I have a nephew (Scott), that lives in Hayward, along with his wife and children. It is a beautiful place to go fly fishing.

There are big Northern Pike in the area, but Hayward is mostly known for their record Muskellunges (Muskies)! A 24-inch Northern Pike, is a nice size fish for your first Northern Pike, but add another 6 to 16-inches to that Northern Pike, and it is a whole different story.

I live and most fish in Minnesota, when I was fly fishing for Largemouth Bass, I hooked into a "Tiger Muskie" (mother is a Northern Pike, father is a Muskellunge) that was 45-inches in length. I wet the inside of my waders, and it wasn't lake water. It gill plates were flared and the teeth were pearly white as it tail-walk on me, after I hooked it with a Bass Deer hair Plug (Olsen's Deceiver, which looks like the old Bassarma Plugs of years gone bye).

Recent changes in the Fishing Rules, have now place a minimum length for catch and keep on Northern Pike in Minnesota. Depending on the classification of the body of water, it is either 30 or 40-inch length before you can keep the Northern Pike. Muskellunges already have the minimum length of 40-inches.

In the past any Northern Pike that was 24-inches became someones dinner, and the lakes population of Northern Pike declined. This decline of large Northern Pike cause a decline in all the fishing for that body of water.

"Tiger" Muskellunges were a stop-gap measure to repair the damage to the ecosystem of the lakes, until the Northern Pike population recovers from years of unrestricted harvesting of Northern Pike.

If you go back to the "Big Boys", you definitely will be needing a 10-weight fly rod. You might also be needing some Kevlar Waders, and some stainless steel mess long johns.

Northern Pike & Muskellunges have a nasty disposition to causing great damage with their bites! Tiger Muskellunges are the nastiest of them all!

Enjoy!

Parnelli