Wisco Angler At Large...

[AftonAngler]

Howdy Folks

My name is Brad Bohen. I'm a full time guide/outfitter from Hayward, WI who specializes in musky on the fly (and a whole lot more...). I'll be spending anout six weeks this winter in the SacTown area and would love to make some fly fishing friends while I'm there.

My father lives in Rancho Cordova and has a business in Fair Oaks - Wild Birds and Gardens. I have been out to visit him a few times in the past and have sampled some fishing on the American (which I love) and traveled a bit to the Feather and Yuba too.

I enjoy fishing everything and supremely love the adventure and exploration of new stuff. I'm seasoned and have caught enough fish in my life not to care too much about having to get tugged. Mind you I still like to get it done but to me the main thing is enjoying the moment, soaking in the surroundings, learning new stuff and fellowship in the sport.

I guide about 100 days a year back here in Wisco so I get my bird dog on plenty from May through October. My time out in CA is my spring training and R&R.

Anyway, glad I found this place. Hope to meet some fellow fly crazies while I am in house!

Here is a little something to prime the pump - enjoy!

http://www.uppermidwestflyfishing.com/photos/data/566/thunder_and_lightning.jpg


Thunder and Lightening on a Clear Day


Like a bolt from the blue your life can be changed in a fly fishing instant while on the trail of the mighty musky. This elusive predator provides a special challenge to any angler taking up the task of taking one on a fly. Where I come from we live by the motto Zero to Hero as a way of reminding ourselves how quickly fortunes can change on the musky trail.


On October 16th 2008 the fortunes of three fly anglers changed forever in the blink of an eye when a very fishy moment brought them and the changing face of the sport into a new light. I was lucky enough to have a seat on the crazy boat that day and I am still tingling from the aftershock.

Looking at the digital timestamp on the images taken on my camera that day tell me it was 2:04pm when Hayward Angler Derek Kuehl hoisted the first of a pair of trophy musky we had just landed up for a hero shot. Guide Tom Greenup had moments before slipped the big net under the other fish I had hooked first, simultaneously fought along with Derek’s and subsequently landed last.

Fly fishing for muskies is slowly gaining a glamour status in the changing landscape of our sport and is beginning to raise eyebrows as a force to be reckoned with even in the most traditionally minded fishing circles. In northern Wisconsin the muskellunge is a celebrated species having communities name their geographical slogans after this tough fish – Musky Capitol of the World in the case of Boulder Junction and Home of World Record Musky in my adopted hometown of Hayward.

Musky fishing in northern Wisconsin has always held a high profile place in the sporting spotlight. The fish of 10,000 casts has launched at least as many fishing fantasies every summer for the last three quarters of a century. Tales of extraordinary catches spread like wildfire each and every summer and occasionally one of these catches holds true.

Growing up in Wisconsin as a fishy little critter I had always idolized the Northwood’s legends of musky anglers – men like Louis Spray, Cal Johnson, Ray Kennedy and Tony Rizzo. Not to be left out in the hunt to cure musky fever were women like Delores Ott – Lapp and Gypsy Rose Lee. These were folks who battled big fish in epic fights and had their tales told by campfire and bar light all across the fishing landscape.

I dreamed of an encounter of my own one day. I literally have been haunted by visions and dreams of landing an epic musky. My lust to find myself in the fighting seat has shaped my entire existence and to be honest with you I doubted I would ever be part of truly epic catch until that afternoon when we finally had both fish in hand.

continued...

[AftonAngler]

Thunder and Lightening cont...

Tom Greenup and I work the same water and have always said "Hey lets fish together sometime..." as guides tend to do when they run into each other. We had been say this for years but that is how thing roll. You either have to make it a priority to get together and make time or rely on serendipity.

Serendipity Knocks

Well I got a call from good fishing buddy Derek from Hayward Derek is a full on musky junkie and I row for him several times a season. Derek had a trip booked with Greenup and his partner cancelled out so D-Rock calls me up and wonders if I want to run as tailgunner...

The ball was set in motion and here is my play by play

I had a day off coming and was like - “Hell Yes!"

I love fishing from the back seat! Some of the greatest driftboat catches ever have been from the backseat eh.

Ol Greenup is a pros pro too. Great guide and has his game AJSQUAREDAWAY. Knows his water very well.

Connected you might say.

We drew a tough slot. Beautiful fall day. Fishing was rugged! I farmed out a nice 20# class fish that struck savagely and deeply bent the rod but came unpegged instantly - two hours into the float.

Lots of casting. Retrieve all the way back to the boat. Every time.

Time your shot. Derek is the prince of the boat. You are the one with the head on the swivel. Batting clean-up. Taking the angle shots. In the rear with the gear...

Throwing ungodly backhanded stuff.

Strip, strip, strip, pause...

Man these flies are cool. They move they shimmy they shake…how can they not get pounded? Focus, believe…

Derek boated a small northern and had very neutral follows from a couple of fish. I missed another muskie that struck deep coming at me...and then kept coming after inhaling the fly.

Bumrushed we call it. Oh shit...strip, strip, strip...sweep set back...go high...lipstick...shit...headshake deep mouth open...shake, shake, shake...gone!

Great take though. 32"ish and super barred. Would have been a cool fish.

Four and a half hours in. Doubt creeps in a little. wee little mind you. Only natural.

Been something like five years since I had a real day off on-the-water...as a client treated to a professional row down a cats-ass piece o water. My fishing generally comes in small bursts...scouting trips, guides days off, dawn/dusk get-aways...you know dropping by the jobsite.

I was in HEAVEN mind you. What with the ducks and grouse and timberdoodles and complete lack of any human being...just three guys on a river each playing their role well. Taking their licks...earning chops...

We were getting beat up though. Getting dealt a hand of junk is just another day at the office on the muskie trail.

Derek is prone to lots of verbal "wondering" and second-guessing in the silent spells. Everyone copes how they may.

I brood and stalk and focus more. I like the toughest possible situation. The one that makes 99.9% of the angling population want to wipe their behinds and take a nappy poo...

"Shut up and keep casting. We can be heros today. Everythings in place. It may be ten minutes of glory time but we got all day."

We had all day. Wow. I really liked that.

Agreed. Put in another dip o cope. Hit some vitamin C. Refocus.

After lunch we approached a place we call "Old Glory".

All day Tom, Derek and I recounted places fish were caught, seen, missed, heard about...imagined, fuck it was fun getting mostly skunked with those two fellas.

Derek was babbling about Old Glory all day. He is prone to getting his constitution all mucked up the night before a muskie hunt. Gets all amped up.

Night before he was up. Having spells. He gets these muskie energy vibs...puked twice in the early AM before dawn. Showed up game though...tough little fucker for a fabric hawker...

Old Glory...Old Glory...

