Trophy Fishing TN Forum - Caney Fork Trout Fly Fishing - Caney Fork Trout Guide
Warm Water Fishing Reports => The TN Muskie Addiction => Topic started by: jgray on March 05, 2013, 11:14:26 AM
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JR and I met on the highway at 4:45am yesterday for a trip to musky-town. The weather was just right and we had high hopes. We were also testing a new mod to JR's canoe, oars, which turned out to be slicker than socks on a rooster.
Truth be told, I had about decided that I would never catch a musky. I've had a few follows and I'd hooked two before this, but it seemed to be a doomed endeavor. Six trips ($$) into my musky career, I was beginning to think of musky fishing as endless casting and rowing with occasional fish sightings. At least the flies are interesting.
(http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/z410/blueandgray1/IMG_5758_zps0a5f6417.jpg)
Well, within 100 yards of the put-in, I had a follow from a little guy in less than a foot of water. That got my blood pumping, and, without wanting to jinx it, I kinda got hopeful. About a mile and a half into the float, paydirt.
JR had hyped up this pool we were floating into - great cover, ambush points, and some deeper water. We drifted down some gentle rapids and I cast to a log jam and a hot musky charged out. Up to this point I had only seen lazy follows and half-hearted takes. This fish was coming in hot! I stripped as fast as I could back to the boat and started into as big of a figure-8 as I could manage. On the second time around, heading out from the boat, the musky committed, charges, eats, and I strip-set for all I was worth (how I had the presence of mind to do this, I'll never know). Some deft netting by JR, some quick pictures, and I am cool with rowing the next 5 or so miles... because I caught a musky.
(http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/z410/blueandgray1/4cd3e197-3693-402c-9b3f-1bbb3ea0e3a3_zps46b19109.jpg)
I actually caught a musky. They are real. I grin like an idiot for the next 6 hours.
In the course of the day we saw 8 muskies. We missed some takes. JR about caught the first smallie of the season (come on spring!). We saw a lot of birds. We rowed a lot (which is harder than it looks, but a lot of fun). And we boated a musky. A lot could have gone wrong yesterday, and it still would have been a good day.
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Sounds like a great day out!
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Man am I jealous. Congrats on your first fish!
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AND that about sums up Musky fishing to a tee! ;D Great TR. Thanks for taking us with you. ;)
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Jesse, I am still jacked up about yesterday! What a great time on the water. I wish I hadn't missed those two fish, but that's Musky fishing. Stupid river bottom and stupid me for pulling the fly out da fish's mouth too fast! Thanks for rowing me the majority of the day. Those 12 oz curls were rough last night due to a sore arm. And I see you like my "Struck By Lightning" picture.
I thought I would add a bit more about yesterday. It really felt like Spring was coming. We saw lots of schools of small baitfish swimming in the sunny parts of the river and 2 bass were spotted. I hadn't seen any baitfish or bass since Fall. Also we floated over 2 mid-30's fish that were swimming side by side. They looked identical to each other. I don't know much about Musky spawning, but it looked as if this was going on. We watched them for awhile and they never left each other even as they swam off. It was a cool sight.
Here are a couple more from the day -
(http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af8/mt45442/IMG_5745_zps42b3c125.jpg)
I was surprised to see this guy. The river temp felt like a trout stream. I bet he was cold!
(http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af8/mt45442/IMG_5756_zps38f33715.jpg)
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Great TR! Thank you for sharing the experience.
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Now hopefully just six more hard-working, money-spending, entire-body-cramping trips til you get to smile like that again!....jk.....congrats
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nice work gents
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There's nothing like your first hard-earned muskie...especially on a figure 8 on a fly! It kinda makes you feel like the Matrix, where everything is In slow motion as you watch the strike in disbelief.
I remember gathering my expensive net, jaw spreaders, bolt cutters, long pliers, 80 lb fluoro leaders and practicing intricate knots---it's like you've got an expensive welcome package, and you just want to justify buying all that crap by landing one of these elusive fish.
I'm glad the madness paid off, it's all worth it as the game gets more predictable and you learn more water.
Congrats.
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Great report! Man, I need to go fish...
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Travis, what kind of jaw spreaders do you use? I bought some at BPS that suck. I swear I heard that fish laugh when we tried to put them in its mouth! They did absolutely nothing.
Furthermore, I am so glad to have invested in some Knipex cutters. We ended up cutting that fly out. It was in the roof of the mouth just behind those teeth pointing towards the gullet - super awkward to get out. After cutting the bend of the hook, the barbed section slid out the other direction.
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Very cool. Are you guys standing in that canoe?
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Jr. i got my spreaders from the Musky Shop, they worked really well, gotta get another also, i dropped a set overboard after releasing my last fish. :(
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Mike,
Often we were both standing and casting 10 wts from the canoe. It takes a trip or two to get used to it. Only flipped it once (last summer), and we were both sitting down when it happened!
I hope JR will chime in here, because I don't remember the model Old Town that it is. It is an inexpensive jewel in the rough, and the oars kick ass. (And the canoe would make a fine first craft for anyone wanting to get into fishing from a boat in Middle TN.)
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If you bought the larger jaw spreaders from BPS, they do indeed suck. It is a bit counterintuitive but the smaller ones work much better and similar to the ones I have been using for years. The smaller/shorter spreaders allow more pressure from the spring and have no problem unhinging the jaws of the beast.
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(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r22/traviswiles/IMGP3928.jpg)
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r22/traviswiles/20120512-IMGP4301.jpg)
I just use the standard cheap jaw spreaders that you find at Dick's Sporting Goods or BPS.
When you catch these guys on a fly, they simply Inhale the entire thing, when the fish starts head shaking, you're lucky if the hooks exit and curl into the corner of the jaw.
Both these pics are 12" flies with 3 hooks, and both came out successfully with minimal struggle with the fish. First, keep the fish submerged in the water inside the net and gently lift the leader. Second, clamp the boga on the jaw, and if he starts thrashing like crazy, just let go of the boga and let the fish settle in the net submerged. When the fish is calm, gently leverage the mouth open with your bogas, and let the hinges of the spreaders pry open the mouth. IF he starts struggling again, I just release the fish in the net to avoid heavy damage. It may take a few tries, but once the jaw spreaders are in place, you gain access that is impossible without them.
On a fly, I've found about one in 5fish will be hooked past the first row of teeth. Being prepared with the right gear will minimize stress on the fish. The most detrimental thing I've found is bringing an active fish on board a dry boat deck....they go absolutely nuts. I take care of business with the fish in the net and water, and lift for the photo when the camera is ready. I've learned the hard way from novice mistakes and being unprepared for these fish.
It looks like you guys did everything perfectly. I hate that you had to clip the fly though.
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Thanks for the information fellas.
Travis, the way you described the process of using the jaw spreaders really helped.
Mike, as Jesse said, yes we stand up to fish all the time in my canoe. My boat is a Old Town Sportsman 14'. It is not sold under this name anymore although it is a pretty common model. Old Town still makes these but they are now called the name Rogue River and can be found at Dick's and BPS. Yoda has the square back version and it is super stable too. This canoe is a great craft for fishing around here. I have been customizing mine to be even more functional as y'all saw with the oars. When I finish the last mod, I will post a report about the whole build. And for what its worth, when we swamped it last Summer, it was not a stability issue. We were exhausted after a huge float and let our guard down in a seemingly harmless little rapid.
In a few years, I will own a jet, but until then "Sweet Pea" the canoe gets the job done and puts us on the fish. I love this boat!