crease fly varieties...

[JZ]

I am going to be going for pike this year, and i am going to be using mainly bunny flies, crease poppers, and other large preditory fish flies.

The probolom is... when i make my crease foam poppers, they never look really all that great, it is just a peice of foam with stripes and an eye, but i have been told that you just put silly skin over it that it works great, and i know that sili skin is expensive, so is it worth it?

Also, i am going to jasperfor the pike, i think the lake is called talibut lake or something, so could any of you that have been there before give me some hints, or simple flies, because the closest plaze that has a good assortment of flytying things is over 100 miles away.

Thanks

JZ

[Buddy Sanders]

JZ,

First, go to the craft store and buy some irridescent plastic wrapping. It comes on a card, is about 5 inches wide, and looks like a pearlized embossed ('crinkly'?) sheeting. It's not expensive.

Buy some of the sticky back foam in colors of your choice.

Stick the plastic wrapping stuff onto the foam.

You get irridescent or 'pearlized' colors with this. Works great for Crease Flies.

I'm partial to the white foam, as it allows you to color it easily with markers or an airbrush, but the black and dark green look awesome as well.

After you put on the coat of epoxy, the thing looks 'real'.

Good Luck!

Buddy

[Eight Thumbs]

Hi JZ,

Just a couple of thoughts on your Crease Flies. The first thought is that pike are hell on flies. With a soft craft foam fly and no or little epoxy, a single fish is likely to ruin your fly. Why go to a lot of trouble making them pretty and complicated? If they look good to the fish, that's all that matters.

Second thought, what Buddy said! Sticky-backed foam and mylar or foil wrapping looks really nice and is really cheap. Hint here: after you carefully match the sticky back foam and the mylar, roll it a couple of times with a rubber craft roller to get a good bond between the two materials. Three or four colored Sharpie markers can also add some nice blended color on white or light green craft foam.

Third thought, the Winter 2006 issue of Fly Tyer magazine has an article titled "Souped-Up Crease Flies" that answers a lot of your questions. Best tip in the magazine is to give your flies a dip in Minwax Polycrylic after you're done painting but I believe the pike will win out over the polycrylic? Hope this helps. I love Crease Flies and use them all the time for LMB, hybrids and stripers. I also get a real thrill out of making them since they sell for 5-6 bucks apiece in most catalogs and stores. And yes, I do understand why you want to make them pretty; I do too (but not for pike). Good luck with your pike. 8T

[fly-chucker]

Sheet foam will hold up better than you think. I personally stay away from craft foam in preference to Rainey's sheet foam for several reasons. I have several foam flies that I've caught multiple pike and/or muskie on that are still in fishable condition. The foam is slit in several places from the teeth and much of the marabou is gone, but the foam is holding up nicely.

Kevin

[HMD]

I am going to be going for pike this year, and i am going to be using mainly bunny flies, crease poppers, and other large preditory fish flies.

The probolom is... when i make my crease foam poppers, they never look really all that great, it is just a peice of foam with stripes and an eye, but i have been told that you just put silly skin over it that it works great, and i know that sili skin is expensive, so is it worth it?

Also, i am going to jasperfor the pike, i think the lake is called talibut lake or something, so could any of you that have been there before give me some hints, or simple flies, because the closest plaze that has a good assortment of flytying things is over 100 miles away.

Thanks

JZ

I'm in Hinton Alberta so TAlbot lake is only 30 min away from my house. I have yet to fish it and am new to pike on the fly so It's a learning year for me this year. I have tied up 150-200 pike flies to try out this year. I'm hoping to get to Talbot for some ice out pike.

Talbot Lake is open early in the spring, and the Athabasca river on the otherside of the Highway is open year round so if the pike don't bite, the Bull Trout and whitefish might be another option. I know some guys were pulling pike around the 10lb class out of Talbot last fall with a few larger fish.

I have yet to fish within the National Park Boundarys as there is great fishing outside the park as well. I'm heading into the parks this year as seasons open earlier and there is open river fishing year round. First warm days in March and I'm breaking out the fly gear as the ice fishing isn't cutting it for me this year. I"d much rather stay in an tie pike flys than venture out in the cold after working out in it all day I work as a forestry consultant in the Hinton area so I am out in the bush all day everyday cold or not.

I have been tying everything from bucktails, rabbit leechs, bunny flys, gurglers, poppers, and a variety of baitfish patterns. With pike think big ugly flys, preferably durable and easy to tie. I have tied a few crease flys as well just plain foam, in a variety of colors just because they are simple.

Haven't heard of the local guys using them much so them might be a hot fly as they are not seen much. I was chucking bass tackle at the pike on a spinning rod last year as I never had a fly rod to chuck pike flys at the time and I seemed to do pretty well compared to some of the usuall local presentations. I figure it's just beause the fish are not use to seeing tube jigs and sort plastics around here.

When are you heading to Talbot? I'll let you know what I encounter this spring at Talbot, and if You decide to venture outside the park I can point you in the right direction as well. There are numerous local lakes with great fishing and many within the park as well.


Here are some of my pike flys I will be trying out this spring.















-Hillard

[DShock]

Your flies look great! I'll be looking forward to your fish photos.
Thanks,
Doug

[HMD]

I'll post some as soon as i get out for some pike. I should also Add that some of those flys in the box are from the pike swaps I hosted, and a few are from the billfish swap as well.

-Hillard

[peregrines]

Hillard-

GREAT looking flies. They should last an hour or two!

I'm really diggin' those mouse patterns too.

Looking forward to reports and pics from you and JZ!

Good luck. Check out the Pete's Prop Fly for barracuda in the fly archives (1Q 2000) too. I'm tying up some for top water stripers and it looks like it could be a cool one for Pike in the appropriate colors/sizes.

JZ- here are some sites on flies for fishing Alberta for some simple Pike flies:

http://members.shaw.ca/clives/pikeflyfish.html

and

http://www.telusplanet.net/public/cnang ... om9900.htm (Scroll down for Enzol's Minnow Pike Fly)

From "Our Man in Canada" articles on FAOL:

http://www.flyanglersonline.com/feature ... can41.html (also check out the series of 5 articles on Pike fishing in the "Our Man in Canada" archives.)

Regards,

peregrines

[DShock]

peregrines,
That FIRST photo of the Pike is one only it's Mother could love!
Doug

[peregrines]

Dshock-
Just got 6" snow, and thinking about those lily pads...go figure.

JZ- if you're still looking for more ideas, google "pike flies" and hit images instead of search. Lots of pics!

peregrines