We heard about Old Glory from the get go. He was hearing a low vibe...a sub migrane hum...approaching as the day wore on...

I had been tossing mainly big, double patterns...chickens, articulated Beaufords...things I call Double Trouble most of the day.

Nothing.

I got both my black eyes on single hook patterns. Black and purple. Tough day flies.

Spent two and a half hours working Double Troubles and two and a half hours servicing smaller patterns...working off of Dereks whims...he switches flies randomly and erratically...like I say he is prone to "wondering" and second-guessing...I need to pay attention to what and where he is working and do my best to play off it and counter it.

Covering every inch of the river I can reach - doing it well is one of the toughest acts to pull off in all of freshwater angling. It is physical and mental and you can not give an inch. Greenup was putting me down some dangerous water and I had to come up with the goods.

Had to. Blind casting a ten weight for 5 and a half hours and getting spanked and asking for more. More!

Being the tailgunner is playing for slop...using the front man and the guy on the sticks as fodder...bring em in boys and I'll close the dealio...

Water is very low and very clear. We are seeing structure all day for the first time - junk that is almost always covered with water and/or stain. Learning.

Always learning.

Logic has had me working neutral and natural patterns most of the day. Match the hatch stuff.

Five and a half hours into it and now I am going to lock down and have fun. I am going to fish it home for me.

I know what is in front of us and I have enough mustard left to cover it all like an ace relief pitcher. I am going to work it all hard. No one else exists...just me and the river and the fly.

I go with the Orange Beauford. A new version on a big fat assed 6/0 I got down at Thorne Bros. last time I was in the Cities...I liked the way the heavy hook allowed control with the buoyant fly on a sinking line - just the right amount of sink and swim.

You got to be a total control freak in this stage of the game. You have to know every angle and how to get your puppet to swim through it just so…

I made sure the hook was sharpened to almost illegal levels...

Booby Fishing.

English call fishing a buoyant pattern on a sinking line Booby Fishing.

Boobies.

Heck Ya!

Like I said I was fishing the way home for myself. Orange Beauford. Boobies.

I love starin at em both!

Well old Beauford was fishing well. That orange was painting a good swath.

Greenup agreed. I caught him watching it back to the boat more often than anything else all day.

I lost track of Derek for about fifteen minutes or so it seemed. When you hit a zone things more than a few feet away can fade.

I lots track of everything. In that grand way that only a fully immersed fishing fix can provide.

again...continued...

[AftonAngler]

Thunder and Lightening - finale...

Then it happened. Off the bank. River left.

Like a deer way too far out in the headlight to be sure. But instinctively you know. Your guts tighten.

Like a big buck way out there. You know.

You can feel the evil fish. It moves more like a serpent than anything.

You exhale "OOOOOO"

The other two humans look over at where you had cast. Greenup is holding the boat above the rapids that lead into Old Glory and Derek has just made a cast 45 degrees off the front down on the end of the bank.

They are looking over as she swims into sight behind Beauford.

"This is a big one boys!" I say.

They know. They know.

I got the speed and the room to close the deal. I had backhanded a good shot up on the rocks and the fish had moved within the second or third pull.

When you throw up close the fish can swirl from either side of the fly...sometimes they face downstream it would seem to us...but the slack eddies often run counter to the main current up close to shore and the fish face "downstream" but into a slight eddie current.

Othertimes they are facing upstream properly.

Well this one was below the fly and I had shot a 60 foot backhand off the back of the boat on river left. The cast was just ahead of the oarsmans 90 so I was kind of stripping it back at the boat...past Dereks 45 rear and right off Greenups left...

The fish charged, once! twice!

Shit. What SPORT! Shit!!

This is where everything slows way down. Way down.

Instinct takes over. Many many years and hours of fishing. Of all varieties - bait casting, spinfishing, fly all meld into one.

Hours and hours of watching from the oarsmans seat.

It's now. It's in the moment when the one of the biggest musky in 30 years of hunting them...shows behind your fly...you got to keep it together sportsfans. You got to keep it together at this point.

Time is suspended. You all three agree on this after the fact.

I hang that junk out there. I have tied it and tried it for this situation. It’s purebred. It’s spectacular.

Twitch. That mean bitch is coiling up and wow does she have a HUGE head!

Twitch. HAAAAANNNNNNNGGGG!

Glitter, Glitter‚ Fluff…


WWWWOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She just inhales your ass-like a piece of popcorn into a Dyson!.


Fuuuuuuuuuuupppp! Gone.

Well long story longer.

I stick. Fish freaks. She is ON!

Derek and Tom and I realize we have a Game On situation.

Derek returns attention to his previously made cast. Strip, strip…

WHAM!

“MUSKIE DOUBLE”

He screams and the hawg he just stuck starts thrashing down in front of the boat above the rapids!

No shit.

Muskie Double on a fly. BIG muskie double on a fly!

Greenup is brilliant. Almost 100 inches of fresh river muskie on in difficult skinny water above a rapids.

He rowed up out of harms way and around and around while our fish went nutso.

Mine was just all over the place but I kept her tight and tried not to panic her. Just nagged and kept her in check as best I could.

Derek put the wood to his fish. A very hot and heavy 45” class fish.

I had to watch as it all went down holding a 10weight with a full sinking line high up attached to a huge 50”+ fish that was taking a backseat. Derek fought it well and Tom made a quick netjob. Lordy there was a million things that could have went wrong up till now and we are ½ way there!

Tom drops the net on Derek and gets back on the oars to keep things in check and rows over on my fish a bit and gives me a break.

Derek is out of his fish quickly - with a brief hand from Tom…fish goes into the bottom of the boat and it is still pissy and a bit green and whomp fest insues up front as she protests the act unfolding.

But all eyes are now on the other big beast.

She is angry but pretty well beat. I worry about the flouro bite guard. She has been on a while now and has been way out thrashing and there is no sight of the flyâ₦only leader sticking out of her mouthâ₦

A couple of drive bys and then Tom gets the net under her!

HELL YES!

WOOOOOOW!

The moment and the realization come together and we are all overjoyed. What Sport!

Man Zero to Hero in the blink of an eye.

I told Tom after we had revived and released both fish “Man, if I was trout fishing or wading in somewhere and I got into something like this I would just sit down and then go home. How do you top something like that?”

“I do not know. But you are going to keep fishing. We have some good stuff ahead.”

Like I said the man is a true pro.

I kept fishing and got another nice fish - a 38”er that took a double beauford and fought hard. Pulling the boat around and making us laugh. The fish pulled like a beast.

Like a beast.

It was a fun capper to a tough and ultimately rewarding day. But I was on cloud nine and you coulda poured cold water down my back and punched me in the gut and it would not have spoiled my mood.

It was one that I will have seared into my memory for as long as I am alive. I’ll remember the quality of air and light. The beauty of the woods and the water. The camaraderie and stories we shared.

