WInter Musky

Don’t BOOK THIS TRIP!!!

This Trip is Brutal. The weather is brutal, the fishing is brutal, and the fish are brutal. This is a long, cold, uncomfortable, sometimes miserable, frustrating, body and mind turned to jelly day. It is the dead of winter, ice clings to the banks, duck hunters huddle in their canoes next to shivering labs. The water runs low and clear, or high and green. The chance of frostbite is higher than the chance of a landed fish. Moving a fish actually counts as a win. Southern grouse hunters may understand. In the river lurks an APEX predator. She is patient and determined. Her metabolism slow, her meals infrequent, her attitude savage. You probably will not see her today. This is probably the most dedicated of dedicated trips. You can do everything right and earn nothing for your effort but the need for a hot meal, a chair in the shower, and serious revaluation of your desire for these things. Halfway through the day that dose of cabin fever that drove you out into the elements doesn’t seem so bad now. You are tired, bored, and going through the motions. You thought you saw one a few hundred yards back, and you hold onto that hope to keep you going. The air is cold and crisp, it bites at the end of your damp fingers, and the insides of your nasal passages. You were freezing this morning, but though the air temperature has only raised a few degrees, you shed layers to deal with the sweat you have worked up casting giant flies to the bank. You are in it now. Dedicated. You can’t believe you paid for this abuse. Your guide keeps pointing to spots on the bank, and encouraging you to fight through the monotony. He knows how low the chances are. He knows there will probably be an uncomfortable handshake and an uncomfortable exchange of cash at the end of the day. He also knows that it could happen. It really could…just keep casting. Keep putting that fly in the wood. Figure 8 every time. Look behind your fly. Keep a sharp eye out. This dreary fog of tedium could be punctuated by intense violence at any moment. An APEX predator on both ends of the line.

Click the Book Now button if I haven’t talked you out of it yet.