Mayfield Tiger Musky

[SaltwaterFlies]

I went to Mayfield Lake last weekend in hopes of actually catching a Tiger Musky on a fly.  Fished most of the day on Saturday through the rain and got nothing.  We were fishing in an area near the trout hatchery we were told was a good bet.  Not so good to us.  We also headed up into the Tilton arm by Ike Kinswa and saw a couple swimming away from the boat.  That was a good sign but we had no follows and probably no bumps.  We weren't sure on that since it was shallow water and we figure we snagged bottom a couple of times.  On Saturday early evening we got off the water and went to Salkum Sports Shop.  It's pretty much a gear shop for the guys who fish Blue Creek and the Barrier Dam.  We asked some questions and got pointed in the direction of the area we spent most of our time fishing.  Not much info for us fly fishermen.  We were told that you couldn't catch a Tiger Musky on a fly and the guy behind the counter asked if we'd ever heard of anybody doing so.  I told him no but I'd talked to a few guys who had gotten follows before.  He laughed and said that you could throw an old shoe and get a follow but that flies wouldn't work.  Sunday morning we ventured to the same area near the hatchery and on the third cast my buddy hooked and then landed about a 40" musky weighing right around 15 pounds according to my scale.  He caught it on a big Hearing fly purchase from the Morning Hatch fly shop.  So much for old shoes.  We didn't get any more but did see at least three more before the day ended.  The fishing is supposed to be best at the end of summer so we'll be back.  Good luck to anyone who may try their hand at the big fish.

Ryan