The Musky Hunter

John and I had the chance to go out on Lake Chautauqua for a day of musky hunting with our new friend and guide Todd Young from Muddy Creek Fishing Guides (Be sure to check him out here at: http://www.mcfishnguides.com).   We put in at 0800 EST at the Long Point State Park boat launch with a few other boaters and settled in with our trolling gear for the day.

Todd fishes out of the Grey 185 Ranger on the right outfitted with all the electronics you would expect in a boat designed to fish all day. Vance is another guide from Muddy Creek Fishing whose boat is on the left.  Todd prefers to have at least 6 lines from his St Croix rods in the water behind him at all times so as to increase the amount of time his lures spend in front of his prey.

We knew we had the right guy for the day ahead when he showed us this photo of a fish he caught October 2014: a 53 inch 43 pound specimen!  Quite the impressive fish!

At first we thought we were asking Todd too many novice questions, but we soon learned that he was more than willing to share his lifetime of musky fishing knowledge with us.  As a result, both John and I gained a ton of firsthand knowledge in a relatively short amount of time. 

It wasn’t long before we had our first toothy critter from the depths on a bait lure and reeled him into the boat.   We thought we had landed a sizable fish, but much to our surprise, Todd said that our 35 inch fish was a little one.  So we kept fishing.

I can honestly say that Todd worked hard all day and never stopped in his quest for the “bigger” fish.  We were very pleased with his efforts and our luck on the water. It was a really great weather day in a foul weather week on Lake Chautauqua, and by noon we had caught 5 musky and landed 4.

Be sure to call Todd early because he books up fast, remember there is only so many hours in each day so give him a call and get your time booked.  When Todd is not working his boat hard for his clients, he is at his home office making lures and rod holders for dedicated musky fishermen everywhere. Be sure to check them out here:  http://www.mcfishnguides.com/products/

I know we are planning another fishing experience with Todd this year.