Reports

Guided Mark I. out here for a full day of fly-fishing for musky.  I believe this is the fourth time we’ve tried this out here.  His first trip was great – he landed three solid muskies to 47″ and had a few other follows.  Our second trip was in May a year or two ago and featured tough conditions – no wind mainly.  Last fall the lake had very poor visibility when we were out here and we didn’t have any luck.

Conditions were pretty close to optimal for us today all the way around with good wind, water clarity, moon phase and not much boat traffic – so we could fish wherever we wanted.  We were the only boat at the ramp at 8:20, but once we cleared the shallow channel I could see another boat launching. On the day we saw two or maybe three other boats out here – that was it.

We worked three different areas today.  After working our first area for an hour or so, it yielded a hit and within ten minutes Mark hooked up!  After a good dogged fight I slipped the net under a gorgeous 33″ musky.  The fish was caught on a sinking head – basically a Teeny type line.  That was it for action today.  Water temp was at 46 degrees.  There were still ample green weeds around.   Any day with a legal (or just about any) musky landed on a fly is a great day!

One of the nicest looking muskies I’ve ever seen!  Just a beautiful clean fish.  I didn’t notice it at the time, but the fish does have a fin-clip.  Kudos to the state hatchery system for raising such a quality product!  According to DEC data I’ve read, around 10% of the muskies in Waneta Lake are wild.

Open dates:  For the remainder of November I have the 17th, 20th – 24th, 26th, 27th, 29th and 30th.