605 | Musky Fly Fishing with Dan Donovan of Musky Fool Fly Fishing Co.
Wet Fly Swing Fly Fishing Podcast
Dave Stewart
4.7 • 531 Ratings
🗓️ 13 May 2024
⏱️ 76 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Show Notes: https://wetflyswing.com/605
Presented by: Guide Book, Jackson Hole Fly Company, Yellowstone Teton Territory
Sponsors: https://wetflyswing.com/sponsors
Dan Donovan, the owner and passionate angler behind Musky Fool guides us through mastering musky fly fishing today. Discover the Musky School and how you can be part of this exciting adventure. Learn the ins and outs of choosing the right fly to hit muskies as large as 20 inches, and master the techniques to cast them like a pro. Discover the four essential presentations that will elevate your musky game today. Don't miss out on this chance to transform your approach to musky fishing with tips from the expert himself.
Episode Chapters with Dan Donovan on Musky Fly Fishing
3:49 - Dan discusses his experience with tying a musky fly, which was initially intended to mimic conventional black and silver baits but was unsatisfactory. Despite its poor start, Dan mentions that his skill in fly tying improved over time.
4:51 - Musky Fool Fly Fishing Co., the only fly shop in the Madison area, is highlighted for its comprehensive coverage of various fishing needs, particularly known for musky but offers gear and guidance for all types of fly fishing, capitalizing on the rich fishing environment in and around Madison.
5:23 - Dan notes that Wisconsin winters can be tough, affecting the local environment and fishing seasons. The early arrival of spring has implications for the musky season, potentially advancing the schedule for fishing activities in the area.
6:22 - We talk about our upcoming musky fly fishing trip planned for mid-September in northern Wisconsin. Dan highlights this time of year as optimal for musky fishing due to their behavior and the environmental conditions.
16:32 - Dan discusses strategies to target muskies successfully. He emphasizes the importance of "hunting your fly," meaning anglers need to actively impart action into the fly to make it appealing to the fish. He mentions that simply casting and retrieving in a monotonous pattern is ineffective. Instead, anglers must vary their retrieval techniques, such as incorporating pauses, different speeds, and lengths of strips to mimic the diverse behaviors of prey.
21:05 - Dan explains the wide variation of musky flies, which range from six to 20 inches, designed to imitate bait fish. He mentions that in September, the focus isn't on the variety of flies but on placing them correctly, typically using flies between nine to 12 inches on 11 and 12 weights.
23:41 - He outlines four main presentations of flies, including topwater for noise attraction, glide style for sideways movement, jerk style or diving flies for a downward then wobbling upward motion, and weighted jig style for a hopping effect over structures. Each style is designed to mimic natural prey movements to entice muskies.
26:59 - Dan emphasizes the importance of the strip action to create movement in the fly, advocating for a strong pull followed by a pause, possibly with a twitch, before another vigorous rip.
33:15 - He mentions their efforts to provide resources for those unable to take guided trips, such as launching a video series on their website and social media, offering tutorials on fly tying, sharing fishing tips through their podcast named "Spot Burn", and planning to show real fishing techniques through videos.
40:53 - Dan describes muskie fishing as a "knife fight in a phone booth" rather than a long-distance battle, highlighting the aggressive nature of muskies and their tendency to try to escape rather than take long runs. He suggests giving the fish multiple hard strip sets to ensure the hook is properly set, noting that muskies are adept at freeing themselves from hooks.
48:36 - We dig into the ideal gear for a musky fishing trip. He recommends large nets, specifically the Solo Slimer Net from RS Nets USA for durability and the Stowmaster for its foldability, to accommodate different fishing boat sizes. For rods, he suggests a 2pc 10-weight from the Chippewa River Custom Rod, made in Wisconsin, for its lightweight and casting capability. He also emphasizes the importance of having the right line, recommending Cortland's Pike Muky Sink 4 and Intermediate lines for versatility in different fishing conditions.
You can get a chance to win a spot in our upcoming Musky School and a bunch of gear specifically for musky fishing by signing up through this link: wetflyswing.com/giveaway.
56:36 - Dan explains the concept of the "figure eight" technique used in musky fishing, where the angler makes a figure eight motion with their rod tip next to the boat to entice muskies to bite.
