Frogs, ducklings, chipmunks, birds, muskrats, trophy sized trout, and carp almost the length of your arm...biologists have regularly identified all these prey items within the stomachs of large musky and pike. These are the apex predators in any of our local fisheries and are on the bucket list of many fly anglers. The true challenge comes when we attempt to design and tie a fly that imitates these food sources. Not so much making it look and swim like one, but you need to be able to cast this 12 inch plus streamer on a fly rod over and over and over, attempting to swim your fly past a potentially twenty year old predator who has seen it all, but yet is triggered into killing your presentation. They call them the fish of 10,000 casts for a reason. But I do have days where multiple fish reach the net, and more days than not, you get the adrenaline rush of watching a toothy submarine bigger than your leg stalk your fly as it comes to the boat. The real explosion happens as you work your streamer in a figure "8" motion at boat side and there is a mushroom cloud of water, spray, feathers and teeth. The difficult part is not panicking and instinctively lifting your rod like you are setting the hook on a trout as this will result in you yanking the fly from the predator's mouth and you miss that shot every single time. I have seen grown adults fail like this and cry, yet I have also seen the same grown anglers squeal and giggle like a second grader when the line goes tight and the battle begins.

Every single aspect of the hunt often spawns a certifiable addiction to this species and chasing it on the fly. This is an ailment for which I would

gladly sell you the cure. 

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