D&H: "Local" Musky Fly Fishing

Saturday, May 2, 2015

"Local" Musky Fly Fishing

Over the past few months my dad and I have been getting into the musky fishing around this area. We have been testing out a few rivers and streams that have them. It's a grind, but the rewards are worth it.

Every now and then you hear the urban legends of a musky from the Little Miami and musky from this or that river, but I never really considered fly fishing for musky in the vicinity of this area to be a thing until of of my good buddies tipped me off to a spot. This started a fire storm of Google Earthing, exploring different waters, and looking through DeLormes more than my school textbooks. I went out and bought packs of giant hooks, more feathers, flash, and bucktail than anyone will ever need, and a 10wt musky rod. There are now spools on 80-100lb fluorocarbon and wire leader material in my boat bag. It got bad for a little bit. I now have a box full of 12"+ flies each filled with shanks, hooks, and rattles.

By musky standards, a 34" fish is actually kind of small, but for a first fish it felt like a beast!

Then it got even worse once I landed my first musky on the fly. It is the ultimate predator of freshwater streams and watching one of these fish open its white dinner plate mouth behind your fly and then watching the fly disappear is something that you’ll never ever forget. Then they tease you by following your fly right to the boat. You try your best to coax it into eating on the figure eight, but they just sink back into the depths. This is not the kind of fishing for the person who likes to catch fish, but rather for the person who likes the grind. It just makes those moments even more special. Please don't ask for spots, because a couple of them are not mine to give.

Tight Lines,

Alexander Helmicki