And of course I’ll remember the fish. Those glorious and mysterious creatures. It’s all about them really. We are just actors in a big drama that they are the stars of.

I did fish the rest of the way home. I did it for me. It paid off and I got to be a part of something grand.

Thunder and Lightening on a Clear day is how Derek put it.

I agree.



http://www.uppermidwestflyfishing.com/photos/data/566/big_ol_muskie.JPG

[nightgoat]

WOW! Awesome report. Those are some serious feeshes!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

I'm not a guide (not even close lol) but shoot me a PM when you get here. We'll go get some stink on our hands (the fish kind of course :ninja:)

Welcome to the board!

[Darian]

Hey!!! Hey!!!,.... Loved the writing and the pics. I gotta get up there to try for Muskyzzzzz.... What size/type flies do you use up there :question: If you haven't written for publications before, you should try; or does living up in the frozen north affect people that way.... :unibrow:

[Charlie Gonzales]

WOW! Welcome to the board Brad, great post. If you and Dad want to do a float let me know I would be glad to take you out.

[Bill Kiene semi-retired]

Thanks for posting on our board Brad.

I know many here are interested in your fishing for the big Musky and Northern Pike back in WI.

What is a good month for fly fishers?

[Sturmer White]

Brad, I met your dad Jim last month. I sold him some humming bird nesters that my daughter makes.Call me when you are here and I will try to set something up.Maybe I can get Paul to take us to his secret striper spot.
Sturmer White

[mems]

Aloha Brad, I spent many summers up at Spider lake and Balsam lodge drinking Leiny's and catching musky, pike and walleye. Good luck fishing in NoCal, Mems.

[john]

Darian, we need to be accurate.-beerilogically-if that's a word. First, it's Leinenkugel's, a/k/a leinies- the beer from Big Eddy Springs--Of course Big Eddy was a horse.
My best friend just represented the Nat'l Guard at halftime of the Packer game, and he and his Dad are/were Leinies distributors.
I grew up with that stuff. But then again, I fished (since1965) the Chippewa Flowage, Moose Lake, Placid, the Quiet Lakes. The 50's, 60's are an incredible story up there. I've got my own memories from the '60's and on, esp. the great guides working the Hayward Lakes Area, then(for the absolutely outrageous price of $60/day, plus lunch), to the wonderful folks working today But frankly, it's still saltwater that drives my bones.

[Darian]

John,.... Sounds like a real word to me.... :nod: Wonder of anybody makes a saltwater beer :?: :?: :lol:

[Reno Flytyer]

The Drakian arrives to appreciative applause. You'll get a warm reception out here Brad. Excellent read. Knowing what you are capable of, I hope you will post often.
RFT

[AftonAngler]

Thanks Folks

I'm glad to be aboard. This should be fun...

First - I appreciate the replys and response. I can hardly wait to get out to CA! It's -20F in Musky Country today...pretty bleak but good fly tying weather. But I booked my ticket today for January 21st!!!! And can't wait...but I'll miss my dogs something fierce:(

Happy New Year to all of you...our mate Lee Church just wrapped up our first fly fishing film project - The Musky Chronicles. Lee is a MD resident and full on musky on the fly junkie. He does not sleep we figure because Lee just gets too much stuff done!

Anyway, here is a link to the trailer. I'll bring the full version out with me and will figure out how to show it somewhere...

Enjoy!

http://www.vimeo.com/8523307

[AftonAngler]

Hey!!! Hey!!!,.... Loved the writing and the pics. I gotta get up there to try for Muskyzzzzz.... What size/type flies do you use up there :question: If you haven't written for publications before, you should try; or does living up in the frozen north affect people that way.... :unibrow:

Ha!

Thanks I think...I'm a hack writer. If fly fishing had a Deadwood school I be it's flunky in the corner!

If any of you are fans of The Drake then you might have read some of my stuff. It's about the only place I get printed without major cuts - long live Tom Bie!!

Here is a more proper piece that Will Mullis at Hatches did a few seasons back that gives a bit of insight on how we (The Musky Tribe) dole out our musky offerings:

http://hatchesmagazine.com/magazine/pdf/HangTime.pdf

Since then we have evolved our approach and have added a great deal to our fly catalog.

I'm stoked to be coming out to the Delta Striper country...as I was heavily influenced by tiers like Dan Blanton and the like while developing my toothy predator style of tying.

If there are enough folks interested I'd be up for a lie-n-tie session at Mr. Kiene's shop. We do these events all the time here in the Frozen North to stave off the Shack Nasties and to keep the Wendigos at bay...:eek:

[Ed Wahl]

Lie and ties are always fun, count me in.

Ed

[AftonAngler]

A post on a local board stirred up a sleeping giant in my anglers brain...

Hmmmm, there is more to these tasty critters than anyone in the fly world gives em credit for. Until I started typing up this response I never actually thought about the scope and depth of my walleye on the fly expereinces.

It has rekindled a need in me to explore this species more in 2010!

Anyone care to share? I do not think that CA has walleye...correct me if I am wrong. For a fresh fish eating/loving sod like myself what is the CA equivalent?

Sorry if I offend any fish worshipers...I'm devout at catch and release for certain but I must confess that some species are just meant to be caught and released into the hot grease from time to time!

here is my response from the other board:

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs141.snc1/5215_1172164553155_1499253770_449607_4901063_n.jpg

http://hphotos-snc1.fbcdn.net/hs159.snc1/5935_1162758318005_1499253770_420180_343136_n.jpg

http://hphotos-snc1.fbcdn.net/hs159.snc1/5935_1162758358006_1499253770_420181_396611_n.jpg

Walleye on the fly

This is a pretty cool topic actually...

Walleye might be the most misunderstood and underappreciated of all fresh water fly rod fish. IMHO.

I have had on and off success with walleye on the fly for the better part of three decades.

When I was a grubby little river rat growing up in Hudson I used to just kick ass on the walleye during the 'Shad' fly hatch...some form of now long gone Hex. I remember we would get really excited when those flies would start showing up around the 4th of July. Sometimes getting so thick that they had to bring out the snowplows to clear the old blue I-94 bridge.

I recall being in the dug-out of the now gone little league field down by the boat launch in Hudson...and me and my pals eyeing up the thick spiderwebs in the mouldy corners of the dugout and seeing the mayflies and winking at each other between innings as if to say -
"Meet me under the Swing Bridge...at mid-night...it's gonna be a blood bath!" ;)

At first my buddies and myself would fish the surface feeding walleyes twitching small rapalas and could generally get a limit in a few hours of after-midnight fishing around the lighted bridges and dikes making up the waterfront in The Hud.

