Tiger Boy Meets Musky Man

December 2008 I opened a hot off the presses Hatches Magazine, there staring me in the face was something like nothing that I’d ever seen before… Brad Bohen’s HANG TIME! That day  my approach for fishing and tying streamers for predatory fish changed drastically. My eyes were opened to “engineering and designing” flies to swim and move in ways flies have never swam and moved before. Fast forward a couple years, countless hours at the vice and on the water, some emails and a few phone calls later Brand and I met up to fish for Tiger Musky on my home water. It was early spring and things were already behind… Way behind! Cold water temps, freezing nights, wind rain and snow (which is now a theme for us) were in store for 3 days.

Dashboard R & D

After the snow

New school... Old School...

Rick Getting It Done

Dinner

Despite the not so great conditions we both got into a some fish… I completely botched the hook set on a 100% legit topwater eat (20′ off the back of the boat), Brad’s Tootie Frooty Hang Time pulled some weight before she was lost in battle, my skirt fly R & D was boating fish and more than plenty of good laughs were had.

Angler: Brad Bohen Pattern: Hang Time

Angler: Brad Bohen Pattern: Angry Minnow

Angler: Brad Bohen Pattern: Angry Minnow

Angler: Brad Bohen Pattern: Angry Minnow

Unfortunately all my fish pictures are on Brad’s camera and he’s currently balls deep in musky oil. So I’m guess in fish bum/guide time I’ll have them posted sometime after freeze up. Cheers!

Transitions

After a long spring of grinding days for musky I decided it was time to change up the game and chase some trout. When I came back from Wisconsin the rivers where raging and damns were overflowing. That has since gave way to more sustainable flows and some nice clear high water with fat happy trout. There is something refreshing about ditching the 10 wt and trading in the bass boat for  a 5 wt and wet wading gear. Get back to the basics I guess you could say. The last couple years I have grown fond of this transitional time and the change up that it brings except that fact that it makes things around my house a absolute cluster f*@k. Since everything musky is drastically different from everything trout I end up switching all my rods, reels, tippet, flies, what materials I’m tying with, packs and what I wear a couple times a week. Luckily they only over lap for a few weeks or so each year because it’s hard to make a decision on stones flies or bait fish (bait fish usually win though). Plus lets be honest this is a good problem to have so I’ll stop my bitching! There is something rather refreshing about getting several fish out of a run or a good section and not grinding it out hour after hour pounding shoreline often time with little or no action. So folks I guess what I’m saying is that the inner trout weenie in me is strongly emerging again for the hot summer months when the tiger musky go deep. It’s now time to start stocking up my poor and neglected trout boxes and get my 3 and 4 weights lined up again because the lazy days of summer have just rolled in… But no worries streamer junkies because there will always be a 6 or 7 weight Sage VT2 rigged up with some meat riding shot gun at all times. Here are a few pictures from last weekend fishing with a few friends on a nice small Utah stream and  streamers action on a swollen tailwater.

Angler Corey Kruitbosch

Angler Corey Kruitbosch

The Scenery

Angler: Collin Carlson

Angler: Collin Carlson

My favorite Stone Fly Dropper

Chubby Muffin Cicada

Mid winter I tied this streamer up in particular for this time of year when the rivers run high. The goal was to create a heavy streamer that would sink quickly and provide lots of movement. The articulation and rubber legs provide movement while oversized eyes and rabbit help it penetrate the water and sink quickly.  Over the years I’ve struggled to keep sinking lines in the zone and deliver the streamer properly in high turbulent water of run-off while fishing on foot, especially on smaller rivers. The problem with a sinking line is that it gets caught in the current ripping your streamer out of the effective area your trying to fish while really only giving you one choice of ripping it through too fast. I’ve now gone to a heavily weighted fly on floating line and with long leader with a thin diameter (2-3x) so it cuts through the water quickly. This gives me way more control and allows me to fish at any speed and stay in the strike zone as long as possible. The result has been better streamer fishing in high water, period!

Articulated Mega Get Down

It was good enough for a blind sucker!

Skirt Flies

This winter I started incorporating bass skirts into some of my streamer patterns. At the time I couldn’t think of a reason why they wouldn’t work out and fish well but you never know. After a long rough spring and plenty of R & D summer is upon us and skirt flies have become a staple in mine and my friends Tiger Musky boxes. Personally I feel bass skirts having a lot of validity in the fly fishing world with many applications. I know I’m probably rubbing a lot of purists the wrong way with these sinister creations considering they come from the conventional tackle world and the history behind them. But lets be honest here for a second… If you fish rubber legged patterns you really don’t have a leg to stand on. For instance lets talk about one of the best streamers ever created, the Circus Peanut (FYI it’s not a Galloup pattern and was created by Russ Madden as a easier faster way to tie a Sex Dungeon). The Circus Peanut has a few key features that make it such a fishy SOB like the articulation and nice jiggy action. But without a doubt the massive amount of rubber legs accounts for the majority of it’s fishiness. So I ask you this… If you’d fish a Circus Peanut would you fish a Skirt Fly? Oh and in case you were wondering, the answer is yes, I sleep fine at night after I stick a essox in the face on a skirt fly.

Skirt Fly

Angler: Nick Grananto Pattern: Skirt Fly Photo: Brad Bohen

What The Dry Fly?

Recently I finished up my very first article for the 2010 publication of  Hatches Magazine and I couldn’t be anymore pleased. Hatches is by far my favorite tying magazine and in all honestly the only one that I subscribe to. So to have a chance to contribute to my favorite tying publication is honestly a dream come true. If you are not familiar with them they are worth a definite look and offer some of the best and truly innovative fly tying tutorials and article in the world. The article is about the significant food source that Cicadas offer fish the world over in addition to a tutorial of my Chubby Muffin Cicada. I know some of you are thinking you did a piece on a dry fly? Where’s the meat? My answer is hell yes, and it’s technically a terrestrial which happens to be some of my favorite flies to tie and fish. I honestly spend more time chasing trout than other species due to Tiger Musky only being accessible with a fly rod about 1/3 of the year… If you haven’t checked out the publication or there website you need to, it’s top notch for sure! Hatchesmagazine.com

Ghetto Trampin’

Once again I’ve been too busy fishing, tying, working and living life so I’ve been slacking on the blog. I’ve been back from Wisco for over a week now and have been chasing a few trout around and enjoying a wet wade or two… My time in Wisco was nothing short of amazing and I can’t wait to get back! Thanks to the Musky Country Outfitters crew for the solid time and good laughs. Here is a pic of a Ghetto Tramp I tied up for a swap over at the Drake stuck in a Musky thanks to Tim Pommer of Scientific Angler, picture taken by MCO’s Brian “Lucky” Porter. I’ll have a Wisco post some time in the near future.

Angler: Tim Pommer Photo: Brian Porter