Ive tried the musky several times with no success, yet i've had success on the SBR, Black River, and many other streams with basically the same setup (prince nymph and pheasant tail under an indicator.) Where are the best spots perhaps with the fewest amount of people. Also what would you recommend using?
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Musconetcong River
- Thread starter pduane44
- Start date
HeadlessVerseman
New member
Hey-
I consider the Musconetcong River my home water, and I can certainly tell you that the set up of a prince nymph and/or a pheasant tail can certainly produce fish on that system.
I will say that it is a very caddis and stonefly heavy system, as well as bwo heavy in late spring, early summer where we are at now. You also see many midge hatches on that system on any given day. I fish the musconetcong 2-3 days a week, usually at the seasonal trout conservation area towards Mansfield, NJ. I fish this spot as it is about 5 minutes from where I live, and while it certainly sees a lot of pressure the majority of time they are well spread out within that stretch. You also can fish up or down from the section.
Late spring and early summer it is fished most heavily in the afternoon toward evenings when the hatches really pick up (other conditions aside), and people really hammer them on dry flies past the dead water up until the first big rapid. I have been lucky that I primarily fish tuesdays, wednesdays as they are my days off and I don't see that many people.
Those aren't bad flies by any means, but at this time be prepared with caddis pupas, stonefly nymphs (they still like a nice meal), bwo nymphs, emergers and dries, as well as midges. The Muskie midge is one specific pattern that comes to mind that works really well there, but any simplistic midge such as al's rat also works quite well. Late winter-early spring you see a very prolific stonefly hatch on this river, and it was quite extraordinary this year. It was one of the heaviest in recent memory.
I usually nymph with a sighter in a euro style, but this year I have done really well on dries alone, as well as dry dropper. Last week I caught several pushing 17" on a dry dropper with a bwo dry and a bwo emerger that I put floatant on.
If you would like to meet up one day I could certainly show you around some of the spots. You don't have a bad approach, I would just be willing to throw a lot more variation.
I consider the Musconetcong River my home water, and I can certainly tell you that the set up of a prince nymph and/or a pheasant tail can certainly produce fish on that system.
I will say that it is a very caddis and stonefly heavy system, as well as bwo heavy in late spring, early summer where we are at now. You also see many midge hatches on that system on any given day. I fish the musconetcong 2-3 days a week, usually at the seasonal trout conservation area towards Mansfield, NJ. I fish this spot as it is about 5 minutes from where I live, and while it certainly sees a lot of pressure the majority of time they are well spread out within that stretch. You also can fish up or down from the section.
Late spring and early summer it is fished most heavily in the afternoon toward evenings when the hatches really pick up (other conditions aside), and people really hammer them on dry flies past the dead water up until the first big rapid. I have been lucky that I primarily fish tuesdays, wednesdays as they are my days off and I don't see that many people.
Those aren't bad flies by any means, but at this time be prepared with caddis pupas, stonefly nymphs (they still like a nice meal), bwo nymphs, emergers and dries, as well as midges. The Muskie midge is one specific pattern that comes to mind that works really well there, but any simplistic midge such as al's rat also works quite well. Late winter-early spring you see a very prolific stonefly hatch on this river, and it was quite extraordinary this year. It was one of the heaviest in recent memory.
I usually nymph with a sighter in a euro style, but this year I have done really well on dries alone, as well as dry dropper. Last week I caught several pushing 17" on a dry dropper with a bwo dry and a bwo emerger that I put floatant on.
If you would like to meet up one day I could certainly show you around some of the spots. You don't have a bad approach, I would just be willing to throw a lot more variation.
Rusty Spinner
Active member
The Musky receives more stocked trout than any other NJ river because it has so much public access. You can pretty much count on stocking being done at nearly every bridge over the river as well as by bucket stocking in Point Mountain TCA and other areas by a volunteer stocking crew. No need to fish the bridge pools as they get pounded. Walk a bit up or downstream and try your luck there. If you know where to look, the Musky also has plenty of wild/native brookies and wild browns. Fish nearer the fishy looking tributaries that flow into the river and you may be rewarded with wild fish and no other anglers.
As for nymphing this river, if nothing obvious is hatching and I plan to nymph, I'll start with a flashback, bead head PT nymph in sizes 10 - 16 with a dropper like a caddis pupa, rainbow warrior, etc. Evenings right now are showing us the sulphur mayfly hatch, the Musky's best mayfly hatch of the year (some may argue the tricos are best, but I'm not a morning person:crap
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NJpatbee
Can be found on NJ/NY/PA waters!
I never fish the Musky without shrimp/scud patterns in sizes 14-18, my favorite pattern being a bead head version of the Musky Shrimp. There are some great hatches of sulphurs on the Musky, and it is without a doubt my favorite summer morning Jersey stream to fish with terrestrials, small caddis, Tricos, and of course, shrimp.
Rusty Spinner
Active member
JeffK ties a mean Musky Shrimp pattern that is easy to duplicate. Deadly for scuds, that's for certain.