Then I figured out that my yellow buggy whip Eagle Claw fly pole (as we called it then) would work...with big, cheap China tied flies that came in circular plastic boxes up at Mullers True Value Hardware...really gaudy assortments that looked like butterflies.

But the walleye found them richly enticing when poorly cast into the shadow lines and feebly twitched. Satisfying swirls came tight to headshaking butterballs and I could easily outlimit my spin-head pals much to their chagrin.

I actually was a walleye wizard long before I ever broke into the trout on a fly ranks...and puzzlingly never considered those successes as qualifying me as a real fly fisher.

Years later in the BWCA and Quetico I had off-the grid experiences again with Hex hatch walleye in the Solstice gloaming...paddling away from camp merriment after midnight to acres of swirling fish greedily harvesting big crunchy spinners from the surface.

After I came up with a fly called The Chronic Leech...
http://www.uppermidwestflyfishing.com/photos/data/568/chronic_done2_1_1.JPG
-tight-

http://www.uppermidwestflyfishing.com/photos/data/568/chronic_scene_1_1.JPG
-all_picked_out-

...walleye became almost too easy! Anytime the mayflies started hatching on a walleye lake and the gear anglers started to belly-ache about how the walleye could not be caught until the hatch was over I just grinned...and came in to the fish-cleaning house in the wee hours with a stringer full - all bloated with wriggler nymphs...all taken in an almost boring taking_candy_from_a_baby method of casting out...waiting for a minute and then starting a painfully slow handtwist retrieve and slow rod lift until I got a wiggle and then the satisfying full rod bender...

So easy a caveman could do it as long as he was willing to go out at midnight! And many times I'd catch a fish on every cast.

And that is just the bug eaters!

White marabou muddler minnows on floating lines fished at dusk and just after dark on the sandbars down around my namesake rivertown...wow! And on the Wisconsin River down in Southern Wisco the same thing - Sauk Prairie and the sandbars after dark wet wading and waiting for the walleye to move up onto the structure...then a slow surface struggle...a minnow feeding or wallowing on the surface snacked up by a fatty 'eye in a subtle swirl.

Pure Joy!

Then there are the crayfish eaters in the rocky riffles of boulder strewn rivers like the Kettle, Snake, Yellow, Jump, Namekagon, West Fork of the Chippewa...

June in the middle of the daytime...right in the fast and deep rapids tucked behind boulders just waiting to pound a deeply scuttled fly. Better than brown trout I tell ya! And oh what fighters those current fish are.

Anyone who says that walleye fight like a wet sock has never tangled with a rough and tumble river perch!

I have actually gotten away from targeting walleye lately...shame on me I am reminded in typing up this response. Images come flooding back and my taste buds tingle as I think about crispy golden brown fillets curling up like lobster in hot bacon grease.

There was also a productive time in my Montana State days when we would go up to Canyon Ferry and catch big walleye after big walleye wet wading on windswept shores employing the old Wisconsin River white muddler minnow technique...

The fish you see in the images above are by-product catches from this past season(my notes show we boated 27 walleye by accident while fishing musky!). Musky streamers get pounded by big walleye in June around submerged timber. Walleye - not the light-shunning, bottom-hugging variety we all think of. No! More like a big top end predator swirling up from below to take a HangTime streamer or a Beauford as a musky would.

Right up in the upper water in plain sight. ROAR!

Yes, misunderstood and underappreciated indeed ;)

http://www.uppermidwestflyfishing.com/photos/data/566/walleye_bandito1.JPG

[Fats]

I've never met a walleye I didn't eat! Tasty critters for sure... We'd occasionally get into them fishing for steelhead in the spring on the Muskeegon in Michigan. They'd come up in the rivers ( I think to spawn...) Anyway... Big Walters eating flies... Good times!

[Mike R]

Hey AA,
While I don't know if we have any fish ast tast as walleye around here (I've never had walleye), I imagine that our small "schoolie" stripers (18-22") come close. They are one of the best eating fish in freshwater, IMO.

Mike

[Darian]

Great stuff here.... Good memories, too.... :D :D

[AftonAngler]

Thanks to everyone from this board who has followed along with this thread and to you kind fellows who have contacted me about fishing this winter/spring while I am visiting.

All I can say is that it is a very special thing to see this type of hospitality in this day and age...and that the angling community is indeed a true and vital one.

It's frozen and cold up in Northern Wisco as I type this. I'm just getting set to lace up the moccasins to take the dogs for an afternoon hike. The sun is out and the mercury is showing a BALMY 22F!

Winter in the Upper Midwest means fly tying and writing for a fly fishing fool like myself. Here is a piece I wrote several years back for Midwest Fly Fishing about my first experience with a truly BIG musky on my fly rod...

I reworked the ending from the original published piece yesterday and now can say that I feel I got this one right. Hope you enjoy!

http://www.uppermidwestflyfishing.com/photos/data/566/medium/lucky13_headshot.jpg

The Hemingway Fish
By Brad Bohen


Great fish come along only about as often as great women and to a fishing bum like myself I take them for what they are: Proof that I am living right. This is a tremendous relief because I can always fall back on that understanding – that no matter how badly I mess things up, if I keep my nose to the wind and keep taking my turns I’ll be O.K….we will all be O.K.

Hey the Universe is all connected you know!

What really makes a great fish a great fish? Passion. Hell I have caught plenty of really nice fish and I would show you a great collection of fish porn to prove it to ya if we were together…but I have only captured a precious few that I would call lifetime fish. The rest fade away over time. The great ones come along when they do and they change the direction of your life. Like great women.

You can never forget them. They remain burned into your memories and sear your collective being in a way that is difficult to describe to those who have yet to find this treasured facet of sport. I know what it is like to be part of something really grand.

A kindred angling cohort of mine named Charlie coined a phrase for me this past season that poetically sums up such a catch – a Hemingway Fish. I like that. Charlie is one of a kind and kept laughing and yelling, “I’ve got leggs, I’m f@cking delicious, Eat Me!” as he cast and retrieved our various home-grown muskie concoctions for the first time.

It was a priceless day.

Charlie witnessed a musky on the fly catch about 10 minutes into an early autumn float trip and was stunned by the energy of the moment. The fish murdered a Double Beauford after our other float trip partner Derek Kuehl called the shot on the fish. I think Charlie thought we were kidding about catching a muskie on a fly…most people do…and up to that point was along to enjoy a new float trip and watch us perform our lark.

That fish changed everything for Charlie. He is a world traveling angler with places in Northern Wisconsin, Montana, and South America that he lives at throughout the year and always manages to have world class angling at his doorstep. Shock and awe followed the strike, fight, capture and release. It kicked started the day to say the least.

Derek, Charlie and I took turns on the oars that day and we all told angling stories and other assorted drivel as lifestyle addicts tend to do. I told them of a catch I had made earlier that season while fishing with only my canine sidekick Lucky Penny. “Holy crap, you got yourself a Hemingway Fish!” Charlie proclaimed.

