Brian Wise Posted October 18, 2011 Posted October 18, 2011 Hey Guys, Here is the report and video from the second leg of our trip north in search of Muskie.... Muskie Musk. We leave our family for 9 days for 10,000 casts toward a Muskie. Muskellunge (Esox masquinongy) from the Ojibwa word maashkinoozhe, meaning “ugly pike”. Muskie like to cruse “patrols” looking to destroy whatever critter they choose. This is no ordinary fish. They are the apex predator in any water they live. Eating anything they can possibly fit in their toothy mouth. This is not a fish for the light of heart, mind, or body… North of Hwy 8 live the Maashkinoozhe. Tea colored rivers from the rust belt harbor the elusive fish. We cast flies that are larger than some house pets to a fish meaner than a doberman pincer on Starbucks. We arrive at camp around 1am, since we had to catch the evening rise on the Driftless, we drive by night. We set camp, charge camera batteries, and rig our titanium bite leaders. Sunrise and we rise, off to the musky river where hopefully the guy remembered to drop a johnboat off for us. Sure enough it was there. Now, nobody in the boat had ever casted for muskie before this, but it was easy to see why the fish loved this water. Slow pools with submerged vegitation haunted us as we casted furiously. We floated by submerged logs and gawked down into the amber water in hopes to see one. The river was very similar to home. Steep rocky riffles gently sweeping around the corner into deep slow glassy pools, we had confidence in this type water. Reading seams, drop-offs, shadows, submerged vegie, and woody debris there were fishing places everywhere! Yet….where were the muskie? Two days straight of casting 10wts and flies the size of a muskrat and no toothy critters. But…we did catch a few smallmouth bass that could have passed as bait in these waters. Powerfull dark and deep were the smallmouth bass here. We could catch smallmouth in the Ozarks so we quickly threw them back and kept casting, and casting, and casting…..all the way to Lake Vermillion. (Report and photos by Kyle Kosovich. Videography by Brian Wise and Aaron Scott, edited by Brian Wise) My Youtube Channel
Trout Commander Posted October 18, 2011 Posted October 18, 2011 Killer vid. Looks like you guys had a blast. I wish you guys could've stuck a couple. I have spent most of my money on fly fishing and beer. The rest I just wasted. The latest Trout Commander blog post: Niangua River Six Pack
Justin Spencer Posted October 18, 2011 Posted October 18, 2011 Only one thing missing. Leaves a reason to go back. Loved how you worked the sound track, may be too much cinematography for some, but I thought it rocked! "The problem with a politician’s quote on Facebook is you don’t know whether or not they really said it." –Abraham Lincoln Tales of an Ozark Campground Proprietor Dead Drift Fly Shop
Gavin Posted October 18, 2011 Posted October 18, 2011 Enjoyed the vid Brian..FWIW, I've tried for them a few times and come up Zero.... The only Musky I ever hooked ate a 3" long sparkleminnow on 3x. Bit tugged a bit, then bit me off....At least we got a good look at it when it jumped in attempt to dislodge the fly.
Brian Wise Posted October 18, 2011 Author Posted October 18, 2011 Thanks for the kind words guys, this was technically the best video I have ever edited and got pretty excited the first time I watched it. After getting a little taste of "real" hardcore fishing on the Chippewa we started to get an idea of what it takes to catch these things....or really target them anyway. Swinging 10 wts as hard as we could (or as hard as we thought was possible until we hit Lake Vermillion) for 2 days was pretty awesome in itself. The funny thing was that the casting didn't bother me at all but I wasn't used to stripping that hard and that strongly for that amount of time.....I never want to hear "Boy we had a rough day of stripping streamers for trout" ever....again. Working on the Lake Vermillion video as I type this....should have it done by this time next week. My Youtube Channel
Justin Spencer Posted October 19, 2011 Posted October 19, 2011 I never want to hear "Boy we had a rough day of stripping streamers for trout" ever....again Boy I had a rough day stripping streamers for bass on the Bryant the other day. That video looked very professional, now we need some women fly fishing in bikinis and you may have a new career(or Kyle and Aaron in drag)! "The problem with a politician’s quote on Facebook is you don’t know whether or not they really said it." –Abraham Lincoln Tales of an Ozark Campground Proprietor Dead Drift Fly Shop
Brian Wise Posted October 19, 2011 Author Posted October 19, 2011 Thaat video looked very professional, now we need some women fly fishing in bikinis and you may have a new career You haven't seen the Summer re-cap video yet. My Youtube Channel
Brian Wise Posted October 19, 2011 Author Posted October 19, 2011 Here are some of Aaron Scott's photos from the Chippewa: My Youtube Channel
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