Brad emailed me with some good information and an interesting story, so I wanted to share. Brad has been concentrating his fly tying and fly fishing on hunting muskies this fall. He is using a Thomas & Thomas Exocett Predator fly rod, 12wt., Sage Spectrum Max fly reel, with a SA Sonar Titan fly line.
Brad says, “This gives me a very balanced system and I have had good success with this setup this fall.
Brad has tied and fished the following streamer with success.
Articulated Streamer materials list:
Berkley (that’s right) 19Fusion 8/0 heavy cover hook
White/Black Bucktail
Olive EP fiber
Magnum Barred Flashabou
Magnum Pearl Flashabou
Predator Holographic Flashabou
Pearl Accent Tinsel
Black Craft Foam paper-punched and covered in Loons UV resin (eyes)
Brad explains how he caught his latest musky below. He was able to capture it on video as well.
“I witnessed the musky busting up baitfish and didn’t disturb him for a couple of minutes before moving in stealth-like. I removed the Mirage Drive from my Hobie and went straight paddle before anchoring with a rope tied to a rock. Gave it one false cast with a double haul to get it in the strike zone. I let it sink with intermediate/sink line for a few seconds with my rod tip in the water before performing 2 foot strips; then it ate the fly within the first few pulls. This part of the hunt went perfect, in my opinion. The rest was pure luck.
I cannot recollect much after setting the hook as the adrenaline of not hooking a fish for 70 hours (over many days) started kicking in. I did manage to captured it on video and assessed it. My hands were cold and fatigued so my line slipped on the first strip set of the hook; as the fish darted at me, I gave my rod a good long yank and stripped to bring the slack in quick. I followed up two hook sets after that, mainly because I’ve lost two this year on flies that I tied on too thick gauge of wire (Gamakatsu’s Big Game 8/0 hook). I forgot to pick up my extra line before getting the net, which was critical in error and something I never do. But I was able to net the fish. I’m completely humbled.”