I think is was Tom McGuane who wrote about “The Meat Bucket” so
eloquently in his story Tarpon Hunting. Capturing a Hemingway Fish puts one square into the Meat Bucket. It’s “…a situation of mind where everything is going to be okay…the place where you always threw the perfect loop and never had to live with right hand winds, cold rain, broken homes, failed religion, or long-distance releases.” It goes beyond that too and I always strive for the MB.

A Hemingway Fish definitely alters the course of ones existence so you better be damn sure to recognize one when it comes along and learn to savor the moment as it unfolds. By nature they come along only every other blue moon….

My latest and greatest fish up to this point came to me or maybe I came to her on Friday, July 13th. You can not make this stuff up I tell you. I had no business even going fishing that day but I was pissed off and out of sorts and felt I had to go out to the river. Had to.

Actually this story began over three seasons ago. That is how long I knew about this particular queen of freshwater…old miss mossback herself. I was fresh into a new town – a fly fishing guide in a town of regular fishing guides and a punk to most of the folks who cared about that sort of thing.

I didn’t give a shit what folks thought because I lived within walking distance of a top-shelf muskie river and I had plenty of time to attend to business.

I also worked in a fly shop and got to hear all from all kinds of crazy locals who liked to come by and spill the beans about what was what and who was who. I was all ears. Working in a fly shop in a destination town is a good way to garner all forms of information, advice and other handy tidbits. Any savvy angler knows one must take all of that type of information, run it around the hair-covered computer a couple of cycles, edit, sort and categorize the different components, throw out about 80-85% of the fodder and then tuck away that handy elixir that is the result of the distillation process.

Let’s say that lurking around the region for the better part of 1000 days provided me with a pile of drivel, both second-hand and in-person experiences that I had distilled down into a potent ass-pocket full of muskie whiskey.

This particular fish came to me through that channel and I promptly went out and scouted her whereabouts. It took me more than two months to first spy her and a very distinctive mark on her nose was forever etched her into my anglers mind. She was big and she was a beauty. I had to have her!

Easier said than done. Let’s just say that I got to know that old gal pretty well over the course of the three seasons that I, um, courted her attentions.

“Eat me, I’ve got leggs, I’m delicious….”

Hemingway fish…

The chase of other Hemingway fish for me has been fraught with failure…first a gigantic brooky that taunted me for the better part of two seasons on a pasture spring creek down in Pierce, County when I was 14…and several giant brown trout – the Willow Hole Fish and the Hatchery Run Fish. There were others too. I never caught any of them but in not catching those fish I learned the lessons that fuel my experiences today. They haunt me and I love it.

Lessons learned – strike when the iron is hot. It may get you in temporary hot water but you can never ever take a great opportunity for granted…not anyways and still call yourself a big fish hunter of any merit. I live my life with few regrets but I must admit that I kick myself over squandered opportunities to connect with big fish in the past.

Big fish – Lifetime Fish, Hemingway Fish rarely come about. Like a bolt out of the blue lady luck kisses those fools of us who muck up our balance now and then. I screw things up around me often in this game – postponing dates with significant others or blowing off other social functions. It all comes with the territory and those who are around us either adapt or move on. I just see it as honest living – I am doing my part to keep the Universe in check. As a collective we must learn to give into our passions more frequently.

A couple of the better muskie anglers I know of around these parts are chaps who stick to shanks mare more often than not. On foot an angler can control many variables that are not options when floating through in a boat.

Don Larson and Bill Stark have learned the value of a super stealth on-foot approach to connecting with the finest fish in a system. On-foot an angler can totally pick the time and place to approach the fish. Actually stalking the fish and spying on its behavior – studying the bastard like a seedy Private Investigator.

You study and watch the skies, then you stick it to em when they are most likely to take a swipe at you. Get em off guard. There are a number of scenarios that can play out to make this happen. Feeding frenzy, moon phase, weather window…

So Friday the 13th comes around and the window is open for me. I know it’s open and I can smell the scent…I am going to go be part of something wild. I had tied up a special fly for the occasion. The Orange Goblin was pure black magic…or as good as a white boy like me can conjure up in a basement fly tying lair.

I went to the river armed well and on-foot. I had formulated this plan in my mind over the course of the previous off season. I’d observed the water, studied the fish – tried and failed to move her many times from the boat. That day I stacked the odds in my favor, picking the time of day and the point in the season that suited me and grabbed a good weather pattern to help seal the deal.

Penny and I stalked the hole hiking two miles cross country with some generally sketchy swamp-busting and serious bushwhacking to get there. I wondered on the way in if I would be hiking out empty handed or if I would savor a great catch. I was feeling good and let my mind wander to what it would feel like to finally get such a fish on a fly.

This is something I often do while stalking a significant fish. Visualizing a positive experience puts me into a frame of mind of anticipation, gives me an edge. I was thrilled at the sight of thick masses of baitfish flushing from one of the side channels we had to slog through. The stage was set.

cont.

[AftonAngler]

Hemingway Fish by Brad Bohen - cont.

We got to that hole to find three canoes rafted together and laid up in the tailout section. Bummer. I held Penny back and tried to quell my apprehensions – there was fear rising that the group of young river trippers had already fished through or had somehow messed things up.

I calmed down as I observed that they were only enjoying a little break in the float trip. Their heavily loaded canoes told me they were camping and I knew they needed to be on their way to make the next good overnight area. I consoled myself with the knowledge that it mattered little what had transpired prior to us getting there. I had time on my side and could wait a spell for things to settle out if necessary.

The group of twenty-somethings lingered and bantered back and forth not knowing we were around – Penny and I were up in the thick woods above the river and still had her in check. After about ten minutes I realized they were in no hurry to push on when one lit up a rather funny smelling cigarette and began passing it around. Oh those crazy kids!

So I decided to turn Penny loose to do some exploring and upon her arrival down at the riverbank the group rapidly got motivated to get someplace else.

I was relieved at their departure – hey I had come to fish. I let the hole rest as I surveyed the water and carefully waded up from the lower end scanning for signs of life. It was perfect summer wading weather and the river looked in prime shape. I was really enjoying being on foot and unencumbered by the constraints of being in a boat and on the clock with clients. I could fish up until dusk if I chose to.

It did not take long for me to find out that things were really slow on the river at that time. Nothing was stirring. The birds in the woods were silent, the usually active smallmouth and pike were not responsive, the redhorse were listless and the couple of small muskies I saw aimlessly finned about and acted as if my presentations were intended to cause them great distress.

I decided that I would be called upon to make my own JU-JU happen that afternoon.

I worked the water all around the outsides of the vast hole – spreading out long, well placed shots with a couple of my favorite flies. The patterns looked good in the water and I had chosen a good rod/line/leader combo. I was enjoying the stimulation of ‘just fishing’ even though nothing was responding.

