Chasing Dragons: First Musky On The Fly

I have been plotting a return to the river where I landed my first musky since that awesome day last September. Since I had taken one on gear, I wanted to try to take one OTF. I really don't care whether I am fishing gear or fly as long as I am chasing trophy fish with good friends, fine cigars, en vogue beer, and whatever bullspit I am supposed to say so I don't look like a douche who just wants to catch big fish. I will say that the fly fishing and fly tying has taken up much, much more of my time, efforts and energy than I had ever anticipated. I probably put 50 hours of researching guide reports, launch locations, seasonal patterns, musky OTF 101, musky leader 101, floro vs. wire, and all the big streamer pattern videos I could find. I ended up rolling with a short 40-30-20 leader with an 80# floro bite tippet and most of my flies were variations of Brad Bohen's Hang Time.

I loaded my box with multiple variations of black, white, and gray combos in the 6-8" range along with a few smaller bass/striper offerings. Now, if I had known that Little Blackie here would have been the ticket I would have saved quite a few $$$ in materials. Pretty funny how all the snazzy chickens I tied up didn't come into play and a freehanded deceiver wannabe ended up being the ticket. I heard from several sources to not be afraid to downsize, so now I know.

We dropped in a Jackson Kayak trio of my Kilroy, Kreeken's Big Rig, and a SUPerFISHal and started chucking feathers at everything in sight. Kreeken and my buddy Ryan Lee were shooting the big guns with 12wts, but I had my ever so reliable 9wt :roll: 5 piece(previously 4 piece) travel rod. We fished for about 5 minutes and I wasn't happy with how one of my large chickens was riding high in the water column and casting like a ball and chain, so I switched out for Little Blackie. About 50 yards downstream I cast into a little flowing draining ditch and

It was cold, the water was about 500 cfs over what I would have liked, I tagged a musky OTF with sight of the put in and my buddy Ryan raised two and stuck-then-lost a monster within sight of the take out, we covered some absolutely beautiful terrain, enjoyed lunch and cigars under a bluff ledge and had a wonderful trip. The fly fishing and fly tying bug has latched into me pretty hard and all signs point to more and more time devoted to big fish OTF this year. So, what did I take away from the trip? I learned a ton about the river, prime flow levels, patterns to tie, and always, always, always carry a spare rod. That makes me 2 for 2 on musky trips and 1 for 1 on musky OTF trips. I hope its not 40 years before I see another musky...