Giant pike flies a must?

[navigator37 0]

Hello all.

Just wondering if everyone here is focused on tying only the largest pike

flies they can.

I recall from my past that most of the larger pike I caught when using hardware,

were on walleye sized jigs and regular size spoons, etc.

That was before I use to fly fish for pike.

Many of the record pike I see being caught are taken by accident

on a simple minnow on a single hook and such.

Last year, some guys in Saskatchewan, caught a 47.5 lb pike on a single hook

and leech or minnow while fishing for walleye.

I understand the attraction factor a pike sees with a larger meal.

But would a large pike hit a smaller fly just as readily if offered

in a situation where you were normally using a giant fly?

This year, even with my 10 weight, Casting giant bunny flies and even

some synthetic patterns, was tiresome.

I have decided that for next year, I will downsize many patterns

I made to see if I can attract a big pike as easily as with a larger pattern.

The flies below are tied on size 1 and 2 hooks as opposed to my usual

size 1/0 to 3/0.

Maybe this is a silly post to the giant fly guys out there but I was curious enough

to inquire about your thought on this.

[Wellman 0]

Sweet ties (they will also work on trout)!! I really don't fish for pike that much just walleyes. I didn't catch crap all on big beefy flies this year. :ripped: Mainly size 8 woolly buggers and DDH Leeches did the trick.

 

I snagged a lot of pike with Lake Diefenbakers in the size 2- 4 range this year. If you don't know what a Diefenbaker is your not a true gapper. LOL

[navigator37 0]

I'm familiar with Diefenbaker pattern but never used them.

I guess you bring up another good point with catching other fish besides pike

with smaller pike flies.

At a place with many types of fish, you could widen your options for other species.

Diefenbaker is a good example. Pike, walleye, goldeye, big rainbows, etc...all fair game

using one small pike fly.

[Ridleyffo 0]

Those colorful treats would work well on the shad runs too!.. Dont know squat about pike though. the little grass pickerel I can get eat pretty much anything but dont get too big anyway.

[ibian 0]

I am by no means an authority on this but I'm working on it. I found this year a lot of my small flies where hit by bluegill and crappies which is annoying when targeting pike but neccessary to have during the day when things slow down. The larger flies where only hit by pike, walleye and bass. All of my "pike" flies are tied on a Mustad 34007 from #6 upto a 2/0.

 

I like the big bushy flies and I try to keep the weight down by using a lot of synthetics, ostrich herl and very thin artic fox zonkers so they don't hold much water. I stay away from rabbit fur zonkers on flies over 4 inches because it's too heavy when wet. I test most of my flies including the 6 inch plus flies with a 5wt to see if they can be casted(not far but far enough to fish) but I use a 8wt for now to fish them and it seems effortless.

 

I like to keep the eyes simple either a large glue on 3D eye or a large bead chain eye (no weight). I'll fish the larger flies (6-10 inches)in the morning and in the evening only and switch to a smaller fly (4 inches and under) during the day.

 

Go big or go home is not always true but I feel it helps.

 

Ian

[mcfluffchucker 0]

great question there , my biggest pike of 25lb came to a 3 and a half inch fly and i certainly don't believe big flies = big fish to be quite honest i really don't think it matters what colour /size / eyes on or off . you fly is , if you put a fly past a pikes nose and it annoys it enough it will have a go at it

 

i think its just people enjoy tying flies and making them look like fish we sometimes lose sight of the fact that the pike is a predator and looking for something to chew on and not an art critic

 

just my way of thinking

 

 

[ChuckingFluff 0]

I'm more concerned with where the pike are, what depth I need my fly to be and you need to know the action and speed of the fly in the water. It may look like a big bait fish on your vice but it doesn't act or look like a bait fish once it hits the water. I also like to have a varity of different sized flies large and small all tied with different materials to get different actions when one action is not working I'll switch to another one. By constantly changing your flies, your presentation and your retrieval is what will give you the most hits. I get big pike on big flies and on small flies but I feel it's the action and speed of the fly that gets the strike.

[mcfluffchucker 0]

I'm more concerned with where the pike are, .

 

 

see where your coming from but mind you thinking about it you have lakes in canada that are the size of the uk :bugeyes:

 

[Dble Haul 0]

While I have caught pike on very large fly patterns, most of mine have been caught on flies about five inches long. To some people that might be quite large, but to me it's about medium as I fish a lot of salt where foot long flies are not unheard of.