With no other angler around I found myself being aware of many sensations – the way the woods were lit and the sounds and smells that a Midwest river exudes in early summer. I felt a part of the tapestry standing hip deep out there in that remote hole and the swish of the line shooting out on a double hauled cast was eminently satisfying.

In late June and early July at that Latitude the sun carves a long, high path across the sky. Light lingers at a fishable level until after 10pm giving anglers lots of low-light time to peddle ones wares.

I fished thoroughly and with purpose working a few different angles before deciding to give it a rest. The pike and smallmouth were still uncooperative. Well, no problem. I’ve had to cope with problems similar hundreds and hundreds of times in my angling history. Taking a tough situation and prospering from it makes for the best angling moments to my way of thinking.

Time to light the JU-JU fire and I decided on the old monkey house ploy. The old monkey house ploy is an old and somewhat dirty trick that I learned way back as a kid when we had endless summer days to dink around the water.

When we were grade school kids on a fieldtrip to the Como Zoo a fellow classmate we called Dooner figured out how to animate the sleepy monkey population to his liking by stirring the pot with one individual. Dooner found that by smiling at one particular monkey he could incite the entire group and with the proper antics could work the collective into a frenzy. Eventually the zoo staff had to escort our class out of the monkey house as the primate’s activity level approached a riot and the shit really started to hit the fan.

That lesson stuck and some of us began experimenting with the tactic on different creatures. Smiling is not too effective on fish but getting the lower levels of the food chain stirred up is a great way to push the predator buttons. Fire up the suckers and the bass and the dace then the pike and muskies will eventually take notice.

So I proceeded to walk the perimeter of the hole stomping on all of the woody debris and generally rattling the cage in any way I could. When I got to a dilapidated beaver palace near a deep drop-off I really put the corks to it and then topped off the performance with a dance through the two vast mid-river weed beds.

It worked. The redhorse and the dace and the bass all got stirred up. Rattle the cage then let it calm down. Later go back and see what happens. It’s a pretty common theme for me and works well on water where I can reasonably expect to encounter no other anglers. The old monkey house ploy is not for hard worked, popular water as it can be viewed as uncouth by the impatient commuter type anglers who budget their time according to secular schedules.

Retire to shore and enjoy a bite of sandwich and a swig of sun tea. The last weedbed had a big fish flush out the far end…maybe that was the big gal herself.

Zesty summer sausage, artesian cheddar (the white kind) and pumpernickel bread with some fancy mustard does the trick. You focus your predator energy and get your game face on. Grizzly bear hunters stalking in the brush with bows and arrows and muskie hunters with fly rods must share similar fear and loathing.

The creatures they pursue are murderous. If muskie got big enough they would eat us. You know that big, old gal out there in the hole somewhere is unafraid of you. She flushed the weedbed out of annoyance – her plush mid-day rest disturbed by an intruder. Her mood is sure to be a sour one now. You are counting on it.

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs159.snc1/5935_1165873635886_1499253770_430909_2875361_n.jpg

cont.

[AftonAngler]

cont. The Hemingway Fish by Brad Bohen

You know that she will only give you one shot. That means that your end of the game will require perfect execution. Experience has taught that if she follows and does not attack you will not get her to play. One cast and one shot is what this all will come down to today. You have her number – dial it!

Wading into position on the mid-channel sandbar you scan the bottom and spot a big fish. It’s her and she is holding where you expected her to be – by the top end of the woodpile above the beaverhouse. Game on.

You must induce a murderous attack to come away the hero. The fly must represent your being and in this game you ask to be mauled. There is nothing in freshwater angling more thrilling than a muskie attacking a fly. Its pure adrenalin and in some cases real terror.

Muskie are viscous takers – sometimes following behind a fly and panting like a bully dog, other times just wildly coming out of the shadows to bash your head in. Fuck What Sport!

Muskie junkies like Derek admit to mostly being into it for the take. The fight is cool and boating and handling a brutish fish is really fascinating…but the take is what drives the wagon.

So now you are one-on-one with a singularly big, old and wish fish. She has many seasons to her credit but you have set her up and your approach is confident and a bit cocky. It’s necessary.

The fish lets you get to about 50 feet before she shows signs that you are as close as she will allow. Better stand your ground and let her adjust to a new presence for about 15 minutes before even thinking of a cast. This is not a time to hurry – too many anglers hurry into an encounter without looking over all of the cards.

Measure the cast in your mind. It will be 75 feet up and across, maybe 80. That will put everything in shape above her and to the far side and will give you room to pull it all together above her holding position.

The cut down T-300 sinking tip and the short fluorocarbon leader will take the buoyant Orange Goblin Beauford right down to the sand. The fly will hover over the bottom and dance as you impart your mojo. This rig gives perfect depth and speed control – you can twitch and wiggle that fly 50 ways to Sunday. Man are you having a good time.

That fish is settled in now. Time to make the shot. Focus. The cast falls far enough and everything comes together – line and leader and fly catch the drift and sink to depth. It all pulls together and the game is on. The fly begins looking alive out there and you can tell the fish can see the show coming to town. She will either punish this intruder or she will flush the area in disgust.

Hold your ground now. Time stands still as the fly comes into her striking range above her and still to the far side. Easy now, three more feet…now start stripping. You need to bring the whole works across her bow – she’s turning…strip hard! It’s right in front of her and she coils up and just bashes your melon in with a crushing bite…

The world goes still – colors are ultra-vivid, sounds come to your ears with surprising clarity and you are aware of the stillness that is being broken by four feet of fish fury jumping out of the water as your trusty old Pfluger goes whirling into action – metering out line and now backing at an alarming rate.

There are two, three jumps in a row. Fast, wild, angry leaps and you imagine you can hear her grunting as she twists and crashes back into the river. These jumps are tarpon like explosions made more heart stopping because you are wading and the leaps put the fish high as your own head.

The heavy fly line sags behind the fight and causes the rod to buck and jolt as the big hen fish goes into a spastic underwater show then runs off 50 feet of line at will. Let her go, you saw the Orange Goblin fast in the corner of her mouth when she first leapt. She will not free herself now unless you botch it up and break off.

The old fiberglass Fenwick handled her with class. It was if the rod was thankful for being brought out of hiatus and transmitted the vibe and sensation of that big predator up into my being like no other rod could have. Classic!

Twenty minutes of cat and mouse antics and the old gal starts getting tired. She is strong and you begin to wonder how heavy a fish has to be to have that kind of reserve power. You notice a lump in your throat and realize how much you want to hold this one. Just touching the leader or getting the knots into the tip top will not suffice. No you want to heft this old gal and run a hand down her flank.

