BigSkyBassin

What a year! I spent a summer in college up in Boulder Junction and caught the muskie bug hard...93 in a season is world class by all standards, well done and memories to last a lifetime!

Yup can't even imagine. I was only 13 years old at the time and couldn't figure out why my Godfather was losing his mind while I was fighting the fish. That fish was on the brag board at the Ear Falls tackle shop all summer as the big bass of the year. I know there are pics floating around of it somewhere up at my folks house but no idea where. If I ever stumble across them I'll be sure to upload. Have a caught a couple since that are close, with Fort Peck and Flathead Lake pumping out bigs...might finally top it soon

On that same trip I did catch my PB smallmouth. 22" hog on a firetiger shad rap. I don't think anyone targets them around there!

Just lowly walleyes that day

Absolutely brutal. I've been in water like that 1 time in my life, ironically also in a Lund (Mr. Pike 16). Storm blew up on Lac Seul in Ontario and we had a loooooong run back home...felt like a human railroad spike but there's no other aluminum boat I'd have rather been in. Impressive boat handling in your vid too, didn't stuff a single wave... that's tough stuff in those following waves.

They fly under the radar for sure. Still haven't met anyone in MT that has known anything about Tuffys either. I'm a big tiller fan, the fishing space is just unbeatable.

Echo Lake in Bigfork, Montana. Glorious body of water

Interior: OK but only cuz you twisted my arm. Unique hull shape in the fishing boat world: very stable and dry Looks like an epic ride!

I grew up in WI reading about all the muskie slayers and their Tuffy Esox Magnums. Always thought they were stellar boats. Strangely they never caught on in the bass world despite a cult like following among hardcore muskie/pike fisherman in the Midwest, and the use cases being nearly identical. I scooped one way out in Eastern WA this past Spring and can't think of a better "bass" boat for small/medium lakes, especially those with remote unimproved launches like so many Northern fisheries have. 31mph with 2 anglers and 2 dogs, 17 feet but fishes bigger than many 20 footers I've been on due to wiiiide open layout. Easily store rods up to 8'6"...and lots of em. Massive front deck, plenty of gear storage, TWO live wells. The sponsoned hull makes it ridiculously stable, basically a floating dock, but still keeps ya dry in chop. Best part is you can scoop a used one fully rigged every day of the week for $8-12k The 300HP 21 foot aircraft carriers are cool but totally overkill for 90% of the water lots of us fish.

I've got the Victory 6'8" MXF "Tactical" Favorite blank St. Croix makes and I've got the Legend Extreme in the same taper, only casting model. The spinning version is the best tube rod I've ever used, also killer with small swimbaits, light topwaters, flukes, etc. A 1/8 oz t rigged worm ain't too shabby either in sparse cover. Bet a light shaky head wouldn't suck... I use the casting model as my dedicated hard jerkbait rod and in that role find it unbeatable. The taper is just so light and snappy but super forgiving for trebles...short enough to work a bait, long enough to keep fish pinned and take up slack on a hookset. Just a really great rod.

Passive aggression like this reminds me of why we left. Being offended by someone you don't know, on a forum, is absolutely hilarious though. If you think WA is doing well compared to other Western states, well...I don't know what to tell you. There's a reason people are leaving by the tens of thousands. Whether it's political or not...I said nothing of the sort, that was your insinuation. Wish you the best and some thicker skin, holy cow!

3 years

We live in Kalispell! Libby area is awesome. I hunt over that way quite a bit.

Checking in from beautiful and bass filled, Northwest Montana. I grew up in Wisconsin and was a bass thumbed hooligan most of my childhood (even had a trio of buddies that were known locally as "the bass thumbed hooligans" lol) I moved to WA state after college and caught the steelhead bug hard, which eventually led me to fishing almost exclusively with spey gear (long 2 handed fly rods 12-15 footers!). My wife and I moved to Montana a couple years ago to escape the rapid societal decay of the coast, and still have access to world class hunting/fishing. I spent the first couple of years here chasing trout with dry flies but have taken a hard turn back to chasing bass this summer after scooping my first boat, and man oh man has it been fun. I've learned a ton from this forum as I've built my rod/reel/tackle arsenal back up and figured I should create an account and participate on the forum. I've made some lifelong buddies on hunting forums, guessing this forum is the same. Photo of my best fish of the summer caught deep cranking the outside weed edge in 20FOW...a technique I never tried until this year.