 1/3 of this thing has to be seen to be appreciated. There's a loop to add a drop hook about 1/3 back too. Dunno if I'll ever use it, but it's there.

That's why I go to the fly tying club...it pushes me to tie.

Everything I've posted is easy to tie, and the opposite of intricate...those "flenkos" take about a minute each, and even the big Murdich flies are pretty quick ties with simple materials and no complicated steps. You should give them a try, I'm sure you could tie them.

The last two weeks' flies. The black and red "FURdich" needs to evolve a little, but it'll get eaten. I am thinking a dubbing loop for the fur rather than wrapping the nutria zonker strips. The black and orange Mega Murdich is much more visually appealing in person. This week's batch was in improvement. The Flenkos are FnF Predator9...the top one is olive and black, the 2nd one has red flash woven into it. It doesn't show well in the picture, but the Mega Murdich has an olive tail with orange and black/brown flash; the head is bright orange filler flash with the top colored bronze. I like the way the little pink Murdich turned out.

This is as good a video as I've seen to give a quick look at what chasing muskies on the fly in shallow water looks like...even though it compresses about 16 hours of fishing into about a half hour. Both Josh Smeltzer and Gabe Park are local to this area, and we see each other a lot...great guys, very fishy...very knowledgeable. Dan's Musky Fool company has jumped to the forefront in the niche for being one of the best place to find rods, gear, flies...and good advice. Worth a watch, I think.

Yep. I tell people, "If I can do it, anyone can do it."

Yep...and I'm not sure it's even needed. ...I am also having a problem thinking about how to furl the material around something...but there's a good chance I'm making it too complicated, like I did with all the previous versions of the Flenko flies.

I'd have to do some thinking about how to to furl it around something, and try it to see how it worked. Too much stiffness would be a problem, and I feel like weed eater line would be way too stiff.

Me either. They cut the line above the spinnerbait.

I've seen people who didn't listen get bit off a half dozen times in one day. I had a guy loose two Mepps and a Rapala in the first three hours of a float this summer until he let me tie in some wire. To be fair, I don't think any of those fish were under 30". Which made it worse. ? ...but if it works for you, that's cool. I get the YMMV, but the BIW eludes me? I agree, and with the exception of one trip, find Doctor Spoons more effective than the old reliable Daredevle.

That would get bit off right away here. No wire = donated lures here.

Keeping in mind that I am targeting musky and pike, and not chain pickeral, I am a fan of Mepps in-line spinners from #3 to #5. My most productive colors are red/white and brown trout, though green/black is very effective on some waters here. A bit of pink is never a bad idea herein WI either.

Wire leaders...tied into the main line so they don't kill the action...

Yes, I do that on all mine. Makes them way easier to unhook, I can do it over the side of the boat 9 times out of 10.

In-line spinners for the win!

The first ever FURdich Minnow Two more of the Mega Murdich Minnows ...and some more Flenko experiments

That was the point I was trying to make: We don't need that giant tackle to catch muskies. I Listed my three most successful musky lures, and you can toss them all day on medium to heavy bass gear....and those lures have caught many more muskies than my big stuff. Same on the musky fly fishing side: I've caught far more muskies (around 3:1) on my "heavy 8 wt." rods than my 10 and 12 wt. rods combined.

Yes. That. ....and a Smokin' Rooster. ?

Yep. A natural tiger, from a body of water that has never been stocked with them, is quite a "thing". It leaves you in awe of Mother Nature's adaptability, persistence..."Life will find a way."

Tiger muskies, though rare, absolutely occur naturally without stocking. Every one I have caught to date has been a natural fish.

It is, and it's unfortunate.

Eventually, yes...but even one quality "musky rod" with a good reel is going to be hundreds of dollars. If the bug bites, we all wind up there (I have 30+ fly rods, the bulk of which are 8 wt. and up for "big game, and even more gear rods, two boats, thousands of lures and flies, equipment and material for making my own lures, baits and flies...) but the first thing is to figure out if this game is even our thing. Some folks don't enjoy the grind. Of course they do...sometimes. Other times, a 5" Smokin' Rooster or #5 Mepps is they key. We've all seen the eat where a fish has refused one size...than clobbered the other on the first presentation on the first cast. I spent a week in Canada with a dedicated musky angler once, early June. Muskies were not eating big lures, and he couldn't convince himself to downsize. He went fishless, other than a couple medium sized pike, while I boated nine muskies for the week between 35 and 48" on nothing lager than the 1 1/8 Doctor Spoon.