hap has it right, steel leaders are overkill in my opinion but I like some kind of 40 or so pound soft mono for a bite tippet, and sometimes I run that direct from the fly line. There are times when you want to get your fly to a certain depth, be that over or next to a submerged weed bed or down by some cover. Also there are times when they are in shallow- usually shortly after ice out when they are spawning in shallow sandy bays or coves. Your fly selection should be pretty simple, but the flies should be tied to reach a variety of depths for the water your in. A lot of times a fly that will suspend above a weedbed in about 7 feet of water is the way to go- so some lead in the fly but not so that it's a depth charge. Sometimes they want it to drag slowly and sometimes they attack anything fast moving with a vengance. Can't go wrong with red and white, yellow and white and chartreuse. I have been fortunate to fish for pike all over the place with my grandfather. It might help if we knew where you were going, at least the general region. In Canada I have seen them swim into the prop wash and I swear they were thinking about taking a bite of the propeller. They can be agressive but also tricky. Catching them on topwater flies is by far the best and sometimes they will hit a fly several times before they manage to get hooked. Best advice- when you get one on and think it's hooked set the hook a few more times, often the only thing keeping them on the line is the fact that they won't let go and they don't actually have the hook embedded anywhere in their mouth. Good luck, I have been targeting them here in MT and haven't been able to land one yet this season. Had a lot of follows and some half hearted strikes, a couple of them on the line, but catching them here is more of a sidenote and a nice way to get them out of the rivers that they are not native to.
Here are some flies that I've been playing with. They're about 6" long and the heads are tied with bucktail "Thunder Creek" style, then coated with epoxey. Big saltwater hooks. Bodies weighted differently for different depths. They cut the wind nice and have a great undulating action and the pike like them so far.
[IMG] http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/a...1&d=1209788179 [/IMG]
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