Three Muskyless Days in Western PA

Wow, where did the time go. I'm sorry it went MIA for a while. I was out in western pa fishing for musky on the Allegheny River with some friends and co workers. We were all signed up for a musky tournament put on my the Nittany Valley Musky Alliance. About a week before I got a phone call from my buddy Corey, who was helping put the tournament together, and the first thing he said was "holy Rain", the forecast had rain in it for the next 7 days. For the rest of the week we watched the gauge levels continue to climb, so high there was talk about not even going. Troop and I said the hell with it, we are going. On the way up, I called Lenny and he said 10,800 cfs was still fishable and that he fished it at 12,000, we were getting excited again. We fished the first day with high but decent water conditions, no fish. Before we put the boats in on day two, the first day of the tournament the dam sounded that they were going to release water. We launched the boats into a muddy 14,400cfs flow. Needless to say the fishing was slow, we did manage to find and hook one smaller musky but it just came unbuttoned. Beer was drank fast food was eaten, flies were tied, and shoulders were sore,  we were not going to waste this short vacation in musky land. The next morning, we woke up to an almost record flow of 19,000cfs. That was a short day on the water, the all time record high for something like 50 years was 19,500 cfs. It was a bit ridicules, but I think that's why it was such a great time. No fish pictures from this trip, but we did get to test out all the flies we tied over the winter, and try out some new equipment that has just hit the shelves for 2015. Check out all the filler pictures from the trip.  

The Roamer Fly, ready to rock

NRS Freestone Drifter ready to take on flood stage water 

New Abel Reels Musky Print, one of my all time favorites, new for spring 15 

Abel Musky and Roamer Fly Pattern perfect for high muddy water, Musky Fly Pattern