Getting caught up on a report from earlier this month.

Craig Dowdy & Scott Imholt of YJ Guide Service got me and some friends our first Tiger Musky a couple weeks ago.

The trip was donated by Craig to the Youth Outdoors Unlimited Spokane charity auction this spring. Former big leaguer Jeremy Affeldt joined us and I was filming for an upcoming NWFR TV show. Inland Northwest Wildlife Council President David Cloe, won the auction and brought us brother Dan along.

From the beginning Craig warned us we'd be doing a lot of casting and that "Tigers" could be elusive - even with a reputation as aggressive fish. Fortunately Craig and Scott have years of experience with the species and conditions came together for us to have a good day.

Casting was the theme. Scott's approach was to cast spinners towards the shoreline and work the docks and over cover similar to bass fishing.

Craig had us pitching spoons over weed beds, both in and out, with a quick retrieval to not get snagged up. Usually within the top 2 feet of water. Craig & Scott used a variety of spinners & spoons, with my success coming on a larger model with red markings.

Overall between us we got 14 to the boat with the largest a modest (for Tiger Musky) 39 inches. We lost a few on the way in and had our share of these toothy fish biting through the line. I'm sure we missed several more on the deceptively subtle takes.

The take varied from being very subtle to viciously explosive. These are hard fighting fish even with the beefed up tackle we used.

One note, Tiger Musky will try and bite you! This is generally a catch and release sport fishery, so handle with care!

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