[henchman]

I've talked with many of you over the years and as i have mentioned before my son (12) and I are trying to catch as many species of fish as we can. We've got most of the usual suspects plus a few that are a little tougher to get (bowfin,long nose gar, alligator gar, cutthroat trout) and if you've got a kid that loves fishing as much as you do I recommend it. We keep a book with pics of all of our catches and the specifics on what we used and location etc. We catch and release 99% of the time so it's just about the fishing and getting the species and not about size although catching bigger ones is obviously more fun...

Anyway, next on our list is the musky and we're going to give it a shot this weekend on the French broad in Asheville. I'm in a Durham so it's a little bit of a trip and I've never been on that section of river. I read an article from an old nc sportsman magazine and it sounds like a good place to start would be to put in at the Asheville airport (we've got a gheenoe with a 9.9 yamaha) and motor upstream some and then drift and fish our way back to the ramp. We went to the musky fishing seminar this past weekend at the raleigh fishing show and it sounds like right now is a good time and the lunar tables look good for this weekend also. I don't have time to order any musky specific lures so I went by bass pro tonight and picked up the biggest ones they had that looked anything like the ones at the seminar.

Ive got got a few ?'s for anyone that can help...

Even if I am careful will I ruin my prop on that section of river?

anyone have a good idea of the conditions there right now? River level, stained, clear?

One of my main reasons for trying this section is that if I can motor it eliminates the need to float and have a second vehicle especially 4 hours from home and staying in NC keeps me from buying another fishing license. Would I be better off going to the James river or New river in VA from Durham?

Would Lake Adger give a better chance than the French broad?

We'll get a guide if we aren't successful but want to try on our own a few times first. It's a lot more satisfying to figure things out for ourselves, although more frustrating at times.

Any other musky tips would be great

Thanks.

 

[dbeam]

Not one bit of help to you, but I do wish you good luck.

Darrell

 

[OptiMystic]

Muskie fishermen will talk about a swirl near their lure for weeks. Generally a lot of time put in per fish. I fished for tiger muskies in CO (stocked in some high plains lakes) and never caught one. I was following advise from guys who did catch them and what I was doing as far as selecting where to cast and how to work the retrieve was like bass fishing, but the lures were ones I had caught northern pike on.

 

[rogerbynum]

If you decide to hire a guide, Mike Coley at newrivermusky.com is a very good guide for muskies. He fishes the New River near Radford Va. and has good success. He is patient and thorough in is presentation and a pleasure to fish with. We fished with him last March and landed three in one day.

 

[henchman]

First musky hunt


I originally posted this in freshwater forum but probably should have posted it here in the mountain forum...


I've talked with many of you over the years and as i have mentioned before my son (12) and I are trying to catch as many species of fish as we can. We've got most of the usual suspects plus a few that are a little tougher to get (bowfin,long nose gar, alligator gar, cutthroat trout) and if you've got a kid that loves fishing as much as you do I recommend it. We keep a book with pics of all of our catches and the specifics on what we used and location etc. We catch and release 99% of the time so it's just about the fishing and getting the species and not about size although catching bigger ones is obviously more fun...

Anyway, next on our list is the musky and we're going to give it a shot this weekend on the French broad in Asheville. I'm in a Durham so it's a little bit of a trip and I've never been on that section of river. I read an article from an old nc sportsman magazine and it sounds like a good place to start would be to put in at the Asheville airport (we've got a gheenoe with a 9.9 yamaha) and motor upstream some and then drift and fish our way back to the ramp. We went to the musky fishing seminar this past weekend at the raleigh fishing show and it sounds like right now is a good time and the lunar tables look good for this weekend also. I don't have time to order any musky specific lures so I went by bass pro tonight and picked up the biggest ones they had that looked anything like the ones at the seminar.

Ive got got a few ?'s for anyone that can help...

Even if I am careful will I ruin my prop on that section of river?

anyone have a good idea of the conditions there right now? River level, stained, clear?

One of my main reasons for trying this section is that if I can motor it eliminates the need to float and have a second vehicle especially 4 hours from home and staying in NC keeps me from buying another fishing license. Would I be better off going to the James river or New river in VA from Durham?

Would Lake Adger give a better chance than the French broad?

