Further North

Very cool...that's a lot more weight than mine. What's the material. and how did you wrap it on the hook? They'll work...

Those flies work...but man...I dislike that much metal in the heads of my flies. Bass/smaller Esox: Murdich Minnow Larger Esox: Bufords and variations. Here's some "Senko" and "Ned Rig" flies I've been playing with this winter.

...it was -7° when I got up. As my friend Dave used to say, "Makin' ice!"

A fun read for a February afternoon: https://www.hatchmag.com/articles/musky-maxims/7715433 ...they get a lot of it right...

That's a beast of fish! In all the years I've been chasing pike, I've only caught two over 45"...and they were on back to back days, on opposite sides of the same island up in NW Ontario. One on a spoon, one on a fly.

I've always found it interesting to find out why any given angler focuses on one fish more than others.

Georgian Bay is supposed to have some monster pike...and so do a lot of lakes up your way. I can't wait to get back to NW Ontario to chase some.

I honestly don't know. I've never been a tournament guy, so I don't follow them. I kinda keep an eye on Treelands because several of the musky fly anglers I know participate, and my rod builder is a sponsor. Sounds kind of cool. I'll absolutely target pike, if there's enough of them around. I wind up chasing muskies more because that's mostly what's in the rivers here.

That's cool - If I lived where you do, that'd be fun.

I've never heard of a pike tournament, but there's plenty of muskie tournaments out here. There's one up on the Chippewa Flowage - The Treelands Tournement in October - that was won so many times by a fly angler they changed the rules because the gear guys cried and whined. This is an easy question for me to answer because bass are my fallback species after the water gets to warm for musky and pike.

That explains most of it...I seldom use the first three, and I don't think a tieable wire leader impacts spinner baits...I catch bunches of fish a year on them, with wire. ?

I'm glad it's working for you - I've used it twice and it got cut both times (the fish that cut it were big). What lures to feel wire will inhibit the action of? I've got wire all the way down to 12#. You're not a rookie at this, so either you're doing something I don't do, in terms of lures, or I have something to learn.

Up here, you're going to have to deal with pike and musky if you're chasing bass. You have a decision to make: Do you use wire, or loose baits? ...as a side bar: I hope more people are learning to hold Esox horizontally instead of vertically...

Long rods increase distance, but sacrifice accuracy...the lighter the action, the more the sacrifice.

No need to, I looked it up the first time I saw it - because I couldn't imagine a roll cast with dear being made without a weighted line - and figured it out. I was just commenting on the difference. I imagine for most here, the gear version is what is understood.

I find the difference between the gear fishing version of a "roll cast" and the fly fishing version of a "roll cast" interesting. Completely different critters...

This made me smile... He's south of us...a long, long way south...but he's north of you. Another example of how geographically spread out we are, and how different how we fish - even for the same species - needs to be.

You're going to have a blast with that. I chuck flies at a little of everything with muskies, pike and smallies being the primary targets.

I know some folks that have the secret to getting those Tennessee muskies to eat. Gar are are nuts. I used to fish for them on the lake I grew up on. If you can figure out a way to get a hook in 'em (you obviously have), you're in for a heck of a ride!

I'd be excited about that too. I've sorta pondered it, but there's no way for me to hang it on my boat without it being in the way, and a PITA to use. We can't really do that here, unless there no chance of pike or musky. I'd still have to tie on a foot of wire...

I should do that some day. I fish topwater for bass with my fly rod all the time...just never got the itch with gear. How weird is that? Cool. I have a buddy out in Oregon that fishes for them...it's nuts. ...there's bunches of them here in our rivers...we sneak up on them in the drift boat all the time. We could probably catch one if we had the patience. I use a leader. Mono on bass, tieable wire on anything a pike or musky might eat.

Ha! I was trying to catch big pike and kept catching @!%$ING muskies. ? Not really. I was fishing for anything with teeth.

I went quite a ways down the walleye path a few years ago...and discovered that I don't enjoy fishing for them with the techniques that are most successful. I'm just not wired for sitting and jigging, or trolling...my loss.

I built a bait casting rod around Ned rigs, it was a fun experiment. 7' 9" ML TFO Inshore rod, the smallest Shimano Aldebaran reel, 30# braid to about 7 ft of fluoro leader. It's a fun rig to play with...I'm just much of a fan of spinning rods.

I'm pondering adding a heavy two handed rod for musky flies...it'll give me more options, and potentially reduce wear and tear on my shoulder. It may increase distance too, but I'm concerned about how well the techniques I'd have to use will work from a boat. I also have some ideas for new flies, and a couple variations of soft plastics I want to try for pike and musky. This year's new bait was a 10" version of Strike King's now discontinued Smokin' Rooster...I'm thinking of new colors for it in 2022.