Another winter season is in the books! We're pumped for spring, but always a tad sad to see the hunt for the toothy critters go.
The 2024-25 musky season started off in a bit of a funk. Hurricane Helene swamped the New River watershed in late September and had the river running dirty until mid- to late-October, and impacted certain access points for much longer than that. We saw a sharp warming trend coincide with the new moon period in late October/early November, which, along with low, clear water, made the bite tough. I talk with folks on this topic a ton--moon phase is not everything. It's simply the condition that we can predict 100% accurately. Conditions like streamflow, weather, water clarity, and water temp all play a part in making fish feed, move, and make themselves vulnerable to our tactics, and the first week of our season was a prime example of that. We managed to put a few fish in the net in the first week of my bookings, but it was undoubtedly tough.
Once we got into the meat of the month of November, however, a switch flipped. We enjoyed very consistently good fishing throughout the month, with a few several fish days mixed in, largely, I would guess, due to stellar river and weather conditions. The month of December saw more great fishing, with fish hitting the net most days.
Thanks to some brutal winter weather, we had a tough time staying on the musky water throughout most of January and part of February. We got a break in the weather in early February, but saw some very unstable weather and river conditions throughout the week, giving us probably the hardest week of fishing of the whole season.
By the time we got back on the river following another blowout and cold spell, it was late February. Bluebird skies, wind, and high pressure characterized the last few weeks of my guiding for musky, and the fishing was tough, but paid off almost every day with a fish in the net.
In the end, I was blessed to have been a part of 14 clients' first musky on the fly, and several clients' personal bests. Going out with a first musky on the last day of my season is always a plus, too. Nice work, Lew!
My winter smallmouth fishing wasn't as robust, this season, largely due to focus on musky and minimal streamflows. I need a certain amount of water for a good portion of the day to really take advantage of that fishery the way I want to, and we just didn't see it for most of the late fall and early winter. However, when we did get flows, and I did book trips, we saw great days of quality fish.
Thanks to everyone that came out and spent some time on the water with me this season! Already looking forward to the fall. If you'd like to get on the musky or cold-weather smallmouth season books for 2025-26, give me a shout, and let's start talking.
Comentários