Fly line for pike

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canogacreek
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Fly line for pike

#1

Post by canogacreek »

I plan on doing some river pike fishing in 2021. I have purchased a Heddon 125 3f 9 ft rod and a pflueger medalist 1498 to use. Now I am wondering what fly line to use. Any and all suggestions are welcome. Thanks.
"What was big was not the trout, but the chance. What was full was not my creel but my memory".
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ibookje
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Re: Fly line for pike

#2

Post by ibookje »

Any fly line in the line weight you use (obviously not a 3 weight) and with a 'blunt' from taper. This is needed to turn over the large flies/streamers that are very wind resistance. No need to get the expensive lines (unless you want to).

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Re: Fly line for pike

#3

Post by snorider »

I would find a line you like casting with that rod first. With the older 3F Heddon I would suggest a Cortland Sylk in DT7F or any line with a relatively small diameter. I personally love fly fishing for pike and have found that super long casts are not all that important, it is more the ability to efficiently cast the big flies that matters. Have fun and remember they have teeth! Tieable steel leaders and no lip gripping.. :lol Please post pictures of your outings.
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Re: Fly line for pike

#4

Post by Random Casts »

Hi,

For all of my pike and musky fishing I have switched to using fluro 30-40 lb bite guards. Pike not so much but musky in my experience shy away from wire leaders. Yes I get occasional cut offs but I also get many more takes.

From my salt water experience, I use only flies tied with synthetic materials. They do not absorb water, are much easier to cast with lighter lines and stand up to teeth very well.

Best of luck,
Richard

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Brooks
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Re: Fly line for pike

#5

Post by Brooks »

+1 on the flouro bite. Plus it’s easy to keep replacing.
Fishing in Wisconsin, I’ve caught pike, bass, and Muskie all on the same fly, using flouro bite.

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Re: Fly line for pike

#6

Post by Random Casts »

I just realized that I didn’t respond to the OP’s original question.

Any suitable and weight appropriate for the rod, and perhaps one size heavier, WF fly line will do the job with one caveat. There is a short level section on all fly lines at the tip. I cut that section off to where it starts the to increase in taper. This trimming will greatly increase the ease of turning over a stiff leader and bulky flies.

Leaders are an important part of the line leader fly equation.

I nail knot a section of 30-40 lb fluro as part of my leader butt. I use the 60-20-20 rule for my leaders and they work fine.

My typical pike/musky leader is ten feet; 3 1/2 ft of 40 lb, 2 1/2 ft of 30 lb (this is the butt) a foot each of 25 and 20 lb (this is the taper) and the rest is 15 lb. The bite guard can vary from 25 to 40 lb fluro depending on the circumstances and whether I am fishing for pike or musky.

If you find that the WF line you are using is rather soft you might try starting with 30 lb or even 25 lb fluro and taper from there.

I trust this helps,
Richard
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canogacreek
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Re: Fly line for pike

#7

Post by canogacreek »

Thanks for all the info. My next question was going to be about leaders but that has been answered also. Looking forward to putting all the advice into practice.
Roger
"What was big was not the trout, but the chance. What was full was not my creel but my memory".
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barnesspecial6
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Re: Fly line for pike

#8

Post by barnesspecial6 »

This is a perfect line for casting big fly’s for any game fish!
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Loogie
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Re: Fly line for pike

#9

Post by Loogie »

That pike/musky line is very good because it works in colder climates and does well in warmer temps. It has the similar taper as the Bonefish Quickshooter 35 feet of loading head on it. Btw if you have a salt taper like I described it should work fine for pike. And it may be less expensive.

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Re: Fly line for pike

#10

Post by perfesser »

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Last edited by perfesser on 01/25/21 17:37, edited 1 time in total.

