Leaderboard

I went with the Redington Escape waders at the beginning of the year. I have a hard time spending too much money on waders. I previously had the Redington entry-level waders. The Escape is a step up from that. 4-layer lower and 3-layer upper. Hand warmer too. About 15 - 20 trips so far this year. No problems yet.

Pike fishing is on fire right now. I would recommend an 8wt rod. I personally opt for an intermediate sink line for most pike fishing---even in water less than 1m deep. Until mid-June, you can get away with a floating line. Most of the pike will still be sitting in less than 3m of water. When the water hits around 12-14C there is the potential for topwater pike action too. On all stillwater, weighted flies are not really necessary because the angler just has to wait for the fly to sink. If you feel you need it, a small sink tip will often help, but you still probably will not need more than 3IPS for next month or so. I would rather use a weightless (or close to) fly and a sink tip over a weighted fly and a floating line. I use a 3-piece leader system. 5' 40# fluoro leader -> 3' 25# fluoro leader -> (clasp) -> 1.5-2' NiTi wire bite tippet. The clasp has a 20# break point, making it the weak point of the system. You can buy a pike leader---just put a clasp on it so you do not eat through the bite tippet. For flies---just use something 2/0 or bigger. The humble red-n-white pike bunny is a killer pattern. Deceivers and clousers also work. You can use your big articulated trout flies, but be aware that a pike's teeth are designed to hold on to natural/fleshy materials (the exception being bucktail, which seems to survive longer than most materials). So, those nice marabou flies will not see more than 10 or so pike before being completely stripped of all the nice wispy marabou. Deer hair poppers and sliders are all great. Big poppers work too. Like most fly fishing, it is more how you present the fly than the actual fly itself. So, last weekend, it was the hand-over-hand (rolly-polly) constant velocity retrieve that triggered strikes. Do yourself a solid and debarb your hooks---you will pick a lot of flies out of their gills. Jaw spreaders and a good set of long-handled pliers are important. I prefer not to use jaw spreaders, but sometimes they will not open their mouths. And remember, strip set. A trout set does absolutely nothing to set the hook. It is literally better to do nothing and just hang on than to lift your rod on a strike. When you get the fish in, I actually prefer not use a net at any time. Once in a net a pike thrashes like mad. Grip smaller pike firmly behind the head but over the gill plates (even their gills have teeth, so watch out for that). If you are in your pontoon, getting the gill-plate grip is important to handling the pike efficiently. Last piece, cuts and scrapes are a natural part of pike fishing. I highly recommend keeping a bottle of rubbing alcohol to clean any cuts when you get back to the car. This might seem a bit paranoid, but after 2 occasions of requiring antibiotics from relatively small pike scrapes, I am a little paranoid. Within 2 hours, there are probably dozens of places to catch pike. Dalemead, Eagle, and Chestmere are three that are within an hour of Calgary. Within 2 hours, there are too many options to list. Good luck.