Pike Fishing 101 by Mark Dysinger If you are interested in flyfishing for pike, then this is for you. I will briefly cover gear, flies, and basic tactics to get you started. Although there are situations where these fish can be taken from shore, boat fishing is much more productive for the simple reason that more water can be covered. The information presented here is to be used as a guide and should be taken as such. Remember, there are no absolutes in fishing. If you would like any information in this piece to be expanded in greater detail, please contact me and I will be happy to share what I can. Rods Rod weight is an important consideration. pike flies tend to be on the larger side, and many of them incorporate materials that absorb water and become cumbersome. Trying to cast these flies on a rod that is too light would be like trying to double haul a pigeon. Also, pike tend to hang out in heavy cover such as reeds, blowdowns, and docks, so a heavier rod is needed to steer them away from these obstacles once hooked. And lastly, some pike can be quite large in size. This alone warrants the use of a heavy rod. With all that being said, I use rods in the seven to ten weight range, with a nine weight being my real workhorse. The seven and eight are for smaller pike and smaller flies, and in areas that are more open and free of hazardous cover that fish could get into. The ten is for trophy pike hunting on big waters, when large flies, large fish, and heavy cover are the norm. Personal preferences may make some anglers feel that they can go lighter in rod weight than what I have described here, but pike should also be fought quickly so that they have a high rate of survival. This practice can be shaky with anything less than a seven weight rod, and landing a twenty pound pike on even a ten weight rod can be a challenge. As far as rod length goes, use what’s comfortable for you. Longer rods are more practical when fishing from low profile positions such as in canoes and kayaks, but generally rod length is a personal preference. Rod weight is much more important. Reels & Backing Pike are not known for making blistering, long distance runs once hooked; however, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have a reel with a steady and reliable drag system. Many pike will get you onto the reel during a fight and then simply slug it out without getting into the backing. Their patented fighting technique is to make quick changes of direction and abrupt dives with occasional jumps. It’s the direction changes and dives that will test your drag. I use both large and standard arbor reels, but they all have excellent start up drags which are necessary for sudden bursts by pike. In this type of fishing, backing is really just filler for the reel. In all of my years chasing these fish, I can count on one hand the number of pike that have taken me into the backing, and even then it was less than ten yards. This is partly because I was using rods that were of the appropriate weight to handle the fish, but also because it just simply isn’t typical of a pike’s fighting tactics. One hundred yards of thirty pound Dacron is more than enough, and if it isn’t then you’ve probably hooked a world record and can cross that bridge when you get there. Lines Most of my pike fishing is done with a weight forward, floating line. I really like the Clouser cold water line by Rio, but there are many out there on the market that can do the job. I also use an intermediate line when the fish are a bit sluggish and not willing to move too far up or forward in the water column. On rare occasions I have used a sinking line of about three hundred fifty grains to get down to pike that were sitting in deeper pockets and holes in rivers. My line use breakdown can probably be described as eighty percent floating, fifteen percent intermediate, and five percent sinking. These numbers may be different depending on the waters being fished in you local areas, so adjust accordingly and be sure that the line weight matches up well with the rod weight being used. Leaders & Bite Tippets Let me make one thing perfectly clear: pike are not leader shy. They are highly aggressive and effective predators that take what they want, when they want it. This can lead to savage strikes and flies being taken far enough into the mouth to be affected by the sharp teeth that these fish possess. This requires the use of bite tippets. There is a wide variety of bite tippet materials. Some anglers swear by wire, and while it is in fact a very durable material, it can be difficult to work with and has loads of memory. There are some more flexible coated wires that can be knotted and are more user friendly (Tyger Wire comes to mind), but they are very expensive relative to the number of feet per package. I have come to use either hard mono or fluorocarbon for my bite tippets, with a preference for fluorocarbon. Fifty pound test fluoro can be knotted fairly well, holds up to abrasion and pike teeth, and is still nearly invisible in the water. Hard mono has the advantage of not sinking like fluoro does, so it’s a better choice when using topwater flies. Both fluoro and mono have less of a chance of spooking other species such as bass and walleye than wires do. Regardless of your choice of tippet material, check it after each pike is caught. There may be nicks and abrasions in the material (especially fluoro or mono), and if so the fly should be retied with undamaged material. I make my bite tippets a few feet long, and use about four or five feet of mono (heavy