having trouble catching pike.

[green 0]

I have only caught 1 small pike in 3 weeks and I fish every day. I fish shallow bays and around fallen trees with big rabbit strip flies. Am I doing something wrong?

[riffleriversteelheadslayer 0]

with the warmer water temps you might try finding some structure and or coverage and try some top water near lilly pads or reed beds

[green 0]

Ok I just tied a dalburg diver hopefully it will work

[Woodinfliezz 0]

the pickeral around here love them some minnow paterns/ try a blue gill colored pattern they love some blue gill

[Chefben4 0]

In my neck of the woods Pike are not fond of really warm water. Depending on the water temps you may be into the "dog days of summer". Last year one of the lakes I fish got so hot we had a huge pike die off. In my experience they tend to get lockjaw.

 

One of the flies I tie quite a bit for inland pike is actually the Thomas Harvey Wedding veil pattern or trophy wife patterns. I make them in several colors (bluegill, red/white, all white, all black, black and orange). Try them out and keep at it.

 

 

[Chefben4 0]

Double post, my bad

[Piker20 0]

I agree, too warm and the pike don't like it. If you do pike fish in warm water try to play the fish hard and release quickly as they struggle in the warm.

[Peterjay 0]

You guys got it right, they're really a cold water fish - if you want to catch pike during the Dog Days, you've gotta be out there at the crack of dawn and work the deeper areas. When I was doing a lot of summer pike fishing, we'd already be heading in by 9:00 AM. The fishing was never really good until the water cooled down in September.

[Christopher K 0]

^^ this, and try fishing 8-15 foot weeds.

[green 0]

Will they come up and grab the fly?

[utyer 0]

I usually have better surface activity at first light, and last light. Try fishing at 6 to 6:30 AM, and then again at dusk into dark.

[green 0]

So how would I get down to the fish if I have floating line?

[Fish For Life 0]

So how would I get down to the fish if I have floating line?

Even with floating line you can get a good 10 feet down just with your leader. That is plenty deep to catch pike. Unlike many bottom feeding fish where you need to get your fly to the bottom pike are not so much. They may swim close to the bottom but there eyes are fixed above them looking for fish. Just let you fly sink a bit before stripping it in and you will eventually get a slasher pike on your fly. Also try different retrieve speeds. I have had many pike that like a slow retrieve and many that like a wicked fast one. One of my favorites and most productive is to give a quick retrieve for a few seconds then stop, let you fly sink for a bit than start again. this drives pike insane, right when the fly stops and starts to sink is when they will strike, and strike hard. Just keep at it and you should get into some good fishing.

Good luck

[Chefben4 0]

So how would I get down to the fish if I have floating line?

 

Longer leader and weighted flies!

[Peterjay 0]

So how would I get down to the fish if I have floating line?

 

Pick up a used Medalist reel and put a cheap sinking line on it. You don't need high-end gear to catch pike.