BIG MEATY KRAKEN FROM NIGHTMARE MUSKY FLIES
Musky flies are like fine works of art. They come in lots of pretty colors and styles. But did you know they are designed to displace water? In simpler terms they push/move water as you strip the fly back. The fish can actually feel the fly swimming in addition to seeing it. Musky are very sensitive to movement,vibration, and electrical impulses so this water displacement is an effective way to get their attention. I'm going to list a few of the different Musky fly styles and a few of the top tiers where you can get them from.
CHANGERS
I was introduced to changer style flies by Tony Sandrone of Nightmare Musky Flies when I first started Musky fishing. I owe A LOT of my Musky fishing success to Tony and his awesome changer style flies. The changer is an articulated streamer that has a really awesome wiggle motion that Musky love! Changers are my "go to" flies when I want to dead drift or swing my flies into spots (I will be writing more about these techniques in a later post). These flies will get down with the intermediate or the full sink line. They come in 8" (double hooks) and 12" (double hooks) with feather style tails or a multitude of Pacchiarini tails (see picture below). I've caught many of my largest Musky on the changer style. I have since moved to its cousin fly The Kraken" with the dragon tail from Pacchiarini because it's a tad bit lighter and a little easier for my bum shoulder to cast. I also LOVE the action of a Pacchiarini dragon tails. I honesty believe those tails get fish to strike even when don't want to. Contact Tony for more details or to order your flies at https://www.nightmaremuskyflies.com/
CHANGER STYLE FROM NIGHTMARE MUSKY FLIES
PACCHIARINI TAIL OPTIONS
BUFORDS
My buddy Mark Burns who owns Urban Fly Company has a lot of success fishing Bufords, and his flies are some of the best around. He ties a wide variety of awesome color combos and they put a bunch of fish in the net for many anglers Bufords come in "singles" (one hook) around 6"-8" long and doubles (two hooks) around 12" long. The head of a Buford is made from stacked deer hair and can be made more or less buoyant depending on the size of the head. The bigger the head the more buoyant the fly is and the smaller the head the less buoyant. This is important to remember because you'll be faced with different fishing situations where you may not want your fly to sink overly fast or vice versa. You'll have to take into account the fly line you're using as well because an intermediate fly line might not sink a double Buford too well, especially one with a bigger head. But a single Buford with a smaller head should get down with that same intermediate line. Bufords have an awesome suspending nature to them and that comes in handy when the fish are sluggish and not overly aggressive. They also have really nice natural motion in the water. Contact Mark Burns at Urban Fly Company for more detailed information about Buford style Musky flies.
SOME COLORFUL BUFORD STYLE FLIES FROM URBAN FLY CO
T-BONES
This next fly I want to talk about is called a T-Bone. A LOT of Musky have fallen for the T-bone and they are the original "OG" of Musky flies.I love the action of these flies especially with the natural feather tail. Dom Petruzzi owner of Streamerking Flies is the man when it comes to T-bones and many other fishy Musky flies. I have caught many Musky on Doms' T-bones. They get down on either the intermediate or the full sink line. The T-Bone comes to life when it hit the water. It has awesome natural motion with very little work from the angler. This is one of the reasons I love using them in tight waterways where you don't have a lot of time to work a fly. It's important to have a fly with excellent action to attract a bite in a short amount of time and the T-bone gives you that. I was grinding on some water that I knew a huge Musky was hanging out in. After exhausting almost every other fly in my box I saw an all white T-Bone and tied it on. I cast that fly up current and it literally didn't sink 6" under the surface before the big girl exploded on it like a Great White Shark attacking a helpless Seal. Long story short I lost that fish but the moral of the story is T-Bones catch fish so use them! Dom is an awesome dude and his flies rock so contact him at https://streamerkingflies.ecwid.com/
T-BONES FROM STREAMERKING FLIES
DECEIVERS
One last Musky fly I'd like to touch on is the deceiver style. I use deceivers in small waterways where you only have a short distance to get a fish to commit to a strike.They have really nice natural motion in the water and you can get them to walk side to side like a glide bait. Musky are really attracted to this type of action and it can sometimes trigger bites when all else fails. Deceivers work well with full sink and intermediate lines. It's a smart move to have a few of these in your fly box. https://urbanflycompany.com/
ALL BLACK DECEIVER FROM URBAN FLY COMPANY
FLY COLORS
I get asked a lot about color selection. My best advice would be to get a Perch, Sucker, all white, all black, Shad, and lastly Firetiger. Those of you that know me know Firetiger is my favorite color and I catch a lot of fish on it. If you're just starting out I would suggest getting a few flies from each of the above mentioned tiers in the colors that I recommended and you'll be good to go!
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