Pike Fishing using Fly Gear
I have spent a lot of my angling career fly fishing for trout. This has been very enjoyable but is a pass time I now only do occasionally, perhaps when I go on holiday to Scotland or I very rarely if I fancy a morning by the lakeside. The latter is now very infrequent as the local fishery where I used to whet the odd fly line Raker Lakes has now closed its put and take trout fishery and all its ponds are taken up as coarse fisheries. I think that the problem was that the lakes were not suitable for the needs of the trout, but were fine for carp and other coarse fish whose requirements for highly oxygenated and cooler water were not so great.
So now if I fancy a bit of fly fishing on a summer evening I have to think of alternative venues. I still would like to walk, cycle or at worst only have a quick five minute drive to a local venue to grab a couple of hours on a balmy evening. So if I target pike in my local River Derwent which is just down the road I can still achieve this!
The type of sport fishing tackle I use for pike fishing not so very different to that used for trout fishing. I use a heavier rod and line – in fact the one I hardly ever used that was intended for sea trout and grilse fishing. It is an AFTM 8/9 setup with some strong backing on the reel. I make the traces up with a 12 inch length of fine steel wire neatly whipped onto a small snap link at one end and fixed to 10 feet of 15 lb strain monofilant at the other. This seems to work with the pike flies that I tie up myself.
The flies are not as big as some would use but a whole lot bigger than a typical trout lure. The size does affect the casting even on the stronger gear. However, because I am fishing the river my casting is usually restricted to about 10-15 yards using a stalking technique.
A typical pike fly with long tail
The takes can be quite spectacular and it is very satisfying catching even modest jacks. Fish in the 5 to 12 pound bracket can provide huge entertainment! Now that I have returned to pike fishing I will make sure that this method of catching pike is at the top of my list of things to do.