Northwest Fishing Reports

I was curious if anyone had any suggestions/advice on fishing for Muskies with a fly rod. I fly fish primarily for trout and steelhead, but have wanted to try my hand at Muskies and still have yet to do so. Silver is near my home in Spokane and it would be a good place to start, but with no experience or knowledge of this fish, any thoughts or ideas you might have would be appreciated. Tight lines.

Dave

Hey dbk,

I know it has been done. I have never tried it myself, but I wouldn't mind learning more about it. You could probably find out more information on this from InFisherman, Musky Hunter, or some other publication. It would be pretty cool to try this style I think. I love a method of fishing that challenges one skill level. I have landed these guys on light tackle which is also challenging to do without being "broken off". Good luck to you. It can be done.

dbk;
You should check out washington fly fishing. com. there are several guys there that fly fish for the tigers in Mayfield. One fella is even a guide. I was going to call him and ask about a set-up myself. And like bad esox said, check out the Infisherman's info. They have a few video's that are specifically for fly fishing toothy critters, they target pike but the equipment is the same. Musky Hunter magazine did just have a article on fly fishing but it didn't say a lot about equipment. But touched on technique in rivers.
As far as fishing on Silver with a fly I think it would work well. There are a lot of weed beds and some good structure to toss a fly at. I hear that black leech patterns work on Mayfield so I would start with that or a perch pattern. There isn't much option for shore fishing at Silver with a fly rod. I would suggest going to Ruby's bait shop and fish off their dock or renting a boat from the newest owner. Just tell the guy who runs the store what you'll give him for a boat, you don't need to pay 12 bucks. The public access is usually busy with people in lawn chairs so might not be friendly for fly casting. I'll be happy to help with any questions you have about Silver, there are several comments about Silver on these forums.

I havent started to fly fish and still havent managed to hook a musky but I was talking to a guy at sportsmans who was fly fishing off the ruby's dock. He was casting steelhead flies for muskey. He said he managed to hook and catch a smaller muskey on a hot pink fly that looked simialer to a wooley bugger. He was telling me that its simular to fly fishing for bass but you want to use larger flies or poppers and this will make casting easier with a heavy leader. Hope this helped a little. Good luck.

Guys, thanks to all of you for the great advice!

Musky Guy, since you fish Silver a lot, here are a couple of specific questions I have:

In June, at what depths do you typically fish for Muskies on Silver? (I will not be able to fish there until June).

What types of presentations/retrieves do you employ at this time of year? (fast/slow retrieves, etc.)

What size and colors of lures do you fish (3 inches, 5 inches, etc.) on Silver?

Again, thanks for the great help! Hopefully it will help me land a fish of 10,000 casts.

I am glad to help out. I'm not the only yahoo on this lake fishing for muskies, I'm sure there are people out there who can do it better. I hope a few more people will respond to the questions so you have more info than mine to consider.
In June I start at around 12 ft. and work my way in shallower on the north end. This is a tough time on Silver though, there is a lot of boating and this pressure makes it tricky to find fish. If it's really busy I head south and fish the deeper area that is northwest of the first island.
Typically I start deeper and fan cast a diving bait with a fast retrieve speed, then a spinnerbait counted down retieved at a medium speed, then a swimbait counted down and retrieved at a slow speed. As I work into shallower water my first bait tossed is a bucktail retrieved fast, then the spinnerbait and swimbait with no countdown time. I work my way shallower until the weeds are to thick to get through. I really do this because I enjoy catching the large bass that will hit my lures.
I start with a fast retrieve, you want your first bait through there to get the attention of any active fish in the area. They respond to speed very well. Then as you progress through your presentations you also change speeds to see if there is a pattern.
3 - 6 inch baits work just fine on Silver. 3/8 - 1 oz. spinnerbaits, Husky Jerks (not the biggest one) #9 is good, single treble hook bucktails by mepps, double hook bucktails are fine in summer when the water darkens with algea and boat use.
I'll add anything else that I think will help as I think of it. Good Luck, hope to see you.

Musky guy, thanks for the great information! I am not back home in Spokane just yet, but will be returning the first week in June and maybe we could get together and fish Silver, so long as you do not mind me using a fly rod instead of traditional gear. I cannot wait to get back and try my hand for these guys. I am a trout fisherman first and foremost, so this is a bit out of my league, but the challenge of taking a musky on fly interests me a lot. I'll be in touch again when i get back. Thanks so much for the great help and tight lines!

Sound good. I hope I'll be able to fish at all this summer, my job is going to be BUSY!