Haunted:

[TWiles]

My home river on a stretch 10 miles from the house.  The river finally dropped out and cleared up...and I seized the chance before the next rain stains and floods it for another week.  As the sun began to set, I was heavy hearted expecting my 3rd defeat of no fish spotted on another after work excursion.  Then it happened....
I drifted beyond my usual pass of stumps, trees and cliff bank.  The setting sun cast a long shadow,reminding me it was time to head home .  I drifted past a nice piece of timber  and lofted the 10 inch streamer upstream into its' eddy.
I rose the rod at the end of the cast with 2 strips left, and following behind was  4 ft Beast of a Musky.  My figure 8 was out of function as the fish turned away.
But that fish gave me a rush that will fuel my next dozen trips.

Now I've got to find the others  

Good Fishing to you guys.
Travis

[gaspergou]

Good stuff, am sure you'll get into him before a dozen more trips are out -- hopefully the rain that we're supposed to get on Thursday won't be a blowout.

I tried some new skinny water yesterday on the plateau, about 100 cfs lower than it needed to be to run it, so I wound up dragging my boat over a couple sketchy ledges. I had almost the same thing happen -- had managed only a nice spotted bass that somehow managed to stuff a 10" mass of rabbit and flashabou (the quad bunny!) down his throat, so I wasn't paying close enough attention on the one cast when I really needed to be... by the time I saw the follow, she'd already turned and was headed back into the depths. 

[TWiles]

With the right fibers, it's really not that bad to throw.  With a fast action rod and heavy grain line, I can launch a 60 ft cast under the overhang limbs quite easily.
Wading is a completely different story.

It walks subsurface back and  forth like a glide bait, suspends 4-8 ft and the tail kicks like a bulldawg.

After 8 follows and 1 grab at Melton Hill (in less than an hour), I started to trust it.

Once I locate the fish, I think it's my best bet.
I still use hardware now and then to scan the big water though.

[gaspergou]

Travis, if you're wading a stripping basket makes handling all that running line WAY easier.  Otherwise it's tangled in the rocks, around that little clippy thing on your gravel guards, under your feet, etc. You lose a lot of distance from the drag that the line creates in the water at your feet. I've got a Mangrove Hip Shooter that I love for that application, can't recommend it highly enough. I also plan on getting a VLMD for the boat soon -- used one on a friend's boat on the Sacramento Delta while chasing stripers, and they're fantastic.