Musky Fishing in State College

I saw one last year well over 50" on a float trip for smallies last Lear on the Juniata. Would have liked to catch him
 
Couple thoughts.....One, a 50" musky on the fly would be epic! And two, if I ever do get a shot at 50 on the fly, I would love to hook up on it on the 8...it would be vicious and violent and murderously fun and the head shakes...yep
 
SBecker wrote:
I have known Lenny for a few years and we fish together whenever we are in the same area. He has really caught the muskie bug and will be able to help you. Good kid, but shitty hair. Make sure when you talk to him you tell him I said that.

Haha will do. I still have yet to get to a meeting and talk to him. The problem is that the meetings are on thursday nights and im either fishing or busy getting rocked by my major haha. Next week ive got nothing going on so I'll finally make it to one.

These trout have been keeping me occupied for the time being. But this weather is making me want to musky fish real bad
 
The waters levels have bin really bad hoping for a dump of rain. Something to give em alittle bump dirty outta the banks type.
But they'll heading to there wintering holes soon, times running out.
 
PACOFRANSICO wrote:
The waters levels have bin really bad hoping for a dump of rain. Something to give em alittle bump dirty outta the banks type.
But they'll heading to there wintering holes soon, times running out.

Agreed.
The fall is a great time - perhaps the best time - to chase river muskies. In the meantime, while we're waiting for rain......this is a great time to scout rivers. The low clear water will enable you to see all the holes, bottom structure, and even muskies themselves (getting them to bite in these clear water conditions is another story). Anyway, take some time to scout some river sections, then later this fall when water levels are higher and the sun lower, you'll know where the deeper spots are. In particular, look for shoreline eddies. Right now, these spots are clear and maybe a foot deep and don't look like much. However, come November and bigger flows, these eddies will be much deeper and will be stack up spots for both muskies and bass.
 
Scouting for me is fishing for them. I gotta make it happen when I got time. I believe 1 thing about these fish. If you wait till conditions are favorable it's gonna be along time to you catch 1. You hunt these fish. If it's hot, cold, rain, snow or wind they will eat. And ya gotta keep your fly swimming.
 
I don't have a lot of time either, so scouting and fishing go hand in hand....I do however prefer to fish stained water, granted this is my freshman season, so I have a lot to learn , however I've raised quite a few Muskies in a short period and I've kept track of conditions. Stained water and sh** weather conditions has been good to me. Throw in a specific moon phase and I'm like a crackhead, can't sit still and talking gibberish...haha...I've caught the musky bug bad
 
Hahah right there with you man. My problem is that I'm an engineering student and I just haven't had the time to spend looking for these things. I guess that's not really a problem considering it's a good life choice but damn...it's really cutting into my fishing time heh. All joking aside, I think my dad may bring the boat up for the Michigan game with plans to explore bald eagle in the Mill Hall area. Should be interesting.

My best days have also been during the bad weather and stained water. I'll never forget, the first time I went for musky on the fly (this past spring), it was overcast, misting ALL day, and we had 12 follows and a swipe. The next ill-weathered weekend thats not a home game, I am going to drive to the lake and rent a pontoon boat and just hit it hard with all my buddies to increase the chances of something happening. I went there last year with spinning tackle to catch bass, and ended up landing a small musky. Then about 20 minutes later I snapped off a bigger one after a long fight. So atleast I'll have some confidence if we go there. I've heard of people pulling out 50+ers here too so there's that.
 
I just got into this game and it can be a bit frustrating. You gotta be in it for the 'long haul' or it's going to turn you away. I've been working three waterways in search of them: Swatara Creek, Susquehanna River, and the Conestoga River; all of them wadeable. I'm with PA - the free time I have, I have to have a line in the water and the fly swimming. The low flows right now are a great time to be checking things out as well, but I'm taking my chances with tossing big meat when and where I can.

It's a persistence thing. I haven't hooked up yet, but have seen some and that alone was enough to get the heart racing. I know that I'm going to have to put some time in and many days will be 'fishless' which I'm okay with. If it were easy, I'd go trout fishing :)
 
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