[ChuckingFluff 0]

I'm more concerned with where the pike are, .

 

 

see where your coming from but mind you thinking about it you have lakes in canada that are the size of the uk :bugeyes:

 

 

I don't fish a lot of the big lakes I prefer the smaller local reservoirs. I have one 15 minutes away that's only 3 feet deep and holds lots of large pike. It's weedy, windy and not very popular with the locals. A good hour of fishing there can produce a dozen+ pike.

[Rob Knisely 0]

The first muskie I ever hooked grabbed a white zonker (#4 maybe?) I was using for trout. Course I didn't get him landed, but he was a big one!

 

Had another shred a size 6 BH olive/black woolly bugger.

 

Guess they like snacks, too.

 

[pickapeckof 0]

Ok, I got this one. If you just want to fish pike then any fly will work. I did that for years, there is a lake west of Wawa OT CA. Magpie lake, you can catch 100 pike a day [ thats right 100 ] of all size, lots of fun. We now mainly use big flies 10inch and bigger and have noticed that we have bigger fish. We fish a lake where you catch some many 40 inch fish the 30's get no repect, a 30 inch pike is a nice pike. We did not catch fish like that untill we switched to the bigger flies. And yes we did get a 50 inch pike on a 3 inch fly. Look at the musky guys and the stuff they use, big stuff, they don't spend $20 on a lure for nothing. Consistently a big fly will get big fish. I use a 10 and 12 wt rods 400---500 grain rio DC line. I could save my arm and use small rods with small flies, but I want to fish for big fish and found that is the way to get it done. When I go pike fishing I have 5 rods in the boat ready, one with a small fly and get nice fish with it.

 

Steve

[mcfluffchucker 0]

Ok, I got this one. If you just want to fish pike then any fly will work. I did that for years, there is a lake west of Wawa OT CA. Magpie lake, you can catch 100 pike a day [ thats right 100 ] of all size, lots of fun. We now mainly use big flies 10inch and bigger and have noticed that we have bigger fish. We fish a lake where you catch some many 40 inch fish the 30's get no repect, a 30 inch pike is a nice pike. We did not catch fish like that untill we switched to the bigger flies. And yes we did get a 50 inch pike on a 3 inch fly. Look at the musky guys and the stuff they use, big stuff, they don't spend $20 on a lure for nothing. Consistently a big fly will get big fish. I use a 10 and 12 wt rods 400---500 grain rio DC line. I could save my arm and use small rods with small flies, but I want to fish for big fish and found that is the way to get it done. When I go pike fishing I have 5 rods in the boat ready, one with a small fly and get nice fish with it.

 

Steve

 

nice flys there buddy love those foam heads :headbang:

 

[chrismartin 0]

I have been playing around with fly sizes lately... as recently as yesterday. I've noticed a dramatic decrees in takes and follows when my fly size was downsized. Yesterday I fished for 6 hours and alternated hourly between large and small flies. With several different #2 streamers, I wasn't able to even raise a single fish. When fishing the larger flies I alternated between 3 dramatically different patterns, ranging from 1/0 up to 4/0. I was able to land 3 large pike and induce violent strikes from 4 others. There was action on all 3 flies. In this particular system the primary forage food are wide bodied pan fish... I believe that is why larger flies worked best.

 

On my home waters, which is a tail water brown trout fishery, I often catch small to medium sized pike on #2 - #4 streamers, while fishing for trout... their primary forage food in this system are chub and sculpins.

 

I think it mostly comes down to the size of the forage in the system you are fishing. There will forever be giant pike accidentally caught on walleye rigs and bass lures... that's just because they're wise opportunistic feeders that will take advantage of and easy "snack", but if there are lots of large meals swimming around, it's best to imitate them rather than the snack.

 

If casting these large flies is the issue, tie with more synthetics... SF Flash Blend is a great material that I use for a lot of my flies. You can also look into shooting heads or specialty tapered lines with short heavy heads. They are great for delivering and turning over big flies

[navigator37 0]

Thanks for your input on this.

I'm going to try the smaller flies anyways to see what happens.

Next question...Long or short shank hooks for pike flies?...just kidding.