I'm quite astounded to be honest , i really don't know where this week has gone , i have been kinda busy at work and managing to get a few flies prepped for my USA jaunt , in fact I've just stopped of in orvis on my way to work as i needed some more of my favorite hooks (when I'm feeling rich) the gamakatsu sl12s its just an outstanding hook for some patterns end of , so ill be getting some musky flies tied tomorrow
muskies in lake Champlain have a chequered history and much to long to be going on about here if your interested in the history of the Champlain muskies and the ongoing work carry on reading if not skip down to the fly pic 
Missisquoi River Muskie Restoration is Underway
WATERBURY, VT – The muskellunge, a famed and highly-prized sport fish, may once again establish residency in the Missisquoi River, thanks to cooperative efforts yesterday by the states of New York and Vermont. The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department gave its recently-established muskie restoration effort a boost Tuesday when it stocked 250 four-month old muskellunge in the Missisquoi River Delta. The fish were donated by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
The muskellunge is a unique Vermont natural heritage species. Lake Champlain and the Missisquoi River are the only locations in New England that historically had a native muskellunge population. Local people, especially residents of Swanton and people of Abenaki descent can remember stories of their ancestors fishing for and catching big muskies in the area.
Muskellunge were native to Lake Champlain’s Missisquoi River and Missisquoi Bay but the population that last existed upstream of the Swanton Dam was apparently lost in the late 1970s following a chemical spill that occurred on the upper river.
“The muskellunge has a unique role as Lake Champlain’s apex aquatic predator among the lake’s fishes,” said Fish & Wildlife Commissioner Wayne Laroche. “It also was important historically on the lower Missisquoi River as an almost mythical large fish that was present but very difficult to catch.”
The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department recently completed a genetic assessment of a very small number of muskellunge caught since 2005 in the Lake Champlain Basin.
“In the last couple years, anglers have reported catching an occasional muskie in the lower Missisquoi River and Missisquoi Bay,” said Shawn Good, Chair of the department’s Muskellunge Team, and the fisheries biologist leading the restoration efforts. “Through a very successful outreach effort, we were able to work with local anglers and taxidermists in the Swanton area and obtain tissue samples from a number of these incidental muskie catches. Genetic analysis of these tissue samples reveal the muskellunge anglers have been catching in the area are not from the original native strain.”
“The muskie that anglers have been catching in the Missisquoi came from the Great Chazy River in New York, as their genetic makeup is identical to the Lake Chautauqua-strain muskie the NYDEC have stocked there for many years,” said Good.
Good says they now know some of those fish make their way down the Chazy and out into Lake Champlain to the Missisquoi Bay and River.
There are also a small number of muskellunge in Otter Creek. These fish originated from Pennsylvania following a Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department stocking effort more than 20 years ago.
The department’s genetic work also showed that the state record muskellunge, a 38.22 lb. fish caught in the Missisquoi River in September of 2005 by Chris Beebe, came from fish stocked by the State of New York in the Chazy River.
Source: Department of Fish and Wildlife
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i myself have spent the past 6 or so months of this year researching locations and fly types colours etc , so when i hit the ground in the states in July myself and ken will have a bit of a head start on tracking down these elusive VT predators and we will be spending at least a couple of days chasing them , they ain't called the fish of a thousand casts for nothing , OK so your thinking nearly 5000 miles dude you crazy , well no not really you see there is always by catch while fishing for them , bass , northerns etc so I'm happy to go hunting and I'm there for 2 weeks so its all good
Missisquoi River Muskie Restoration is Underway
WATERBURY, VT – The muskellunge, a famed and highly-prized sport fish, may once again establish residency in the Missisquoi River, thanks to cooperative efforts yesterday by the states of New York and Vermont. The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department gave its recently-established muskie restoration effort a boost Tuesday when it stocked 250 four-month old muskellunge in the Missisquoi River Delta. The fish were donated by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
The muskellunge is a unique Vermont natural heritage species. Lake Champlain and the Missisquoi River are the only locations in New England that historically had a native muskellunge population. Local people, especially residents of Swanton and people of Abenaki descent can remember stories of their ancestors fishing for and catching big muskies in the area.