MNJoe
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Re: Fly line for pike

#11

Post by MNJoe »

I fish for pike and tiger musky on my lake. And I believe it is more about the flies than the fly line and leader. It's no fun getting "tennis elbow" trying to cast a wet sock for hours. I've used a short metal leader attached to my fly leader and build hollow flies with a flashabou tail. The short metal leader allows reasonable sink rate to work with, otherwise the "sock will be in the top of the water. I tell friends I am nuts spending a half an hour tying a fly with superglue steps only to see it shredded by one fish. Regardless, I love trying to tie a fly with minimal material that still has the profile and fishiness. Magic can be made with buck tail and flashabou. Finding a fly you can cast all day with confidence is important to me

MNJoe
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Re: Fly line for pike

#12

Post by MNJoe »

I fish for pike and tiger musky on my lake. And I believe it is more about the flies than the fly line and leader. It's no fun getting "tennis elbow" trying to cast a wet sock for hours. I've used a short metal leader attached to my fly leader and build hollow flies with a flashabou tail. The short metal leader allows reasonable sink rate to work with, otherwise the "sock will be in the top of the water. I tell friends I am nuts spending a half an hour tying a fly with superglue steps only to see it shredded by one fish. Regardless, I love trying to tie a fly with minimal material that still has the profile and fishiness. Magic can be made with buck tail and flashabou. Finding a fly you can cast all day with confidence is important to me

MNJoe
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Re: Fly line for pike

#13

Post by MNJoe »

Sorry for the double post. I am a guilty Luddite. I comment because I have created a few lifeless floating turds and why i feel the type of fly is as important as the line

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Re: Fly line for pike

#14

Post by Doug K »

I use a 7wt bass taper on my Heddon 2 1/2F, and that is not enough to cast big pike flies..
So my recommendation would be an 8wt or so. The RIO pike/musky line is heavier than AFTMA standard, so an 8wt in that is a 9wt in normal line weight. That might overpower the Heddon 3F..
An 8wt RIO bass line has a similar short front taper and is only a bit over AFTMA standard weight.

The other trick as Richard says, is to use synthetics to tie the bigger flies at less weight.
The standard pike fly in CO is a length of rabbit strip for a long tail, and a palmered rabbit strip for body. It casts like an anchor..
I tie the version that uses marabou for the body instead, it is somewhat castable but a bit frail. However I've been trying for three years now and haven't had a pike yet, so the relative fragility isn't a problem ;-)

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Gnome
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Re: Fly line for pike

#15

Post by Gnome »

standard pike fly in CO? not for me, an old school bend back is the cat's meow. Black and white and chartreuse and olive. the design makes it weedless and when wet one false cast and the water is out of the hackle wing and you are throwing a front weighted dart.
I tied one for the boys at the Mustad booth at the last FTR show in Denver years back on their signature grade 37187 stinger hook, showed them how the hook is bent to reduce the gap and make the hook ride inverted. When wet a size 2/0 bend back can be thrown by hand over 30' just like a dart, now add the lever that your fly rod is and you can cast these flys a country mile if necessary and it is a heck of a lot more fun than casting "wet Socks" tied with rabbit strips. This allows the use of lighter tackle making pike much more like Tarpon. And also much easier on the fisherman.

and it is neutrally buoyant and is the best example of a fly that you can mimic a Zara spook with IMHO. more strikes on the dead / drop than when retrieved, Heavy and short leaders with at least 20" of shock tippet, tie it to your leader with a Hufnagel knot. I hate wire because it does cause refusals. getting cut off once in a while is way better than fewer strikes in my book.

And when tied with super glue and Kevlar the bend back is almost indestructible, I have pike fly's I have used for 2+ decades and the pike have not chewed them up due to the design of the fly and the materials used and the fact that the entire fly is tied on the front 1/4 or less of the hook shank giving the toothy beast little or no place that is solid enough for the pike to get their teeth into the fly proper.

NSA PDI Gnome
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absolutely deadly and easy to tie and extremely durable and easy to cast all good things for pike fishing. Nothing like walking the dog with a bendback on a 2 wt and going toe to toe with a 30 to 45" pike on a SCOTT G802 or a Lamiglas IM700 9' 2wt. the fish below was caught out of the Gunnison on an olive bendback on the Lami 9' 2wt. I love my Wulff triangle taper lines for all situations including pike.
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Here is the pattern that you use all of those big wide and webby feathers at the bottom end of your necks, a perfect use for those big hackles.
Last edited by Gnome on 01/27/21 19:17, edited 1 time in total.

