Further North

No brainer for this old guy: Lake #2. Lake #2 has musky. I'll assume that it has pike too. Pike+Musky+Bass = 10x any lake without Pike and musky. Sounds like you like lake 2 better....that's enough right there...

They call that "chumming" where I come from... ...be careful here, I have been advised that some states frown on it. I might have been fibbed to...but I'd check it out first.

I rolled through a lot of the above, so please pardon my redundancy if I cover things already covered. I wade for trout, bass and musky. Cold water rivers (trout) tend to have fewer slippery rocks. Wet wading is fine, I do it all the time in warmer weather...but get a decent pair of wading boots anyway, and a wear a pair of heavy socks, or whatever it takes to make up the difference in the size so your feet fit...I use the cut off bottoms of an old set of waders. Don't wear shorts unless you are OK with abrasions and cuts on your shins and knees. Anyone who says they never get them is telling fibs, or only wades in municipal swimming pools. Felt bottom boots are best, and a wading staff is the gnat's fanny - two points in contact with the bottom at any given time is massively more stable than one...it's logarithmic in the increase in stability it gives you. I slipped and fell a few years back trying to land a pike...blew up my left wrist and had to pass on an entire season of chasing grouse and pheasant...couldn't shoot. Simms boots are awesome, but there are a lot of other brands that work just fine...but don't go cheap (unless you find great boots on sale, then hit 'er hard, I do that all the time). There are Simms boots with rubber soles that are almost as good as felt...other brands may do as well, but I can't speak from experience. Waders...buy the kind with separate boots if you can swing the cash. There is no comparison for comfort. Period. Get good waders (you do not have to spend hundreds of $$$, but you're not going to find them for $39.99 at Wally world either)...and wear a belt. A belt can save your butt. Get a good vest/backpack/chest pack/belt pack/sling pack...whatever fits your style...and put in it what you're going to use for the day. Don't take everything you own, or try to cover too many "maybes". You'll just make yourself crabby on the water when you cant get to what you need without wading to the side of the river and dumping all your crap out to find that fluoro leader spool you thought you put in that pocket...don't ask how I know this... The advice to check in with the trout guys is great - they do this almost every time they fish, and they're not dummies. I have stolen all kinds of ideas and techniques from them. As a a sidebar, the saltwater guys know a thing or two about what to wear in hot weather and sun protection... ...on to the fishing: If the water is slow (pools) wade very slowly and think about the water your pushing. On relatively un=pressured water, this isn't quite as big a deal...but from the fish's perspective, a significant number of the things that try to eat them disturb the water a fair amount... In runs and riffles, it's not quite as important to wade stealthily...but it is important to watch where your shadow falls, and if fish can see you. Wear clothing that blends into the background if possible. Length of your steps matters less than being sure you are stable on one foot before you move the other. There's an "Oh CRAP!" moment when you realize you're not...and you're gonna get wet...hopefully you don't wind up as a floater... For bass and toothy fish, I fish downstream because it's easier and I am unconvinced it makes any difference. Look ahead and plan your wading so you don't run a buncha mud and bottom crap through an area you're gonna fish two minutes later. Get out of the river and walk along the bank if you need to, if that's legal in your area. On river bends: The inside of the bend in usually where it's shallow. this is important. You want to wade there, most often, and throw to the outside where it's deeper. There is almost always a hole right after any significant obstruction on the bottom (and often right in front of it as well, depending on current. This is important because A) fish like to hang out there, and you're gonna loose your balance and fall if you step in too many of the holes. Try to be across the river from structure you are casting at...if possible...but don't get too wrapped 'round the axle about this. You can always cast ahead to cover structure. On every river, everywhere, the best place to cross is going to be between bends, in the riffles. Rivers are always Run - Riffle - Pool/Run - Riffle - Pool. There are no exceptions to this, though some riffles on big rivers may still be too deep and'or moving too fast to wade safely. Learn to look for the pattern and use it to your benefit. When you come to a section of river that's new...do yourself a favor and take some time to look at it and plan how you're going to work it. Look for where the fish are likely to be and how you might approach them. If there is any kind of a topwater bite happening, you might even have a fish or two show you where they are. All in all, rivers are awesome places to fish...but be careful, and be cautious...they can kick your butt much faster than stillwater. You'll be the most likely to hurt yourself when you think you know hat you're doing...but don't quite have a handle on it yet. Try to recognize when this is, and up your caution. Hope this helps and if it generated any questions, fire away...happy to expand on anything I've left you wondering about.

I'd have winged it on that one. It not like you didn't have a license, you just forgot it. Most wardens are going to forgive that, call it in to check you out...and even if they don't it's cheaper than wasting a day of fishing. BTW, trick to avoid this: Printed copies in: Wallet Boat and/or canoe. Vehicle Tackle boxes that tend to get used for different things. I have one in My trout sling pack for fly fishing My smallie sling pack for wading rivers for smallies My musky sling pack. The rod bag I use when I fish with other people on their boats.

Way up here in Da Nort' Woods, cold snaps will usually put smallies on a feed...but then...so will warming trends...and cloudy days...and windy days... Seems that if you get the right bait in the right place in the fall it's time to hang on... Scott, up here I tend to find that's true...to a point. When the water gets cold enough the fish tend to migrate into the deeper water in the impoundment formed by the dam.

Looks like the book is shipping now, just received an e-mail that mine should be here by Wednesday.

Interesting idea, I'll be curious what your testing shows.

Same as above - have the Ninja, it works great.

I found the article worth reading. Agree that "balance" was a key concept, and not just how the weight is distributed... I fly fish a bunch, for fish all the way up to musky, and balance between rod, reel, line and fly is critical...and the bigger the fly the more important it is. Gear rods aren't really any different, but there are so many more combinations and we tend to push the limits more...which isn't a good thing.

