Fly Fishing Lake of the Woods Canada - Muskie/Pike

[WI Angler]

Larry,

Love the show. It is a gas to watch you pull in those pigs...

Over the 4th of July, we are going for a week up in Canada to Lake of the Woods...goal is to land a Muskie on a fly. Been going for years and using spinning gear. My dad and I are just now getting into fly fishing as well.

Just bought a 9 ft. 4 piece Sage rod Launch 890-4, with a Teton Fly Reel (Tioga size #8). Should be darker water, maybe with a little green tint... on the mission to have an assortment of flys ready;
1) Any recommendations on fly colors? Light/dark, purple, red, black, 8-12 inches?
2) What kind of tippet and/or leader to use?
3) Any resources you recommend going to for knowledge prior? (been in the ear of my local fly rod store!)

Thanks for the help. Those Tarpons episodes rock.

[dahlberg]

Hi WI,
In most of the lake on the 4th you'll likely have best success with flies 6-10" long. I'd use megadivers in chart or orange. Most of the time I'd use a full sinking flyline and every cast would be 90'.
If you do some sniffing around the whitefish bay area you might be able to spot some fish shallow if the water temps are still in the high 50s-low 60 degree mark. For those fish I'd toss a dark colored (I like rust color) fur strip diver on either a wet tip or full sinking line.
I've done a couple of shows on flyrod muskies, but other than that I honestly don't know of any other good resource. I've spoken at length to a fair number of flyrodders who claim to be musky people but from what I can tell (based on my own 50 years of musky catching) their info is 98% total BS.
During the majority of the season the main thing I've found to be of importance is to create flies that are both large and easy to cast, and to take the same basic approach as I'd take if I were tossing a bucktails.
At times fishing a diver or popper on the surface can also be effective.
I use a 20-30# nylon coated wire tippet. I fasten it to the leader with a double nail (uni) knot and usually attach the fly with a twist melt.
good luck!
L