Tooth and Consequences


Chasing apex predators on the fly is not for the faint of heart. Forget those dainty dry flies and delicate presentations. We're talking gaudy streamers as big as your hand, rods with serious backbone, and a mindset steeled for the grind. Trout are fun, sure. But when a pike slams your fly like a freight train or a musky follows with that cold green fire burning in its eyes, those bug-eating fish start looking an awful lot like baitfish. Forget “microcurrents” and “perfect drifts” and “surface sipping.” This is all about provoking violence because toothsome Esox is a hunter like you. But be forewarned—obsession with the water wolf can swallow an angler in one gulp.

In this week’s edition:

i

Tie and Image by Peter Steen

IN THE RIFFLES

MIDCURRENT CLASSICS

Image by Mark Sides

Social media was getting away from me—everyone knew I was chasing muskies and seemed to assume I was catching them. Random people began to contact me for advice on rods, lines, and flies. How long before I slipped from beginner to poser? How many “musky trips” could I go on without catching a musky before I had to stop calling them “musky trips”?


Soon I would have to either quit musky fishing or take it underground. Well, that, or catch one. I knew—had to believe—that more time on the water was the only thing that mattered. But my mind had begun to theorize in wild and superstitious ways. Was I wearing the wrong fleece pants under my waders? Holding my mouth wrong on the retrieve? Was I being punished?


Friends kept telling me I was “due” for a fish. But that’s not how it works…


Keep reading here

GEAR GUIDE