The Joy of Fly Fishing in New Brunswick

It can take a long time getting that first musky. Well that’s what I have heard as I have never gone musky fishing.

When Casey goes after something he goes big or he stays home and his first musky was certainly not a little guy by any stretch of your imagination.

Casey, Oct 2009, with his first musky. Congrats

Here is the email a happy, well exstatic Casey sent me once he had his pictures uploaded.

It was Sun 18 Oct and the last muskie outing for the St John River chapter in Fredericton called the “Ironman”.

It was a frosty morning around 2 C. We arrived just as most boats were departing the launch area at 8 am and were advised to pay our fees at lunchtime which was a mandatory break for all participants.

We donned a couple of more layers of clothes and gloves and headed out. We began trolling right away as it is the preferred method when the water is cold.

I put on a 10″ Jake and my partner used a 10″ Believer. We trolled for about an hour and had caught many loads of weeds but no hits. I hate catching weeds so I put on a 6″ jointed perch lure, which is probably the cheapest one in my box.

At about 09:30 I had a strong hit in about 10′ of water, it turned out to be a 16′ bass but got the adrenalin flowing.

Ten minutes later I got a real tug on the line. I set the hook twice and could feel the fish fighting. I knew it wasn’t a bass.

My 8′ Okuma rod was bent big time when we finally saw the fish. It was a muskie and looked half as long as the boat.

My partner did an excellent net job and we had it. That’s when the shaking started. I couldnt believe the size of this fish, the biggest I have ever caught. After about 5 min my partner removed the lure and lifted the fish from the net.

We were both pretty nervous about handling this monster as it had a huge head and large teeth. I was still trembling like a leaf but got a good grip for a few pics.

It took about 15 mins in the water before the muskie headed for the deep water on his own.

What a rush!!!

15 muskies were caught at this tournament and all were safely released. The largest was 48″ x 23″ I was in 4th place and the prizes only went to 3rd. Maybe next year.