Fly fishing Northern Pike

[GSP4EVER]

I added an 8w Cabelas Prestige 9' fly rod this spring. I want to fly fish northers. Maybe a little heavy for the pike here in southern MN but I wanted to make sure I had enough rod to handle anything big. Just in case. With that in mind, I was wondering do you guys need like a wire leader for pike. SImilar to what you would use on a fishing rod. The guy at Cabelas was no help when I asked the question. He just sold me a bunch of flies and told me good luck. I had so much fun fishing panfish with the 5 wt last year that I though I would step it up a bit and try for something bigger.

Also have any of you ever caught a walleye on the fly.

[Ufatz]

Return to Cabela's (where people used to know what they were doing/selling) and buy a spool of nylon coeverd 12 lb. test wire. Several brands around. You can TIE this stuff, just like mono leader. Use a pliers and a glove and make yourself some nice 12" leaders.

Pike fishing with big streamers or a big popper is a kick in the butt. If you have only been using lighter rods and smaller flies take some time to learn how to toss those bigger bushier pike flies. Tie up some chartreuse and white and yellow and white streamers. Chuck 'em out in front of Mr. Esox Lucius and hang on!!

Have fun.

[mainbutter]

A few thoughts after my short while chasing pike and LMB with a bigger fly rod:

The 8 and 9wts are not as heavy as they are to fight the fish, it's well documented that 8lb test and medium light gear can handle pike and LMB in plenty of open water situations. The heavy rods and lines are to handle the big, bad presentations that grabs a predator's attention.

There are many leader options. I usually go for 25lb fluoro or 60lb fluoro depending on fly size. The 60lb is pretty stiff, which actually is great for an open-loop knot presentation tied to a streamer. Tieable wire and nylon coated stuff is very popular for great reasons, the stuff works. "Toothy critter" knot-able wire is often recommended as an option.

As mentioned above, your fly options are poppers (and their varitions such as sliders and divers etc) and streamers.

Streamer presentations tend to fish a ton like soft jerkbait presentations. Ones with big heads will push a lot of water, nearby predators will sense the pressure changes. Long bodies of flexible material will flutter when pulled through water like the way that flags flutter in the wind.

Classic pike colors work, as do natural colors. Heck, it's pike fishing, any color will probably work wonders.

[OnAFly]

Don't over-think this. Remember, you're still going after pike, one of the easiest fish to catch considering how aggressive they usually are. I use a lot of big wooly buggers and bunny strip flies. As long as it is bright, shiny, and looks like a dieing fish the pike will eat it.

You can get tieable wire or use heavy (40+lb) FC like stated. Both suck to tie, but they will keep your flies attached.

8wt is plenty for the fish, but may limit your fly selection in terms of castability. Still, you'll be able to cast a lot of very good pike flies, just probably not the 12" wet socks

[River Rat (dan)]

I chased eyes on the fly seems to work best for me in small river I live by in the fall. Clousers and woolybuggers worked best for me.

Never used wire leader so far used a heavier bass leader 12# landed one 37" last summer. Thats not to say if you are targeting only pike it isnt a good idea.

[Ic3wind]

I need to chime in because the essox family is my favorite fly rod fish.

I fish a 10 wt cause when chasing these guys cause Im always looking for the big fish and I regularly fish flys that are 12 inches long. the big stick does better for the big flys. Also its fun to put the pine to em and act like Im on the pro bass tour.

As far as Im concerned the only leader material to use for the toothy guys is Titanium nickle wire. it does not kink, coil, or hold memory like toothy critter wire or nylon coated wire. hard mono works well too but has too large of a diameter in my opinion. 95% of the time Im using a Sink line with about 16ish inches of 25lb good Floro with about foot long bite tippet.

Ps trout sets are for sissys

[OnAFly]

STRIP STRIP STRIP!!!

[GSP4EVER]

Thanks fellas. Soory for the long silence. I dont get here as often as I like to lately. Im looking forward to hooking into a northern on the fly. Hopefully in the next week or two I can get out. Got alot on my plate at the moment. Gotta go to Hibbing in early June for some schooling and planned on taking both fly rods with me.

[redneckdan]

Give me a holler when you are up here. I'll put ya in the front of the boat and hit some pike spots I know of.

[OnAFly]

Well, only got a couple of fish on the fly in my Rainy trip. Biggest was only 30" which tied my previous PB for length, but this fish was much heavier, so that was fun for sure

Caught on white rubber legged bunny strip fly.