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tunafart
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Re: Fly line for pike

#16

Post by tunafart »

(oh boy - one of my favorite topics! ...)
I have been fishing Canada Northerns for a couple decades now.
The wide-open Laurentian Shield landscape and the spring hunt, casting all day along the miles of shoreline, are one of my great joys.
I take both a godless-plastic Winston 9wt and a Heddon BSF 9ft_2 3/4F cane I re-habbed a while back for the job.
The Heddon fitted with a 8WF Rio Pike/Muskey, as mentioned above, casts well with a Very short leader,
I'm talkin' six foot, with the first four as a heavy weight furled section by Zen/Jaime, w/ hand-looped 40lb Maxima Chameleon bite guard/tippets.
They are Not Shy of it at all. I will say the 2 3/4F Heddon is near its sporting limits on the bigger, 40"+ fish.
BIG flies, I tend to favor 4-6" red/white, but both overall darks and overall bright colors also work.
Feathers are fun, but they aren't as durable, or really any more effective, as synthetics.
The trick seems to be getting them first seen (ie: using good stalking skills) and then invoking a chase.
C19 sure looks like its lining up to spoil this spring, but I'm not done with this yet . . .
paul/charleston sc
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16parachuteadams
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Re: Fly line for pike

#17

Post by 16parachuteadams »

1+ on the Godless plastic Winston, great rod for those conditions. That's one hell of a nice Northern you've got there.

Doug K
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Re: Fly line for pike

#18

Post by Doug K »

tunafart wrote:
01/27/21 12:12
a Heddon BSF 9ft_2 3/4F cane I re-habbed a while back for the job.
nice Landex, on the Heddon.. I came to the same conclusion ;-)

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no pike yet, a few small bass and the bluegill as shown..

Thanks Gnome for the bendback idea, I'll lash a few big saddle hackles onto a stinger hook and try that this spring..

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Gnome
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Re: Fly line for pike

#19

Post by Gnome »

Doug,

make sure you bend the hook like I did in the photo series and turn it into a keel hook. Very Important to get the fly to ride right. and these feather wings are every bit as tough as any other pike fly out there the way I tie them. And they cast like a dream compared to the old wet socks and even synthetics because they shed water way faster and slim down into a very small diameter when being cast and that is part of their secret that synthetics don't have the ability to do like a natural feather.
Cheers

Jeff
P.S. tied down to 10s and 12s they make great trout streamers as well! Be generous in your dressing! 5 to 10 feathers per side and go concave to concave dress with marabou gills behind the hackle and add some flash if desired but I have found the simple ones seem to be the best, eyes are good but not completely necessary.

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Re: Fly line for pike

#20

Post by Random Casts »

+1 on Jeff’s keel tie pike fly. If you fish pike and musky in mid to late summer, as we do, you need to cast into some pretty weedy areas and in some river situations into bank side willows. The keel design allows you to cast into the willows without fouling the fly. If you are getting caught up in the vegetation just tie in more hackle at the head of the fly, essentially a seaducer pattern tied on a keel hook. The original red and yellow color for the seaducer also works well on pike.

In our neck of the woods, musky primarily feed on perch, suckers and small mouth bass. We’ve adapted many of our salt water patterns and use our lighter salt water gear. Seven and eight weight rods and salt water mono core WF lines are what we use. On cold days the lines get a little stiff but the added advantage of longer casts and abrasion resistance when the fish bolts into cover far outweigh the disadvantages.

In a previous post, I included a pic of a perch fly. That fly was way over the top from what is necessary in most conditions. Here is a pic of a general pike/musky fly adapted from our salt water days. The essential qualities as I see it are: ease of tie, ease of casting, flash, eyes, durability and most of all they need to catch fish. You can go up or down in size as required and if you adopt Jeff’s keel hook design I think you’ll have a winner.



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Cheers,
Richard
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