Musky Thawing Out

The streams and rivers of Virginia have been locked up with ice from old man winter.  Which has given me some time to focus on my wife as her Birthday and Valentines day hit close together in mid February.  In the past two weeks Lynchburg has received close to 20 inches of snow, broke an all time low temp record as -11, and froze a couple rivers up completely which I have never seen.  Luckily we received a couple days in the mid 30's and low 40's which seems like a heat wave and allowed me some time on the river chasing Mr. Musky.  Decided to be safe and chose a section of river that has a dam behind it that would ensure we would not run into any ice.

I moved two musky early on in the float.  One was beast.  I bombed a cast, strip, strip, strip, tight line, set the hook, "Am I hung on a log?".  Slowly rose the musky to the surface, she head shook a couple times and threw the fly. Tough getting a good hook set on a musky from a distance.  Got a good look at her though and she was one of the bigger muskies I have seen in person.  A really knee shaker. This was the fly that got it done for the day.

It was a cold day to be out on the river with the temps being around 20 when we put in and reaching a balmy 30 degrees for the day.  The sun being out helped too.

One of the keys for musky fishing is not focusing on catching a musky, but enjoying good company and having a good time being on the river.  Whenever I float with Dave, we bring a grill, take a mid day break on a sand bar, grill and few burgers, and rest our casting and rowing arms.

Also helps to bring some coffee and a hand warmer for the cold days.

If you take a step back and soak in the scenery you will be amazed at some of God's creatures you will spot.  Beavers, muskrats, a few hawks, and an eagle were out.  Got a blurred photo of the eagle.

At the end of a long day of floating and bombing a 450 grain line and a wet deer, we were treated to a sunset at the take out.

Beats a warm day indoors in my opinion.