Goal-- Muskie On the Fly!

Ahh, goals; goals are good.  My muskie fishing goals are as follows: To catch, photograph and release (cpr) a muskie all by myself, to catch a muskie on the fly, to catch a muskie from a kayak.  :-)  I set out to reach the "catch a muskie on the fly" goal this weekend.

 

 The strategy for attacking this goal included fishing with some excellent muskie guides.

  
Although, I have yet to find a guide who has a knack for catching muskie on the fly.  Still, there is much to learn about this elusive species of fish.  Garrett was brave enough to allow me to fly cast for them while in his boat. :-)

In the beginning of this adventure, I used the classic bait caster/muskie rod outfit just to get the feel for muskie fishing again.  It didn't take long for me to develop "muskie thumb"-- a sore thumb with blisters from not being used to casting a bait caster.

Garrett's puppy, also named Sophie, went along for the ride.  She behaved very well.  Isn't she a Sweetie!

We tried different lakes, different lures, and their is no question of the effort we put in.  However, the fish just would not bite!!!

All of the sudden, Garrett had a follower!!!!!   Seeing that HUGE fish sent chills up my spine and it was like I got a second wind. 
 

 

At times we would take a break from casting and troll.  I thought for sure we would get a hit trolling over some heavy fish populated areas.

The day went by in a quick flash.  Garrett had at least two followers!  It was exciting, and although I was exhausted, I hated to see it come to an end.

Gravel roads tend to lead to some of the best places ever!

This one led to a boat ramp at a rather remote little lake:

Ahhh, muskie flies-- eenie, meeanie, minie, mow, catch a tiger...er, a muskie...on a tiger..., yeah, I picked the orange tiger fly.  I've heard good things about orange.

 

Not to mention it was a rather heavily weighted fly, comparatively, which I needed to pair well with my floating line. 

 

The googly eyes cracked me up: 

 I checked out the tippet and wire leader connection (from Scientific Angler).  Hey, I could make that!

I used the fly rod almost exclusively, and I had four followers!!!!  However they would not take the fly.  The muskie actually opened and closed it's mouth at the fly, but still would not attack it!  Yeah, I was practically hysterical!  The bite came right after switching to an open spin with a classic muskie lure---Wham!!!!

The beautiful fish made my heart race!  Although, I wanted very much to catch it on the fly, I was overjoyed to reel it in with the open spin/bass rod outfit.

I felt like, although I didn't reach my goal, I got closer to all of them.  I know more than I did about muskies, and got acquainted with a great little lake to kayak fish for em.

Also, I know how I want to tweak my fly fishing outfit to make it better.  Sooner or later, God willing, I'll reach those goals. :-)

 

In the meantime, I had a blast trying!