Flyfishing For Pike

[Busey]

OK, so I'm heading up to Lac La Biche next week and I want to try for pike with my flyrod. It's a 6 weight. Will that be enough? I've never flyfished for pike before but I know some of you guys have and any suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[admin]

A 6wt is a bit light for pike. Lac La Biche area has some monsters in there. I would want an 8wt min for the area. You could be looking at a 20-30lb pike. I had some of those out of Jackson, even some monster walleye.

[Busey]

8wt, eh? Bummer........I was looking forward to hookin' some pike on the fly.

[birchy]

Yes. The general consensus for pike on the fly is like pacreseltoro said - 8 weight MINIMUM. I think 10 or higher is recommended.

[OneMoreLastCast]

Of course a bigger rod would be better, but I say that if you are in the area, go for it.

 

The only rod I have right now is a 5 wt and I use it for Pike.

 

I've caught some big pike on it too.

 

One 22 lbs out of Badger and a 19 pounder out of the Bow.

 

I've also hooked into some that were just too big for the little rod, so I just straightened the rod out and let it snap me off rather than break the rod.

 

I would just suggest that you use Tippet that suits the rod. What I mean is you have to use a steel leader, but then use only 8 to 10 lb test leading up to the steal so You can break off the fish if necessary.

 

At this time of year, (and most of the year for that matter), you can sight cast to the fish in that lake, so you should be able to pick out a few nice fish to cast to that won't put your rod at risk.

 

Big streamers will be the ticket and unlike streamers you'd use on the river, they won't need to weigh a ton.

Just some weight at the front to give it some action and you should be good to go.

 

Good luck.

[admin]

You could get away with the 6wt, but I've broken a rod hauling in a decent pike on a 6wt. I've landed quite a few too.

 

RIO toothy Critter leaders are nice for pike.

[Pipestoneflyguy]

I caught a good 20-30 pike on my 7wt last year up at Ethel, mind you its an old Omni with blanks as thick as my fingers so it fairly tough but none-the-less I had no trouble landing a few decent sized fish with it - biggest issue was keeeping the bigger flies in the air long ebough to get a decent distance on my cast, get a stiff wind behind you and the fun starts (but put that hat on backwards covering the ears) - I did land a few with my 5wt (a softy too) no big problems landing them either, they just don't fight the way a trout does, once they are on their way to you just keep their head in the right direction and they'll swim right up, a long handled net will make a big difference. They will take one last attempt to run at seeing the boat / your legs / the net so be ready for it with extra tension on at that distance on retrieve and it will deter them from trying.

 

Those toothy critter leaders are a great investment but if you are near reeds I reccomend picking up the toothy-critter tippet instead, once you hit a reed it coils the line which is nearly impossible to get out, with the tippet I run about 6 to 8 inches of it on a leader that will break before the rod giving me a fuse of sorts and if I hit a reed I have tons of the stuff in back-up (I still have a few feet from last years trip, I bought 1 pack of 15lb and 1 pack of 20lb)

 

I found yellow / red clousers got me the most hits last year - and bring long handled forceps if you don't have a spreader - bring a few surface flies too - they don't always take them but when they do its a friggin hoot !

[Busey]

OK...so I'm gonna give it a try. Here's my set up: 6wt with 12ft sink tip, 8lb mono, steal leader and some big ass flies. Also will have my floating line for some topwater action. Can't wait. Will post some pics. Good call about straightening out the rod to break off the fish if necessary.

[Grizz]

I've landed countless very large pike with a 6 weight rod. Regardless of the context - the old adage still applies - it's not the size/weight of your rod, it's how you use it.

 

The down side to the lighter rod is that you can tend to overly wear out a fish since you don't have enough backbone to land him quickly. A buddy of mine used to use a 3 wt rod for trout fishing large rainbows and browns on a particular river. After a day of that I berated him after watching him struggle for waaaay to long to land fish. I'm thinking a few of them died due to the long fight.

 

That being said, if you are in a maneuverable boat it's not so bad as you can shorten the fight and still enjoy using the lighter tackle.

 

Bitch lake used to have some nice pike in it many moons ago - I don't know how it is now though..

 

**I'd go with much heavier mono for your leader, especially with a light rig. I used to use 40lb test maxima for my main leader with an 18" nylon coated steel leader for the teeth. Since you lack a heavier rod weight, 8 lbs is going likely be a big "snappo!" if you get something bigger than hammer handles.

[Pipestoneflyguy]

Remember the rod is just a tool for adding flexibility and forgiveness (give) to the connection between you and the fish (essentially to keep the line from breaking from shock loading) with the lighter rod I just add the flexability with my elbows, arms and body. When a fish is on, keep your elbows bent and close to your shoulders, when shock loaded on a run and the rod is reaching its limit simply use your arms to absorb the load instead. It looks a little exagerated but its a better option than standing there with a busted rod LOL. I find by using this technique I can land the fish just as efficiently with the 5 as I do with the 7.

[cuttbow]

I only use my 8 and 10 wt. No mono or shock tippet anymore. I use 6-8 ft of the berkly tyable steel leader.(20lb) ties just like mono. And use a loop to loop connection on my flyline. With a floating line you can present the big flies from 3-12 ft. Was on a trip with brian 2 weeks ago and he used a 6wt 10ft rod lots of backbone and had no problem with 15 lb gattors .

[birchy]

Holy diggin up a 2 year old post!