Well with things pretty much iced up here in Northwest Indiana I am thinking of getting ready for ice out that means Northern Pike. Any ideas for flies and or recipes for the toothy Northern Pike? What size hooks?
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Well with things pretty much iced up here in Northwest Indiana I am thinking of getting ready for ice out that means Northern Pike. Any ideas for flies and or recipes for the toothy Northern Pike? What size hooks?
I prefer tube flies for pike. I use a short shank 2/0 hook. I tie the tubes so that they have to be used in groups of two and they vary in length from 2 to 3 inches so the overall fly length is 4 to 6 inches. the usual minnow flies all seem to work for me, just tied up on the tube so that you can hide a pike leader and the short shank hook helps keep them hooked.
jeremy,
Do you have any pics of your pike (tube) flies? Thanks in advance.
Best regards, Dave S.
here is a picture of what I have left. I will post the recipes in a bit.
Attachment 6892
this one I just took pine squirrel strip and wrapped it around the tube. I like to add these to the middle of the system if i need a longer minnow. they also work by them selves for pickerel.
Attachment 6893
this one is a lead section. I have a long thread head and eyes glued to it I tie in a pine squirrel or rabbit strip on top of a mylar tube. this particular version I don't have as much luck with as with the version I use a larger mylar tube on and have a sag in the middle to give the appearance of a belly.
Attachment 6894
this one is rabbit under bucktail, these placed in tandem give me a larger profile in the water. the lead version has eyes just as the above fly has and has a gap in tail end of it to hide the head of the follow on section, but I am out of them right now.
Attachment 6895
this one has marabou tied into it on top of the rabbit fur. the marabou is there to add movement and color variation in the head area. it is not shown but I also have a tuft of red tied into it on the back side, attempting to facilitate the theory that predatory fish like the "blood" look of wounded bait fish. not sure if it works or not but the fly has worked well for me.
Attachment 6896
this one is a great lead fly in a tandem. it is a very short tube (1/2 inch) with white rabbit wrapped around the tube and then brown rabbit or pine squirrel laid over top running leanght wise and extends behind the tube about 1/2 inch to tie into a follow on tube well and hide the seam.
Attachment 6897
hope these pictures help feed the fire. I am not great at tying tube flies and I know that thier are members on here much better at them than I am. I like the tubes because they allow me to have larger flies with a short hook which seems to help me play the fish. I do not weight these flies since I try to use a beads on the leader ahead of them or sometimes in the middle of the flies. beads in the middle seem to help the swimming "action" of these flies with weight or glass not changing that attribute.
I forgot to add, if I feel that the pattern has to swim with a specific orientation, ie, the top has to be the top, I tie in a very small piece of foam on the top of the tube then add the materials over it. I have also tied some clouser type tubes, tied in the barbell weight towords the front and then tied in the materials, I only used enough tube to tie in then had the hook hidden in the materials. there is also a FOTW on here called the bunny baitfish. this fly is pretty much the same as mine but gives great tying instructions.
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/flyt...022304fotw.php
How about something like this?
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y11...s/IMG_2275.jpg
I think that would work just as good as a tube fly. what did you tie it with?
It was by accident that I hooked into a very large Tiger Muskie while fishing for Largemouth Bass, I was using Olsen's Deceiver http://www.kwsu.org/Offers/FlyTying.aspx Episode 309. Very effective deer hair surface fly. ~Parnelli