New 7Wt

[Brokentippet2]

I picked up a new 7wt with the idea being to use it for bull tout, pike, and streamers on the bow. I didnt go with the 8wt because i figured it was overkill for the bow and didnt want to invest money into a rod that i cant use on a regular basis as most of my fishing is for trout. I spoke to a few people and did my homework on the rod but now im wondering if a 7wt is undersized for pike ????

 

Thoughts ?

[scel]

I picked up a new 7wt with the idea being to use it for bull tout, pike, and streamers on the bow. I didnt go with the 8wt because i figured it was overkill for the bow and didnt want to invest money into a rod that i cant use on a regular basis as most of my fishing is for trout. I spoke to a few people and did my homework on the rod but now im wondering if a 7wt is undersized for pike ????

 

Thoughts ?

 

My experience is that a 7wt is a little undersized for pike, but still doable. I would say the ideal rod is a 9 or 10wt. It is like fishing for a Bow River trout with a 4wt. Without serious chuck-n-duck, you will not be able to throw the big fish streamers. Fortunately, we all know small patterns still catch big fish. Fishing spring (slightly smaller) patterns on a floating line (3-5" streamers), you will be fine. If you want to start fishing for fall pike, with bigger silhouetted flies on a sink tip, you will find the 7wt tiresome.

[FishFury]

For around here where your not likely to be getting any pike that are 20+ pounds an 8wt is the go to rod size for pike. If you are targeting larger fish or want to be throwing the larger wind resistant patters a 9 or 10 wt is typical. I personally have and use 5, 7 and 10 wt rods for pike. 7 is in general the rod that i use the most; can czst decent sized flys, has enough back bone to pull pike out of the weeds, and handles medium to small pike well. 10 is kind of over kill for most of the fish your going to get, like i said unless your hoping and trying to get something big or want to be throwing the really big streamers. 7 handles the fish fine and you can cast big enough streamers, dont need to be massive flys to get pike. 5 was rather under powered but very fun. I use it for smaller pike fishing off of the sandy shores of lesser slave lake. Its a hell of a fight on the 5wt and tons of fun. But if there are weeds around and they roll deep into them your going to get into trouble, thats why i use it on sandy shores. So all in all i would say a 7wt is a good size pike rod, around here. Up north or out east where you have a good chance of catching a bigger fish you might want to consider a 9 or 10wt.

 

7 is also a great size for bulls and bow river streamer fishing.

[Brokentippet2]

Thanks for the input guys