At first you have a notion to tail her out there in the middle of the pool. It seems a silly notion after the first close pass by your hand shows her true size – wide and heavy – well beyond what a normal fish of her length would fetch. She will go 30 lbs. you think to yourself and then just to ratify it hoot out to the woods “She’ll go Thirty Pounds!”

For a minute you just let her swim around on a short line. The rod is bent double and the two of you resemble some kind of strange carnival ride as she swims around under tension – angler and fish forming a kind of merry-go-round. The fish is beat but not yet caught and the two of you eye one another.

A better plan is hatched to finish up in the shallows near shore. It’s never good to pull a heavy, old fish from the water so beaching her is not an option. A large fish once beaten can be led into skinny water with little fuss. Just get them swimming and keep a taught lead. They have no reverse gear and if you control the head the rest follows.

There now you have her! What a beautiful fish. Her big and knarrled lower jaw a testament to her seasons in the river. You can tell an old muskie by the mass of the lower jaw bone.

It is really a special time when an angler is all alone with a great fish reviving it after the catch. It’s time to reflect and also to be in the moment – interestingly time kind of ceases to exist for awhile. Then the great muskie regains her strength and soon is able to swim away.

You watch her evaporate back into the pool and suddenly the world is back to being as it was before you two tangled. Or is it?

Hemingway fish alter you. No bones about it…an angler is a different being after an experience with a remarkable critter. For me personally I have to wonder about the catch…more precisely who captured whom?

My angling took on a deeper meaning, my depth as a human too. Hiking back to the truck through the forest with Penny I felt altered in a good way. Sure, I did battle with a remarkable fish and this time I got to taste victory; however that bit of ego exaltation seems shallow in comparison to the test I passed facing my own demons.

Tangling with this Hemingway Fish set me onto a new course. It lifted me up and also forced me to operate on a different level with a different set of values. This catch released me from my own limitations…set me free to be the angler I always envisioned.

It proved to me that I was living right. In the end that is all I can really hope for as an angler.

http://www.uppermidwestflyfishing.com/photos/data/566/medium/lucky13_downthebarrel.jpg

[AftonAngler]

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs189.snc3/19651_1306367828153_1499253770_805579_1187462_n.jp g

some porn from Musky Country archives that captures my eye...hope it inspires you as well...

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shamelessselfpromotion-fyi-ifyoulikethiskindastuffcheckout@ournewbloghttp://zero2hero-aftonangler.blogspot.com/

[Paddle Fly]

Afton Angler,

Hey man I too recently moved to Placerville from Minocqua WI. Damn your photos make me long for our home waters. I guided out of Minocqua for musky/bass/pike/trout on the fly for a couple of years. Sure don't miss the cold. But funny enough I do miss the taste of walleye fillets out of the cold lakes in winter. Good luck finding good water around here. I am still in the learning phase.

Cheers,

Paddle

[Scott V]

I am still in the learning phase.

Cheers,

Paddle

Come spring and summer time I pass through Placerville on the way to some of my most favorite waters. Drop me a PM and we can talk. I am sure you have been to Off the Hook Flyshop on Broadway, if so tell Frank, Scott said hi. Frank is a real good guy and good friend.

I use to work in Placerville for 5 years, nice little town.



Afton, those are some cool pictures.

[AftonAngler]

Afton Angler,

Hey man I too recently moved to Placerville from Minocqua WI. Damn your photos make me long for our home waters. I guided out of Minocqua for musky/bass/pike/trout on the fly for a couple of years. Sure don't miss the cold. But funny enough I do miss the taste of walleye fillets out of the cold lakes in winter. Good luck finding good water around here. I am still in the learning phase.

Cheers,

Paddle


Cheers back at you Paddle...thanks for the note. Good Luck out here! I really like CA in the winter months. I finally made it down to Kienes shop last week and got introduced around and really liked the shop and crew.

My gear is still in transit...but hopefully this week I will have my full kit and can start getting down to business!

Here is a link to a new e-magazine one of my good musky clients just published:

http://www.myvirtualpaper.com/doc/SleepingintheDirt/sidvolumeoneissueone07-49-35-313/2010013102

enjoy!

[Charlie Gonzales]

Brad...call me this week if you want to fish.

[AftonAngler]

Charlie

I'll give you a shout...thanks!

I'm just now getting all my gear finally! UPS = UnPredictaballySlow.

This weekend I'm headed up to Oregon to swing some flies on the Rogue...I'll call you when I get back. Can't wait to talk flies and see your game man!

L8TR

Brad

[Paddle Fly]

I still have a huge assortment of my own hand tied Musky/Pike flies. I have everything and anything. The whole lot consists of at least 150 huge flies
(4"-12"). This is the stash that I maintained when I guided back in Wisconsin/Minnesota. I am willing to sell it to the right guy for the right price. Give me a shout to see if interested. I also have a ton of conventional Musky gear for a great price.

Paddle

[AftonAngler]

Time flies!

Thanks to everyone who got in contact with me this winter...got to fish with a few...plan on fishing with many more! I'll definately be back out again next off-season.

CA is a wonderland for a fly angler looking for excellent winter weather (by Wisco standards), beautiful and diverse fisheries and great fly fishing culture.

I'm just packing up my kit in preparation for the return journey/road trip...

Here is a little peek at the meat locker restocking I did while out there:

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs445.snc3/25535_1392304456515_1499253770_993931_528170_n.jpg
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http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash1/hs465.ash1/25535_1392305256535_1499253770_993948_5910405_n.jp g
cont.

[AftonAngler]

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Thanks Again!

All my best for the remainder of the 2010 season:thumbsup:

[AftonAngler]

Howdy to all my new buds out on the West Coast!

Summer is flying by...not much time to do interwebs stuff...

Here is some fresh stuff from the Musky Trail!

Enjoy;)

Some recent stuff from Upper Wisco...