1:08:07 - Dan tells us about Louis Spray, a notorious figure known for his pirate-like demeanor and significant achievements in fly fishing.
Show Notes: https://wetflyswing.com/605
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Describing what fishing for musky is like or painting a picture is not easy. |
| 0:06.0 | You'll hear things like it's kind of like a knife fight in a phone booth. |
| 0:10.1 | You might hear people talking about musky in the Midwest and maybe some of their impacts |
| 0:15.5 | on other species. Maybe there's not a lot of truth of this. But you're also going to hear |
| 0:19.1 | about people missing their first shot at a musky. |
| 0:22.0 | And this can happen in a few seconds. It might be their one chance that day. We're going to hear about some stories there. But today, we're really going to take a deep dive and get some insight into one of the best shops and one of the best mecas for musky in the country. and this is going to give you a few more tools in the toolbox so you have a better chance |
| 0:38.2 | when you're out on the water this year to get a musky. This is the wetfly swing podcast where I show you the best places that travel to for fly fishing, how to find the best resources and tools to prepare for that big trip and what you can do to give back to the fish species we all love. Hey, I'm Dave, host the webfly swing podcast. I've been fly fishing since I was a little kid. I grew up around a little fly shop and have created one of the largest fly fishing podcasts in this country. I've also interviewed more of the greatest fly anglers than just about anyone in the world. Today, Dan Donovan musky fuel owner and passionate hunter is going to take us into his world of musky in their program. We're also find out the musky school that we have going right now and how you can get |
| 1:14.6 | involved and join this trip. Today you're going to find out how to play the game and |
| 1:18.9 | hunt your fly correctly. You're going to find out what size of flies you need and how |
| 1:23.5 | they're fishing some up to 20 inches in length. You're also going to get four different presentations you need to know for sure today. |
| 1:30.8 | And you're going to find out where we're heading that is going to be a very unique place. |
| 1:35.9 | It's actually where one of the biggest fly fishing musky events is held. |
| 1:39.0 | We're going to the same place. |
| 1:40.4 | Plus, you're going to get the story of this 69 pound world record and the unlikely story of the guy who caught it. And we're going to be seeing that fish as well. I've been looking forward to this one for a while. Here he is, Dan Donovan from muskyfool.com. Dan, how's it going? How's it going this week? Pretty good, fella. Thanks for having me. What's going on? Oh, not much. Just getting ready to put together an amazing trip to your neck of the woods, which I'm super excited about. Muskie is one of those species that it comes up again with all the ones that are like the hardest fish to catch in the world. So first off, let's start off there. Is that true? Is it the one of the hardest to catch out there? Anything harder? Yeah, I'm probably the worst person to ask on this respect, but I think it's not as hard as people make it sound to get your first one. It is hard to catch them consistently. And I think they're, uh, because of that, there can be a little bit of a mental game, you know, where people kind of get in their head and make it harder than it needs to be. But yeah, they're hard. They're a pain in the butt. Yeah, that's right. And so this trip, we're going to paint the picture of this trip. We're doing a really cool thing. We're doing a giveaway. So we're going to be giving away a spot to go up and fish with you guys. So we're going to walk through what that looks like, the trip. But we're also getting into some tips and tricks and basically help somebody maybe get into their first musky if they haven't got one before. And then, and then we're just going to kind of get a background from you. But let's take it back to the start. How did you get in fly fishing? What's your first memory? Yeah, my first memory of like taking this seriously. I'm going to start fly fishing. It was a little bit later in life. |
| 3:08.0 | It was after college. I was bedridden because I had a surgery going on over the winter period. |
| 3:14.1 | So spare you those details. But I basically sat down and was like, I was musky fishing at the time. |
| 3:20.6 | I was obsessed with muskies on conventional tackle. And I kind of, this bug was put in my ear |
| 3:27.0 | that I needed to musky flyfish. And once I kind of, once I kind of wrestled with it, it felt like it was the |
| 3:32.6 | next progression. So I spent the entire winter tying flies. So my first three is tying a musky fly. It was |
| 3:38.8 | absolutely terrible. The vice broke. the fly didn't look anything like |
| 3:43.2 | i wanted it was terrible but it was a start and uh the rest is here as they say there you go so that's it |
| 3:50.4 | and then from there you're now you have the musky pool and you have the shop and the guide |
... |
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