Further North

It comes off pretty easy...hit it with a hose and a sponge. ...the line on there is from Monday.

Flows were down, and slow, so picking our way though spots deep enough to float was part of the day. A few smallies, eagles, one osprey, a bunch of whitetail deer and one big pike with a predilection for bass sized poppers made the day fun.

Easiest tie in the world: Tie in a 3" - 4" long strip along the hook shank. Build a collar up near the hook eye (jig head in your case) with another 3 or four tight wraps. You can make the collar of anything (bucktail, marabou, stiff hackle), and I'd add a few pieces of Flashabou as long as the strip you tied on the shank. Red, gold, silver, orange...whatever.

Bucktail, marabou, I have some bear hair, squirrel and rabbit strips, flashabou...anything I'd use to tie flies with...

Exactly - I seldom fish for trout. Bass, musky and pike are my main targets with fly gear. I can't recall the last time I went after trout. We think of that a little differently: I use intermediate lines, and sinking lines, unless I want a jigging action to the flies. I feel that it gives streamers a much more natural action. With big musky poppers, an intermediate sink line actually gives poppers better action - more pop and noise. ...but I dislike weighted flies...particularly those with metal eyes. Sooner or later, they're going to smack your rod...and sooner or later your rod will break where the impact happened. Topwater is great fun...when it works. I find that subsurface is more effective, most of the time. But the days when topwater works are epic!

Welcome to the club! The more you do it, the more you'll like it.

Two musky days aren't as rare as many people might think... But two, on a TRD...that's fishing gods aligning stars, planets... Congrats!

If you want the ultimate "Senko" fun: Introducing the Flenko: The key with these is to hold on to your line with your non-dominant hand so you can feel even the tiniest nudge. ? (The things on the right are Ned Flies. I don't have a cute name for them yet, but they work great.)

Ouch. Pike toofs hurt.

I chase muskies and pike a fair amount. Here's the post I wrote about our Lake of the Woods trip in June: We re fishing Whitefish Bay on the Canadian side. Water was silly high - like 6 ft.+ over normal. The thrill with Esox...'specially big ones...is the eat. They're not going to wow you with their fight...and if you do it enough, you'll find that 24" - 40" fish are the best fighters. We fish skinny-water rivers for musky a lot...mostly with flies...I'll be doing that Friday this week; Monday and Wednesday next week. As much of a rush as having a big Esox eat your bait in a lake is...having it happen in a river where there's no place you can't stand up in...and where most of it is a couple feet deep...is even more fun. Here's how we go after them in the rivers:

? I threw exactly that off and on all day today... No slack line. Maybe I'm doing it wrong. ?

Which set-up are you referencing? Braid to a mono leader is much more sensitive to feel than straight fluorocarbon.

It is. Orders of magnitude.

I use a leader on everything. Mostly wire ('Cuz: pike and musky) but I rig inexpensive stuff like Senkos and Ned rigs with about 7 ft. of Maxima leader. Maxima isn't something I see a lot of related to gear...it's kind of a fly-fishing thing, which is where I got it.

I have a baitcaster rigged for Senkos. 50# high-viz Suffix 832 in yellow, to about 7 ft. of Maxima 6" leader material. Watch line, set hook on any tap, or line movement. Works great.

This fish ate a 9" pink and white Buford fly I was casting for muskies... Yes. I seldom Wacky Rig. It works great.

Yep. Texas rigged over a 2/0 EWG Gamakatsu. I throw mine on a bait caster...no problems...

In a world full of downers, politics, negative news, and frustrations, this is about the funnest thing I've seen in a long time. Dexter made my day. https://www.instagram.com/dexterdogouray/?fbclid=IwAR1Ml0EO9AMFpECcjuArwCaSeleKd9O_aZq-dwFFS5DvW3dbz6Z0Zc_V4H0 https://www.dexterdogouray.com/

That has to help you feel better about it.

I agree...mostly. Two things: It's still there, so ignoring it is unprofessional; people who don't want to use it can simply not provide an e-mail address. Providing it implies that they check it. There's significant benefit to having things in writing, even if it's just in confirmation of a conversation. Nothing beats face to face conversation, followed closely by a phone call. But I don't have any faith that a business that can't find time to answer an e-mail is gonna answer their phone, or return messages.

If you're running a business - particularly one like a charter or guide service that depends entirely on happy customers - and you're not checking and responding to customer's e-mail - you'r enot running your business very well. It only takes a a bit of time a day, even if it's 10:30 at night. I don't expect an immediate reply, or even same day, but within a couple days is expected, and reasonable. Unless, of course, you have so much business that you can afford to walk away from some of it, and endure poor reviews on social media... ...so I think your expectations are reasonable; I'd expect the same. You may still have a great time, but the lack of communication is indicative of something.

Finding a "decent" fly fishing set up under $100 is going to be almost impossible, short of finding something on FB Marketplace, Craigslist, or at a garage sale. That said: for bass and bluegills, I'd not not drop below a 6 wt. While it's possible to catch bass with lighter rods, trying to throw larger streamers and poppers with line that light is difficult and frustrating. If you're in the same "Chippewa Valley" I am in, shoot me a message and I'll be happy to meet you and show you some set ups for exactly what you're talking about, and can probably set you up with a loaner to play with a bit. The closest fly shop to us is over in River Falls - Lund's Fly Shop - and is owned by a friend. He's got everything you need, and he's very good at putting together a budget focused system, as well as providing guidance on what flies to get for our area.

I'm no Michael Jordan, but I've caught three musky bigger than that already this season... ?

It's hard to describe the thrill when a 40"+ fish come out of nowhere and eats your fly. I have seen normally, quiet, relatively reserved anglers erupt with all kinds of exclamations...

Thanks! On a fly too! ...I don't wander into the bass area often...