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?
flies for Northern Pike
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?
Remember we all live down stream
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.
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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.
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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.
IMG_0122.jpg
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
Check out the "Warm water flybox filler swap".
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/s...ler-swap/page2
Post #24 shows the steps for the monster Pike flies turned foam diver heads I did for the swap.
Post #41 shows some of the finished flies.
I am going to have to try out Christmas tinsel now. thanks for the idea.
Bass bug, those divers look really great. got lots of motivation to experiment again. can't wait for ice out to start fishing again.
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