From: 07/13/2018
To: 07/13/2018
Type of Water: Freshwater
Species: Pike, Muskie
My friend and fellow guide John Bentley and I traveled to the north central area of Pennsylvania to scout for a Musky fly fishing tournament in October. This would be my first time fishing this section of the mighty Allegheny River and I was very excited at the opportunity. John has fished the river many times before but this would be his first for Musky. This section of the River has a very diverse selection of fish species ranging from Smallmouth Bass, Musky, Northern Pike, to trophy sized Wild Brown Trout.
We launched the Fly Craft two person raft and headed down river to our first location, which was a series of fallen trees, large boulders and deep water. If you wanted to know what prime river Musky water looked like this was it. I would be first to fish so John maneuvered the r View more...My friend and fellow guide John Bentley and I traveled to the north central area of Pennsylvania to scout for a Musky fly fishing tournament in October. This would be my first time fishing this section of the mighty Allegheny River and I was very excited at the opportunity. John has fished the river many times before but this would be his first for Musky. This section of the River has a very diverse selection of fish species ranging from Smallmouth Bass, Musky, Northern Pike, to trophy sized Wild Brown Trout.
We launched the Fly Craft two person raft and headed down river to our first location, which was a series of fallen trees, large boulders and deep water. If you wanted to know what prime river Musky water looked like this was it. I would be first to fish so John maneuvered the raft into position as I launched my Nightmare Musky Flies 12" Perch colored Game Changer into the direction of one of the many large boulder. Seconds into my retrieve a nice sized Musky quickly charged my fly and followed it to the boat but then receded back to its' deep water sanctuary. To say we were excited would be an understatement. One cast, one follow..
We worked our way around the shore line structure, casting and retrieving through each and every hiding spot when suddenly another beautiful Allegheny River Musky came after my fly and yet again like the first fish turned away at the boat. Two follows in the first 20 minutes of our day. After the excitement of the appearance of the second fish, we headed down river to a submerged weed bed. I cast my fly to the opposite side and stripped it across the tops of the weeds when suddenly and viciously a large fish attacked. This time there was no follow to the boat and with a quick strip set I was hooked up with an unknown large predator fish. The fish fought hard but John was able to get a net under it and we had our first fish of the day.
Lifting the net we saw that the fish was a large and apparently very old Northern Pike that truly resembled a crocodile. We made our way to the shore line for some quick pictures before releasing this awesome fish back to its watery home. We were having a banner day and we've only been fishing for less than an hour. It was John's turn to fish and I took over "the sticks".
We drifted down river about a half mile to a secluded little wood pile that was supposedly the home to a nice Musky. I worked the boat into position as John started launching his probing casts...making sure to get as close to the cover as he could. On his third cast I saw the fly land in the "money spot" and two strips in the Musky struck. John saw the hit and was quick to set the hook but a few head shakes and the fish was gone. We were both disappointed but such is Musky fishing.
We continued down river to the next good looking Musky spot. Again John was fishing and he cast his fly into a deep slow eddy with lots of large boulder dotting the river bottom. Seconds later a big Musky slowly followed his fly back to the boat. The fish seemed more curious and not interested in eating the fly and we were thrilled just seeing the massive fish. We fished for a few more hours but didn't catch or see anymore fish. But it was a very successful day for us in the world of Musky fishing on the fly.