Muskellunge were native to Lake Champlain’s Missisquoi River and Missisquoi Bay but the population that last existed upstream of the Swanton Dam was apparently lost in the late 1970s following a chemical spill that occurred on the upper river.
“The muskellunge has a unique role as Lake Champlain’s apex aquatic predator among the lake’s fishes,” said Fish & Wildlife Commissioner Wayne Laroche. “It also was important historically on the lower Missisquoi River as an almost mythical large fish that was present but very difficult to catch.”
The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department recently completed a genetic assessment of a very small number of muskellunge caught since 2005 in the Lake Champlain Basin.
“In the last couple years, anglers have reported catching an occasional muskie in the lower Missisquoi River and Missisquoi Bay,” said Shawn Good, Chair of the department’s Muskellunge Team, and the fisheries biologist leading the restoration efforts. “Through a very successful outreach effort, we were able to work with local anglers and taxidermists in the Swanton area and obtain tissue samples from a number of these incidental muskie catches. Genetic analysis of these tissue samples reveal the muskellunge anglers have been catching in the area are not from the original native strain.”
“The muskie that anglers have been catching in the Missisquoi came from the Great Chazy River in New York, as their genetic makeup is identical to the Lake Chautauqua-strain muskie the NYDEC have stocked there for many years,” said Good.
Good says they now know some of those fish make their way down the Chazy and out into Lake Champlain to the Missisquoi Bay and River.
There are also a small number of muskellunge in Otter Creek. These fish originated from Pennsylvania following a Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department stocking effort more than 20 years ago.
The department’s genetic work also showed that the state record muskellunge, a 38.22 lb. fish caught in the Missisquoi River in September of 2005 by Chris Beebe, came from fish stocked by the State of New York in the Chazy River.
Source: Department of Fish and Wildlife
-------------------------
i myself have spent the past 6 or so months of this year researching locations and fly types colours etc , so when i hit the ground in the states in July myself and ken will have a bit of a head start on tracking down these elusive VT predators and we will be spending at least a couple of days chasing them , they ain't called the fish of a thousand casts for nothing , OK so your thinking nearly 5000 miles dude you crazy , well no not really you see there is always by catch while fishing for them , bass , northerns etc so I'm happy to go hunting and I'm there for 2 weeks so its all good
a musky fly yesterday refused to give a statement
make no mistake this is a big fly a fly that really gives em something to chew on complete with epoxy head top give it a very slow sink and draw action , i know the colour is right i can feel it in my bones
to give an idea of size the fly is laid on a dinner plate next to a knife and fork i guess you get the picture when i say I'm not messing about with small flies on this one and this colour combo has already landed musky via a Friend i dropped a few to last year so I'm halfway there but hey nothing is certain in fishing they may want something completely different but that's the fun of it
another one of my targets is smallmouths ,now i have to admit that i find these fish the kamikazes of the fish world , they really don't give up ever and they fight like stink brilliant fish . the bigger ones i caught last year all took smaller ep bait fish patterns so i reckon the same type of fly but done in gliss n glint plus will really have them hanging of the hook this is one part of the trip that I'm really looking forward to got to love those smallies
of course no trip to the land of big burger and would you like to super size your fries sir would complete without chasing some large mouth bass on the surface that really does get ya going , bloop bloop bloop WALLOP bucket mouths are cool to catch , even when you don't hook em its still a blast although how they manage not to get hooked is beyond yours truly maybe I'm missing something but i did land plenty last time and learnt a few tricks .I've decide to give them a super sized surface snack (below) made by a great new method , that i showed ken over at pike adventures on skype video and he was like oh very cool method as it involves rattles and a few other key ingredients which I'm not going to go into as its going to be the winning fly on the ditch pickle (sorry Brian) this fly is really a mover and a shaker and yes Brian ill leave ya a few fella but till after the pickle ...............
so with that I'm buggering of to play with some more materials
so with that I'm buggering of to play with some more materials later folks
mcfluffchucker
(a cave in Scotland)
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1 comment:
I'm definitely excited to see some pics of your musky on the fly! I love musky fishing but have yet to tackle them with a fly rod. Those flies look pretty good too!!
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