9 Wt Lines For Pike?

[jnovlan]

I have purchased a 9 wt and want to outfit it with a line(s) for pike fishing. I am prepared to purchase two lines if necessary to cover both shallow/surface presentations and deeper water if and when necessary. Any advise would be most appreciated. Thanks in advnce.

Jerry

[dryfly]

A good weight-forward floating line is all you need. The pike will be deeper come mid to late summer and into the fall, but you still can use a floating line with slow retrieves to get down. I never felt the need for a sink tip line...anywhere or anytime. Years ago fished with a guy in late fall and he was using a sinking line but had to retrieve too fast to keep the fly out of the weeds. The floating line allowed for nice slow retrieves (which seem to work better in summer and fall anyway) and floating line FAR out performed the sink line.

 

My all-time fave pike line was the Cortland pike taper, but they stopped making it a few years ago. Someone else can offer the brand name of a good WF line. (I've not purchased one for a while.)

 

Clive

[ÜberFly]

Clive, I love my Snowbee extra distance floating. The short head works great with big flies!

 

P

[Villageidiot]

I have the Rio Pike/Musky in WF9 Floating and one WF9 in Intermediate (which i haven't used yet). I also have the Loop Booster Line which is also made by RIO. All good choices. The intermediate lines really seem to have the stronghold for the serious european pike guys.

 

Can't wait for opening day!

[eagleflyfisher]

I've used many different lines and for me nothing really stood out over another.

I echo what Clive said about a floating line, you will use it 99 percent of the time.

I like to cover as much water as I can so like to throw as long of a cast as possible.

Lots of variables though, bloody wind , big flies, dirty line etc... All play a factor in how you get it out there.

I bought a new SA line last spring for pike and I would say it chucks a fly better than any other line Ive used.

Short fat head seems to fire out there with a lot less effort.

I used it the other day for a bit and noticed after being on the reel all winter I didn't have to stretch it out so that's a plus.

I'm sorry but I don't have the box handy so can't give exact series of sa but I did get it up at iron bow so they would know.

Found box it's called the Titan taper.

[fishpro]

I use the old Rio Pike line, which I really liked. I believe the same taper is now available in their Powerfly line.

[TerryH]

I use the Rio Pike/Musky line on my 9wt, and I'm quite happy with it.

[jnovlan]

Thanks to all for the info. Will get set up now so I can give those pike a chase!

[ogilvie]

if any of you are interested Nile Creek fly shop has a few Vision Pike lines(called Big Daddy) in stock..I know these are really well designed lines by those crazy \\finlanders that obsess over giant Pike

C

[fruinincalgary]

Loop Pike Booster!

[DougC]

Loop Booster comes in both floating or intermediate. I have and use both. Rio Outbound Short is another good one that has not been mentioned yet.

[scel]

I only have one year of pike fishing under my belt, but I went gang-busters and fished a wide variety of pike waters. If you fish just Alberta stillwater, you can get away with a floating line, but if you are fishing anywhere on the Canadian Shield where depths can wildly vary, a sinking line is invaluable. I would go with an intermediate line with 2-5 cm/s sink rate with 1.5m of leader/bite tippet and a moderately weighted fly.

 

If anyone has any idea why this set up is not reasonable, I would really like to know. I am always looking to improve my pike rig.