We'll get a guide if we aren't successful but want to try on our own a few times first. It's a lot more satisfying to figure things out for ourselves, although more frustrating at times.

Any other musky tips would be great

Thanks.

 

[h2ohhh]

If you try the New your NC license is good for @ 13 miles up into Virginia. There is a reciprocal agreement between the states.

But you're not using a motor on that river.

 

[jcarpenter]

Rained pretty hard up here yesterday and the FB was high and muddy. Might be good by the weekend if there is no more rain.

 

[philjam]

Fish for pike in the St. Lawrence river for 35 years every spring. In that time we caught about 6 muskies in an area famous for them. We cast husky jerk baits mostly. People up there who target musky troll the drop offs. If you cast for them just remember, it is called the fish of 10,000 casts. If Mike Coley has that kind of success on a regular basis I would hire him in a heartbeat. Talk with him to find out when is the best time. Good luck. Boy are they fun to catch .... hang on!

 

[kbullick]

Just a quick look on waterdata and found this
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/usa/nwis/uv?site_no=03439000

 

[Tomahawk]

Musky fishing is alot of fun. I have tried Lake Adger about 6 times. Beautiful lake. I've caught plenty of bass up there but no muskies yet. As for lures it depends on whats happening with the water, clarity and temp. I really like throwing topwater for them. For buying lures, the musky shop on the web is one of the better places. Thousands of lures. I got a big tackle box full of great lures. I wish i had the time to go more.

 

[henchman]

Thanks for all the great info. Good,bad or ugly I'll post how my trip goes next week. I hope the river calms down by Sat. If it is still way high I guess we could try lake adger since it's not too far from there.

 

[gambusia]

There is a guide service you might check out. This guy can catch them on French Broad.

https://www.facebook.com/TarheelGuides

Tarheel Guide Service. Contact them.


(Your best shot at catching a musky is in Lake Rhodhiss, Burke County actually if you are fishing w/o a guide)

I notice you want to fish w/o a guide but with musky being a low numbers fish and you coming from Durham, I'd give Mr Osteen a call.

The French Broad and Lake Rhodhiss are the two options for any serious musky fisherman.


Make sure you are using actual musky rods (or rods rated for musky fishing). Black bass tackle is not going to cut it.

 

[gambusia]

Try Lake Rhodhiss!

The biggest musky in the state are in Lake Rhodhiss if anybody wants to know.

 

[henchman]

I had no idea they were in lake Rhodhiss. Might be worth a try and it is closer. Thanks

 

[gambusia]

https://www.facebook.com/ncwildlife...3.1073742092.169986143088699/602304643190178/

See here

 

[Crummy]

Lake Rhodhiss? Not likely. Astronomical odds there. More likely place to look would be Lake James. Even there they are few and far between.

 

[NCangler]

Actually you posted in the Fishing Reports forum for the Mountains region so the Freshwater forum was the better place to post. I'll merge this into that thread.

I originally posted this in freshwater forum but probably should have posted it here in the mountain forum....

 

[gambusia]

Lake Rhodhiss? Not likely. Astronomical odds there. More likely place to look would be Lake James. Even there they are few and far between.

The fisheries biologist said there is a decent reproducing musky population in the upper end of Rhodhiss

 

[Whitewater]

The French Broad is not high and muddy, I drove over it this morning. We really did not get a lot heavy rains this week, only a few sprinkles. The river gauge shows a little bump early in the week, but now has dropped to good floating levels. Med to Heavy bass rods will work fine, might up the line to 20+braid and a 40-60 floro. leader. Try trout patterns in the French, with that being a good food source for them this time of year. Your plan to put in at the airport and motor up stream a bit, sounds solid to me...(you should not have issues with messing up your prop) Just watch out for down trees, rocks should not be an issue... Good luck and be very safe in the cold waters...

https://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Gauge2/detail/id/1748/

 

[gambusia]

The heavier the braid, the better for casting the larger musky lures.

65 lb minimum, most go 80 lb plus.

This is to prevent 'cast off' when throwing lures 2-5 ounces.

"Bass sized" lures will work however

http://fishandboat.com/anglerboater/2009/05sepoct2009/05musky.pdf