enough to turn over the tippet and fly) as the link between it and a floating or intermediate fly line. For a sinking line, I only use about two feet of mono to link the tippet to the line. Be certain that your running leader material is heavy enough to turn over the bite tippet on the cast. Other Necessities I highly recommend a Boga Grip or other device that can control a fish by grabbing its lip. pike have a mouthful of daggers, and trying to handle them with fingers near the mouth or even the gill plate can result in cuts and deep lacerations. Once you have control of the fish, you will need a solid set of hook removers to save you from having to have fingers near those teeth. Even with these precautions, it’s a good idea to have a basic first aid kit with you (as there already should be on any boat) to deal with rare accidents. One of the best advantages of the Boga Grip is that you can use it if you’re fishing alone. Nets can be used alone, but their mesh can become quite tangled if a pike continues to thrash once inside it. There are cradle nets available to suspend the fish alongside a boat, but these require a second person. Flies There are two classes of flies: imitators and attractors. While imitators have their place, pike are rarely if ever fussy and attractor patterns tend to perform better. Some of the best pike flies don’t imitate anything in nature; rather, they play upon the predatory instincts of the fish by appearing to be wounded or out of place. Good attractor colors are white/red, yellow/red, yellow/chartreuse, orange/red, and pink. Surface flies are very exciting to fish. Poppers, sliders, and divers can all trigger aggressive responses from pike in shallow water. Use your favorite, and be sure that it is sized correctly for the fish that you are after. Larger topwater flies will still catch small pike, but smaller topwater flies rarely interest big pike. Play the odds and use a large fly. Good materials are cork, closed cell foam, spun deer hair for the bodies and any number of hairs, hackle, and flash for tails. Subsurface flies are my favorite. They lack the explosive excitement of topwater flies, but many of the strikes are still visual and the hookup ratio tends to be better. While it’s fun to watch fish swipe at poppers and divers, sometimes the fish simply miss. Depending on their mood, they may or may not come back for a second attack. Subsurface flies usually have very solid takes with good hook sets, resulting in more caught fish. Bear in mind that when I say subsurface, that doesn’t necessarily mean on the bottom. Some are only a few inches deep and provide plenty of visual feedback. Fly materials such as magnum zonker strips, marabou, Icelandic sheep hair, hackle, and flash that provide maximum movement with minimal fly action are best. Synthetic materials such as Super Hair also have a niche because of their durability. The Seasons Pike are active very early in the season, often right after ice-out. They are spring spawners and can be found in the shallow warming sections of lakes and rivers during this time. Spring is usually the best time of year to catch good numbers of pike because they are numerous and at depths that are very conducive to flyfishing. There is one major headache that can ruin the fishing in spring: cold fronts. When water temperatures drop by even a few degrees the fish frequently drop back to secondary structure in deeper water and get put into a funk that can take them several days to get out of. Pay attention to weather patterns in the spring, and you can be treated to some great fishing. Summer can be tough to catch pike on a fly, depending on your latitude. If you live in the extreme northernmost reaches of their range (Northwest Territories), summer really isn’t too bad in regards to temperature. The fish spawn later and rarely get chased out of the shallows by high water temperatures. But most of us fish for pike in temperate zones where the pike will find shallow water too warm (above sixty-eight or seventy degrees) to remain there. They will drop back to deep weedbeds and points, or even follow schools of bait and ambush them from below in deep water. These fish are tough to hit with a fly, but it’s possible with effort. There are almost always a few small pike here and there that hang in relatively shallow water during the summer and they can be caught, but out of the three seasons to flyfish for pike summer is probably the least productive. Fall is the time for big fish. As water temperatures cool, the fish start to return to shallower waters in pursuit of food to fatten up for the impending winter. They are more spread out than in the spring, when they were concentrated in warmer areas. In the fall, they come into nearly any thin water area that has cover and bait. The numbers of fish caught may not rival spring fishing, but the average size is usually bigger. The bigger fish tend to monopolize the fall feeding buffet, so throw larger flies that will really get their attention. Summary That’s pike flyfishing in a nutshell. It isn’t complicated, and like many types of fishing it requires patience and time on the water. Select the right gear, pay attention to weather patterns, and have fun. And when you catch a truly large pike on a fly, you will have earned it. Hatches Magazine Subscription Price: $6.95 for each issue Both the 2007 & 2008 issues of Hatches is in stock and ready for shipping. Hatches Magazine Subscription Price: $6.95 for each issue Both the 2007 & 2008 issues of Hatches is in stock and ready for shipping.