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Current Tags for This Pattern
/ Chartreuse / Epoxy / Flash / Krystal Flash / white / Yellow /

YAKA-PIKA

 
tied by FrenchCreek
Fly Type: Attractor Pattern,
Target Species: Pike,
Recommended Region: Western Canada,
Imitation: General Baitfish,
Material List*:
HOOK: Wide Gap, 1/0 or 2/0
THREAD: 3/0 or stronger Monocord, chartreuse
BODY: White Buck tail platform, white yak hair, powder/light blue yak hair, chartreuse yak hair
FLASH: 6 to 10 strands of white/pearl Krystal Flash, mixed in with the white yak hair (optional: use any kind of flashy stuff, not too much…)
EYES: Deep See Eyes, silver, 3/8 with 3-D molded eyes silver, 6.0 (or yellow Doll Eyes if you can get them), glued on with Cryo glue (they won’t last or stay on if you only uses the sticky glue on the eyes)
HEAD: Optional to finish this fly with an Epoxy coating over the barbell eyes

*Materials with links give you direct access to that product at the J. Stockard store.
Tying Instructions: STEP 1: Tie on the barbell eyes about ¼ inch back from the hook eye;
STEP 2: Tie on a bunch of white bucktail hair right behind the barbell eyes, on the top of the hook shank, trim to end square for a good fit, make several strong wraps and add some head cement to secure this. This usually extend about 2 to 3 inches past the hook bend. It should be large enough to build up the “body” of the fly behind the barbell eyes such that the next layer of yak hair will lay almost flat along the shank and barbell eyes.
STEP 3: Tie in the white yak hair, on top of the hook shank and covering the bucktail, about 5 to 6 inches long, wrap it behind the barbell eyes and then again in front, clip the front end at an angle to avoid making the head too big
STEP 4: Rotate the hook and tie in a bunch of chartreuse yak hair, on the bottom of the hook shank, about 5 to 6 inches long. Tie it only in front of the barbell eyes. Repeat this step with the blue yak hair, mix some flash into the hair, Krystal flash works.
STEP 5: Comb the entire fly (I use my dog brush) to blend the yak hair.

NOTE: after you cut the yak hair to length, pull (stagger) some of the hair so that you wind up with a “tapered” look at the back end of the fly. The way I do this is to split the bunch of hair in two or three smaller bunches and overlap the bunches so that each is a different length. An alternative is to use Taperizer/Thinning scissors.

Presentation Tips: The fly swims hook up. On lakes, cast the fly and strip it in with long erratic and jerky strips, the take is usually VIOLENT. This fly seems to attract all sizes of pikers. Fish it on a dry line in water up to 8 feet deep, sink tip (short sink tip = 5 feet of type 4 sink rate) in deeper water up to 15 feet. Let the fly sink and then strip it in with fast, jerky long strips (12 to 18 inches each) so that it swims up on the retrieve and sinks on the pause. I get a lot of “followers” on this fly and often hook up when the fly is no more than 5 feet away from the boat. Making the fly change direction usually triggers a strike. In rivers, use a sink tip line and “swing” the fly erratically by making short violent strips and then upstream mends to cause the fly to change direction and swim up and down the water column.