Northern Pike Fly Fishing

Fly
Fishing for Northern Pike from Classic Wood Boat

Fly Fishing Northern Pike and Fly
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fishing

Fly Fishing for Northern Pike is exhilarating. Massive Flies and Massive Fish. Northern Pike Flies are huge, some Northern Pike Flies are as large as 12 inches/30 cm. Large Flies are necessary because Northern Pike can eat other fish up to half their length, so to attract Northern Pike a Fly has to at least give the impression of being a worthy size to eat.

Northern Pikes well know reputation for savagery has given them the nick name "Fresh Water Wolves". Even a relatively small Northern Pike, around 20-24 inches, is quite a fight on a fly rod, and when you hook into large Northern Pike in the 30's or 40's inch range it is "Battle Royal".

Our 18 foot cedar wood boats are fantastic for Fly Fishing. Very stable with an extra wide mid seat bench allowing for a wide and very comfortable raised stance. The classic beauty of our cedar wood Fishing Boats also adds to the ambiance of your fly fishing experience.

Techniques for Northern Pike Fly Fishing depends on how Northern Pike are feeding. Spring Northern Pike are feeding heavily and will take smaller (6 inch) streamers. Try various retrieval depths, strip speeds and actions until something works. Try casting your fly, let it sink for a few secondsthen retrieve the line in short, snappy four-inch strips every second or two.

Lively up and down action seems to work well in spring. Brass or other dumbbell eyes add action to large pike streamers. Northern Pike in summer tend to be a bit lazier and pick on larger food, larger fish, ducklings, small animals... Surface or Floating Flies can be a lot of fun in summer. As we get into late summer Northern Pike hunt a little deaper but still prefer larger prey, so extremely large streamers that you can present 6-10 feet down seem to work better and sometimes slower, steadier retrieves. Northern Pike do not seem to be significantly particular about Flies matching bait colors closely and some of the best Northern Pike flies are very brightly colord. Remember, Northern Pike a killers first, eaters second. Eyes on Flies seem to be very effective for Northern Pike.

Fly Fishing Gear for Northern Pike

Heavy-duty Fly Fishing gear is recommended for Northern Pike. Fly rods for Northern Pike should be 8 to 10-weight and a fighting butt is a really good idea. Heavy Fly Rods help cast the big, heavy streamers and flies used for pike. And the extra power helps control even a small to mid-sized pike when it's buried in dense weeds. A moderate-sized pike will also take far too long to land with light gear, and may be too tired for successful release-especially when the water is warmer. Match your gear to the fish.

Fly Fishing
for Northern Pike from Wooden Boat

Standard weight-forward, floating line will do well for Northern Pike Fly Fishing. There are also now floating musky-pike tapers with superior casting of heavy flies. Normally flies attached to a floating line will naturally sink down two or more feet, and if the pike are deeper, one or two split shot can be added to the monofilament leader. However, in late summer, when pike are deeper down in cooler water, a sink-tip or full sinking line may be required.

Releasing Northern Pike

We Recommend De-barbing all Northern Pike flies! Barbless Northern Pike fly hooks are much easier to rmove from the Northern Pike. Also, because Northern Pike tend to thrash violently after having been landed, there is a possibility of being impaled by your own Fly hook and barbless hooks are very easy to remove. Fly-fish for pike with heavy gear that allows you to get a fish to hand as soon as possible without undue fatigue. Pike can usually remain in the water while the hook is removed, especially if lip hooked. Handle Northern Pike carefully, trying not to damage their delicate gills or remove excessive amounts of mucus from their skin and don't get fingers or other vulnerable body parts near their large mouths and extremely sharp teeth. We provide rubber mesh landing nets in all our boats to substantially decrease any damage to the fish. We also have cradles available for anglers who are activley pusuing catch and release trophy fish. Cradles are horizontal mesh nets that allow you to control and measure large fish without removing them from the water. Most pike are lip hooked and the fly is easily removed, especially if it is barbless, but jaw spreaders and long forceps are a must to remove the occasional streamer that is hooked down inside the mouth.

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