pike on the fly

[panflyfisher1 0]

i am hoping to get a feew pike this year. does any one have any patterns and tips to share?

 

heres the characteristics of the lake i fish:

 

main forage: shiners, chubs, suckers, sunfish, crappie, bass, frog

weed abundanycy: medium

depth: 3-15 feet

average pike size: 3-7 pounds

 

[Philly 0]

Here's a couple of the patterns I fish for pike when I go up to Ontario. I would use the same ones for tiger muskie and chain pickeral in the local lakes.

 

 

 

A couple of floating patterns

 

 

 

 

 

 

A lot of time we catch them around structure, beaver lodges, blowdowns, logs or large rocks in shallow water. If you're fishing from a boat, retrieve the fly all the way to the boat before picking it up. I can't tell you how many times a pike has grabbed a fly or lure, just as I was about to lift it out of the water. The only thing I haven't figured out yet with the fly rod is how to figure 8 the fly.

[esox minnow 0]

Those patterns will all work. Nice flies Philly. The first question I would ask you is what gear are you planning to use? Just remember that you have to cast what you tie. If you have any bass flies alot of them should do double duty for you. I will try and post some pics of the flies I've been using. Rabbit srip leechs, clousers, deer hair divers, if it makes noise and pushes water it should work. For colours it can depend of water clarity. Not enough to worry about until you get the pike bug. Once you get one you'll be hooked. Or it will or i'm all confused. lol. As for tips/tricks, start shallow in spring after the ice goes out and work deeper as water temps rise. This is a general rule, fish where they are biting. (see easy eh?) I fish a huge body of water that never really warms up much (lake nipigon in northern ontario), I can find them pretty shallow all summer long. My biggest yet was 48.5". Now that was fun. I would recomend a steel leader of some sort.

My fav is the twist/melt method with plastic coated leader material. Especially with smaller fish in that size range, they seem to bite off more than the big guys. Smaller teeth, closer together? Casting can be tricky with big water logged flies (read rabbit strips). A belguim cast can sure help. Side arm backcast normal forward cast is the best i can explain that one in words. If you have any more qustions be glad to awnser as best i can.

 

 

 

Heres a link that i think will help you. Or at least pass some time.

 

http://www.askaboutflyfishing.com/speakers/barry/barry.cfm

[esox minnow 0]

Wow, the wife left the camera out where i could find it. Here are the pics of some flies

[letumgo 0]

I think my Rainy Day Rattler tube fly would work nicely on pike. Here is a photo of a version I recently tied up for a swap. This fly has a built in glass rattle in the belly and a double stinger hook combination for bigger fish.

 

Here is a shortcut to the entry in the pattern database.

 

http://flytyingforum.com/index.php?act=fly...amp;showid=3451

[esox minnow 0]

Wow, the wife left the camera out where i could find it. Here are the pics of some flies

[Philly 0]

Nice flies, Esox. I shy away from rabbit strips because of the weight when wet. I do tie for the rods I fish. One criteria is I should be able to cast them with a 6 wgt if needed, otherwise I use an 8 wgt. I tend towards flies tied with artifical hair, or bucktail and saddle hackles. Here's some of the larger flies I tie up. There's a lot perch in the lake where I go, they rank right behind the ciscoes on what the walleye and pike like to chew on. This is more in fire tiger color than perch.

 

 

I weighed it last night as part of a discussion on another board and it weighed in at .2 oz

 

This one does double duty as a salt water fly for stripers and bluefish.

 

 

 

Here's another group of larger flies. These are pike, bass and snakeheads.

 

 

 

 

This is a hopped up version of one of my favorite pike and salt water flies. Just tied them over the winter, so I won't know till July if they'll work or not. The decoration on the front end makes them an 8 wgt fly, but the standard version can be cast with a 6 wgt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[esox minnow 0]

Again nice flies Philly. Are those sliders spun wool/silicone? I use an 8 wt for all my pike fishing but am looking into a 10wt now. For anyone reading this I found a great cheap flybox for pike or large flies. or even lots of little ones. Its a Plano single pistol case model 1403. Perfect size, nice latches and light. Its too big for a vest, but in a boat it will be great. I just removed the soft spongy foam it came with a cut a piece of dense packing foam to fit. Depending on your flies you can put the foam on one or both sides. Here is a pic. Let me know what you think or if you have any other ideas for this.

[esox minnow 0]

Again nice flies Philly. Are those sliders spun wool/silicone? I use an 8 wt for all my pike fishing but am looking into a 10wt now. For anyone reading this I found a great cheap flybox for pike or large flies. or even lots of little ones. Its a Plano single pistol case model 1403. Perfect size, nice latches and light. Its too big for a vest, but in a boat it will be great. I just removed the soft spongy foam it came with a cut a piece of dense packing foam to fit. Depending on your flies you can put the foam on one or both sides. Heres a few pics. the gum is just for size reference. Let me know what you think or if you have any other ideas for this.

 

panflyfisher1, i dont mean to hijack your thread. Any more questions?

[esox minnow 0]

I dont know why it keeps adding my post before im done. sorry for the doubles. I would have just edited had i realised.

 

[Philly 0]

Esox:

They're spun out of Polar Plus. I like that better than wool. It's lighter and comes in white, and takes permanent markers. I treat them with Water Shed after I put a light coat of silicone on them, and they float well or suspend with a sinking line. I use the Plano Spinner Bait boxes. I remove the inserts and line with ripple foam.