I don’t live in Charleston anymore, but I still follow this site daily. I figured I would post something different that y’all might enjoy seeing.
In August of 2008, I made the journey from Utah to North Carolina to fish with my old trout bum friend, Owen. This trip changed the focus of my angling passion. He guides for a outfitter in Boone and had started fish for two new species of fish. After an obligatory first day of trout fishing one of our old haunts, we set out on a two day float of a nearby river to target Smallmouth and Musky. We had a great trip and stuck many Smallies. I am a Smallmouth junkie these days. My Smallmouth habit was formed on this trip as well. But, there was one moment that hooked me on Muskies for good. We got to a deep flat and Owen handed me a big spinning rod with a huge bucktail spinner on it. He said we were switching to Muskies and for me to try it out. About a half hour later, just as I was starting to wonder why we had stopped catching Smallmouth to wear ourselves out throwing these giant lures, two huge Muskies appeared side-by-side right behind my spinner. I nearly jumped out of the bow at the sight of these mean freshwater fish making a bee-line towards my lure. Needless to say, rookie me did not make the smooth transition into a figure 8 that may have sealed the deal, but from that moment on, I was a Musky hunter.
Since then, I have chased these fish all over the South and made 2 trips to the Upper Peninsula. I have logged my casts and had many follows. I have messed up the take and missed plenty. I have spent a lot of money in fly shops, tackle shops, Rollie and Helen’s, gas, motels, restaurants, and bars all in the name of these amazing fish.
Yesterday, with my friend Eric, I finally put a Musky in the boat!!! We met at dawn on a Plateau river boat ramp to hunt for the day. Ran upstream a few miles and fished our way back down. Just above a big deep hole, I got a hot follow from a nice fish. It stayed with the fly through a couple figure eights an
Cool report. Glad you decided to post. I remember my first musky but, it was long before I picked up a fly rod. That has got to be a HOOT! Cool boat, cool put-in. Love to see some reports of the smallies, in the future.
Nikon - I have thought a Towee would be a killer boat for the lowcountry. They float in nothing and are perfectly set up for fly fishing. Running that boat up a tiny freshwater river is an amazing experience. My family has boated Charleston our whole lives, I really want my Dad to experience running in a boat like that up a bass river with the bottom flying by. Have you seen any over there? I had never heard of them till I moved to Nashville.
I figure since I still get on here, I will post more of my freshwater excursions if y’all are interested in something different.
Yes I’ve fished them a few times, very stable for the size…I can stand on the very tip of the bow w/o problems. Super skinny. I love the “drop in” rod holders too. It’s a very versatile boat, really. The SCOF gents have been rowing them in rivers, running salt, lakes for carp, etc. it would be a perfect duck boat.
