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!
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.
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