
This fish was proof that as a musky angler it pays to always be ready and that your fortunes can change in an instant. You are always one cast away from the best fish of the season or even of a lifetime. What was particularly exciting about this fish is that it took on a figure 8 right next to the boat after following the fly all the way in. I was fortunate that it took the fly and turned away just when the rod was perfectly positioned for a solid hook set. This visual aspect of musky fishing is both intruiging and exhilarating. It can also be quite frustrating since visual encounters frequently end without a hooked up fish. However, the day before I landed another solid musky on a figure 8. This fish simply appeared next to the fly after employing multiple figure 8s at the end of the retrieve. Speeding up the figure 8 movement seemed to entice the fish into taking. 2014 is off to a great start and will hopefully make up for the relatively dismal season of 2013.