Critique my Pike Flies

I've gotten started tying up some pike flies for my trip to northern Minnesota this summer. Most I've done thus far are "variations on a theme". Different color combinations and slight changes but all along a similar line.

So, what do any of you think? Am I on a right track? Any chance some of these might I entice a Northern Pike? Any comments and suggestions are welcome. Thanks.

Royce

PS- Sorry for the poor quality photo. Didn't think in necessary to take a high quality, close-up photo of each fly since I'm just wanting your general impression.

Catching the pike will not be the problem if there are plenty of pike around... Catching multiples on the same fly might be. ;) I would suggest rabbit strips to get the motion as it will last longer against pike teeth. Marabou is wonderful stuff for catching pike, but it does not last well.

Otherwise, you are definitely on the right track.

Long shank hooks will make it easier to unhook them and wide gapes will make it easier to hook them in the first place. Don't be afraid to tie them on jig hooks as they produce a lot of up and down motion when strip-retrieved.

Royce,

You could send me some and I would give them a try :)

They look great but I would listen to what Art has to say to increase the longevity of the fly. But then, I am always happy even if a fly only catches one fish, I figure it did it's job. More fish would be better, but that's fishing.

Hope you have a great time in northern Minnesota. I hear they have a couple fish up there.

Larry ---sagefisher---

I'll bite!
Mike

Very hard for me to offer critique without first trying flies. That being said, Hap has offered some sound advice; rabbit strip will last much longer than marabou. I have 16 boundary waters trips behind me and while that certainly does not make me an expert I can tell you Northern Pike can be very hard on soft flies. They look great and I have no doubt you will catch some fish on them. Looking forward to a fishing report this summer.

Those will work great! You could save on some of the silver in the bottom right but great idea for a pattern and color combination. I find bucktail works good. Rabbit strips are better. The only down side of rabbit is that it gets heavy with water. Just a little more work casting. I used to make a rabbit strip dahlberg style fly that stayed right (on) near the surface. It was wild watching the takes.

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Originally Posted by Tig

Those will work great! You could save on some of the silver in the bottom right but great idea for a pattern and color combination. I find bucktail works good. Rabbit strips are better. The only down side of rabbit is that it gets heavy with water. Just a little more work casting. I used to make a rabbit strip dahlberg style fly that stayed right (on) near the surface. It was wild watching the takes.

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You raise a very good point about the rabbit strips getting waterlogged and hard to cast... I used to judge rabbit strips by the quantity of hair on them and paid no attention to the thickness of the hide. Now I will only buy rabbit with very thin leather and sparse hair. It makes a huge difference and the profile created by sparser hair is just like the densely furred versions.

Pike flies tied full is the exception to the "Tie 'em sparse" rule... but just because it will take longer for the pike to tear all the stuff off!

They look great but maybe the bass might get to them first. :D

You might also want to consider using arctic fox fur instead of marabou for the collars. One other possibility is to include synthetic hair from wigs or hair pieces. It's cheap, you can find it in a multitude of colors including purple and chartreuse and because it is synthetic, it does not absorb water, making it much easier to cast. I use it for bass flies and it works great.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/18-Multi-Col...85942720&rt=nc



Jim Smith

You can usually pick up some interesting colors at the Dollar Tree stores, frequently in with the toys and stuff.

I can' t speak for pike, but the stripped bass in my neck of the woods (CA delta) would be all over those flies.

Red and white is my favorite color combo for northerns.

Bob
;)

Thanks for the input, everyone. I am going to be tying up some rabbit strip pike flies. I didn't have the appropriate colors until just now. I'll also check out some of the synthetic fibers many of you suggested.

Thanks again.

Royce before you go and tie up a batch of rabbit flies take a 4-5" length, soak it really well and attach it to you leader end and cast it awhile on the grass. You might be surprised at the weight. I don't like that "thunk!" you get at the end of the cast as your line snaps tight myself either. You'll see.

I'm a synthetics guy all the way. Hardly any weight and you still get plenty of action from the pulsating, longish hair. I'm preferring sparse too but to each his own prefs.

I'll got out on a limb here and risk being "one of those guys" but you asked and I'll have to be honest... for me, you have too much material in your ties as shown. Thin 'em out.

I hope you're not offended as that's not my intent but I like a much more translucent/sparsely tied fly.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...S/IMGP0574.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...S/IMGP0557.jpg

And as you can tell I like the shorter irons. Seems to work the best for me for the last 20 yrs.

edit: those top flies shown are really chewed up - maybe 5 yrs old -and have taken many fish to around 12# max. (typical for around here is a smaller 4-6#'er) and the lakes I fish. As you can see, most aren't over 5" long, many shorter and they do me well.

Jeremy.

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Originally Posted by Jeremy

...you asked and I'll have to be honest... for me, you have too much material in your ties as shown. Thin 'em out.

I hope you're not offended as that's not my intent but I like a much more translucent/sparsely tied fly.

Jeremy.

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Trust me Jeremy, you're going to have to work a lot harder than this to offend me. I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to hear the answers.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll keep workin' on 'em.

Royce

Fly fishing for pike is not something I will claim to know much about, I've done it a few times, don't know much. That said a friend of mine, Herman Broers, Is a superb pike fly tier. He usually ties flies that appear large, but are not bulky. (By large I mean HUGE). Here are a couple of his.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...sPikeFlies.jpg
He uses hair like buck tail and Arctic fox as well as synthetics in dubbing loops to form huge "hackles".
Cheers,
A.