Yeah, he does. Well...maybe not "huge", but certainly big streamers. He is, IMO, way undergunned in that area...it's one place I disagree with him. There's no reason to do that, IMO. Why work that hard? A 7 wt., or even better an 8 wt. will make that a lot easier on the fisherman...light rods with big flies are a chore and I just can't wrap my head around any good reasons to go lighter...it is similar (in my head) to fishermen who use an ultralight to try to catch big bass because it's "sporting" Rods that are too light also make it harder to set the hook... In fly fishing...much more than with gear...the size of the fly, and how wind resistant it is determine the line weight...and thus the rod weight. I went down that path for a while as well...until I found that synthetic materials tied very sparsely gave me flies that had the same profile as the hair/fur/feather flies my buddies were tossing but that I could throw with a rod that was two weights lighter...and that much easier to use all day if need be. One of the things I do is switch back and forth during the day. You can get worn out and tired of throwing flies on a heavier rig...so set it down and throw gear for a while...when you're rested, try flies again...it's surprising how much this makes throwing gear easier as well... Same here...discussions with other fly fishermen and reading a lot are what helped to realize that trying to use too light a rod for the size of the flies I wanted to use was frustrating me and pushing me away from fly fishing. As soon as I upped my line and rod weights, it became easy to to throw big bass flies...and now I do it some almost every time I go out. I got really close to that point myself...until I learned to balance fly size, fly weight and wind resistance to the gear needed to get the job done with minimum effort. I see guys working way too hard all the time...and if I get the opportunity to pick up their rig and try it, I almost always find something out of balance...Sometimes its as simple as the line just not working on that rod. When I was on LOTW this summer, my boat partner was just struggling with a relatively light fly on an Orvis Helios 2 and Hardy reel...he had a Rio Pike/Musky intermediate sinking line on the rod...after watching him fight the rig all day, I picked it up to try it when we got back to camp that night...it took almost 30 feet of line out to load the rod to the point you could cast with it. Hmmmm.... I grabbed a rig I had set up on a similar 9 wt. rod (Lamson Speedster reel with an Airflo pike/musky line...and BINGO! ...needed about 12 feet of line out to load the rod so you could cast it. THis simple swap turned an unworkable rig into an easy to cast set up. I put my 9 wt. in the cabin and told my buddy to try his rod with my reel and line...and he fell in love with his H2 all over again...He bought a reel and line like mine when he got home... In retrospect, I shoulda just kept my findings to my self and lowballed him on the Helios at the end of the trip...coulda had it for pennies on the dollar...

Scott, the "trick" to that is...don't use a light rod to throw big flies. One of the comments I get a lot when I mention fly fishing for pike and muskies is along the lines of, "Wow, that must be one helluva fight!", and you can tell people are thinking I'm using a trout rod...I'm not. Not even close. I really feel like most bass flies are an 8 wt. game for me...maybe 7 wt...occasionally 6 wt. if the flies are small poppers...but never lighter than that.Pike ant muskies start at 8 wt, and go up to 9 and 10 wt. for me...11 wt. and 12 wt. for a lot of guys. Most of my bass on a fly are on 8 wt. rods, and I tie my flies to work that way...which means using materials that shed water. I'm not much of a fan of bucktail, feathers and fur when a similar fly made from synthetic materials will shed water at a much higher rates and look just fine in the water.

Yeah, he does... I see a lot of similar flies at Lund's Fly Shop in River Falls...Brian had a bunch of what looked a lot like the Bucktail Game Changers hanging on a rack when I was there last Tuesday. I'm really focusing on big flies (10" - 16") that I can throw on an 8 wt. without beating myself up. I spent a day on the St. Croix last fall with a a musky fly guide...and I was just beat to death at the end of the day... These flies are the same size, are weedless...and you can throw them on an 8 wt. instead of a 10 - 12 wt. ...and they work great, at least on LOTW...and out local lakes... I'm working on a smaller version for bass...haven't quite got the details nailed yet.

...and it's a Bass Resource article: https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/streamers-bass.html?utm_source=SEPnews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=9417 Works on Largemouth too... That's an 8" fly...hard to see in the pic, but it is...

I'd buy the boat...but that's me. ...can't take it with you...

I've seen them...I don't want a swivel at the lane to leader connection, I want the line to leader connection to be able to go through the guides.

It'll work just fine.

Just a guess, but are you certain that: You are making the loop with the leader material and not with the braid, and When you finish the wraps going back towards the loop, you are passing the main line through the loop the same way the main line went through to start the knot? Either of those two things done wrong will likely make the knot unravel.

OK, but what ΔE is acceptable? 2.0? 3.0...4.0? We need answers!

Great fish - Congrats!

I'd go fishing for a month, and not answer my phone...

Where the heck is that, Houston? ..I mean...the water around here is high...but I didn't think it was that high.

Something just occurred to me: What are we supposed to do when...and I know this is horrible...the bait that's working doesn't match, or contrast with our gear? ...and what about tackle boxes? What if they don't match the boat carpet? Our purses have to match our shoes! I'm trying to figure out what the L*a*b* values are for colors inside a ΔE of 2.0 to match the red shiny bits on my Tatula... ...and I just realized the dog is nowhere near an acceptable color for my boat. He's gonna be ticked when I put him out on the curb with his kennel and food.

I have a 9 ft. TFO salmon rod with similar weight ratings...it is not a heavy rod and you can easily use it a lot. I use mine in Canada for throwing 1 1/8 oz Doctor Spoons - I have a 7.0:1 Quantum reel on there and it works great. I've caught musky and lots of pike on it...but it is far from a heavy-weight (read as: broomstick) musky rod and I have no problems using it off and on all day. It'll work fine for swimbaits.

Good choice!