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs194.snc4/38042_1511983168408_1499253770_1282801_6657599_n.j pg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs194.snc4/38042_1511983248410_1499253770_1282803_7770900_n.j pg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs174.snc4/38042_1511983328412_1499253770_1282805_4483283_n.j pg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs174.snc4/38042_1511983488416_1499253770_1282808_697328_n.jp g
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs091.ash2/37897_1511985368463_1499253770_1282815_5893356_n.j pg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs191.snc4/37897_1511985568468_1499253770_1282820_123005_n.jp g
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs091.ash2/37897_1511985728472_1499253770_1282824_4660173_n.j pg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs083.ash2/37506_1511987568518_1499253770_1282831_2162739_n.j pg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs163.snc4/37506_1511987848525_1499253770_1282837_49977_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs165.snc4/37585_1511989608569_1499253770_1282847_2787643_n.j pg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs085.ash2/37585_1511989688571_1499253770_1282849_5464397_n.j pg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs165.snc4/37585_1511989728572_1499253770_1282850_8006417_n.j pg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs185.snc4/37585_1511989888576_1499253770_1282853_1772093_n.j pg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs163.snc4/37482_1511991688621_1499253770_1282870_2773172_n.j pg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs196.snc4/38116_1511993728672_1499253770_1282887_6193656_n.j pg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs186.snc4/37660_1511995808724_1499253770_1282900_522208_n.jp g
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs086.ash2/37660_1511995768723_1499253770_1282899_3342956_n.j pg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs186.snc4/37660_1511995928727_1499253770_1282903_1319057_n.j pg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs166.snc4/37660_1511995848725_1499253770_1282901_3338023_n.j pg

[AftonAngler]

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs186.snc4/37660_1511996008729_1499253770_1282905_8285361_n.j pg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs086.ash2/37660_1511996048730_1499253770_1282906_942967_n.jp g
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs166.snc4/37660_1511996088731_1499253770_1282907_7062786_n.j pg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs183.snc4/37505_1511997248760_1499253770_1282917_329548_n.jp g
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs183.snc4/37505_1511997408764_1499253770_1282920_1339761_n.j pg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs183.snc4/37505_1511997528767_1499253770_1282923_3550570_n.j pg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs163.snc4/37505_1511997608769_1499253770_1282924_3924315_n.j pg

[Ben Kobrin]

Those streamers are bigger than 90% of the fish I catch. :(

[Hairstacker]

Afton, I see you've been keeping busy. :D Those are some awesome fish and your photography is just outstanding! Hope you keep piping in here from time to time to keep us up to date like that. :)

[Frank Alessio]

Nice Flys and great photography......

[AftonAngler]

Howdy Fellows

Here is a little teaser on a project we have been working on this season. Looks like I'll have something fun to show when I come back out to Sac this winter:)

Hope all is well on the West Coast.

Enjoy

http://www.thirdyearflyfisher.com/stillsmusky

[koffler]

Very nice - the drift boat has the same colors as the Green Bay Packers. Very appropriate for northern Wisconsin. How far away are the rivers you primarily guide from Madison as I'm out that way semi-regularly?

[schurmo]

Nice story and pics! I grew up in lake country in Minnesota and have chased the elusive musky myself! Quite the fish. Nothing like fishing for Walleye, hook a perch and watch a gigantic shimmery shadow rise up behind your little fish as you try and get it in the boat! I still have yet to hook one myself (landed a number of pretty large northerns) but the follow is almost nearly as fun as the catch! My brother-in-law has landed one in the 55" range. It was CRAZY to watch! Never thought of trying it on the fly though, seems like fun. Thanks again for sharing!

[AftonAngler]

Alright Fellows...

Prime Time is Upon us from Now on Out until Freeze_Up

Enjoy!

We Are :Roll Eyes
:cool
Photogs are Lucky Porters...he rocks the lens in Musky Country :bow
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs310.ash2/59008_155470607815974_100000591077679_361540_19401 70_n.jpg
This might by my new favorite musky on the fly shot...dayum!!!

Still seem to get stuck to plenty of damn rocks!
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs312.ash2/59284_155470974482604_100000591077679_361547_39184 64_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs325.ash2/60576_155468391149529_100000591077679_361489_48440 25_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs665.snc4/60576_155468404482861_100000591077679_361491_65033 36_n.jpg
PIKESABER love...you gotta check this stick out (google it!)
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs678.snc4/61843_155468891149479_100000591077679_361502_27475 30_n.jpg

Some Deep Throat Stuff...
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs626.snc4/58616_155467537816281_100000591077679_361473_56928 7_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs610.snc4/59008_155470614482640_100000591077679_361542_47756 42_n.jpg

Gator Wranglin'
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs325.ash2/60576_155468414482860_100000591077679_361493_36689 28_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs678.snc4/61843_155468867816148_100000591077679_361496_73400 86_n.jpg
Come HERE Bitch!
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs632.snc4/59284_155470981149270_100000591077679_361549_77035 89_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs687.snc4/62782_155467627816272_100000591077679_361474_73796 29_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs355.ash2/63554_155467747816260_100000591077679_361476_28684 31_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs707.snc4/62732_155469351149433_100000591077679_361507_74003 31_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs693.snc4/63312_155469704482731_100000591077679_361513_30391 08_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs645.snc4/60576_155468377816197_100000591077679_361486_40995 92_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs653.snc4/61318_155470241149344_100000591077679_361523_34480 0_n.jpg
New Musky Tribe members...
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs338.ash2/61843_155468881149480_100000591077679_361500_64221 40_n.jpg
Our bucktail guru and Premium Tail purveyor Jonathan
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs306.ash2/58684_155467837816251_100000591077679_361477_17035 3_n.jpg
He's a fishy cat...kinda reminds me of JayJay eh?

And the FischerKing
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs310.ash2/59008_155470601149308_100000591077679_361538_58524 84_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs312.ash2/59284_155470961149272_100000591077679_361544_79446 3_n.jpg

cont...

[AftonAngler]

Of course there is always The Marv...
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs312.ash2/59284_155470967815938_100000591077679_361546_18167 94_n.jpg
'I like jack off alot...'
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs312.ash2/59284_155470987815936_100000591077679_361551_12978 26_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs633.snc4/59361_155468011149567_100000591077679_361481_37642 21_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs707.snc4/62732_155469344482767_100000591077679_361505_71484 2_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs633.snc4/59361_155468004482901_100000591077679_361479_55281 90_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs687.snc4/62732_155469357816099_100000591077679_361509_80542 06_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs312.ash2/59284_155470957815939_100000591077679_361543_48480 2_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs713.snc4/63312_155469691149399_100000591077679_361510_24036 76_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs693.snc4/63312_155469724482729_100000591077679_361518_36360 24_n.jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs333.ash2/61318_155470237816011_100000591077679_361522_31460 39_n.jpg
C YA
:cool

[jbird]

Very exciting thread! Considering I am relocating to Wisconsin next summer.

My wife just moved there early this month. Ive been fishing my brains out here in oregon trying to get sick of it so leaving wont hurt so bad. Funny tho its like a drug. The more I do the more I want. Your pics and stories are a great help!

Jay

[AftonAngler]

Howdy Fellows

Wrapping up the musky season in the next few weeks. I'll be back out in SacTown sometime in early/mid December

2010 has been a season for the ages. I'm on a personal record run with 159 musky on the fly boated thus far. I had an 11 fish day a week ago so who knows what the final tally will be.

I'm just wore out. Left it all on the river this past six months. Looking forward to Cali!

check out something cool that will be around this off season...

http://www.thirdyearflyfisher.com/video

See You All Soon

Your Pal

Brad

[jbird]

Ill be livin there this time next year. Thanks for the encouragement! Awesome vids!!!!!