fluff chucking, fly fishing for pike.

[northern lad 2,292]

Sometimes lures take a good few casts to wet them before they will sink mate you could also put some GINK on the mono (or mud!)this will make the mono sink,pulling down the fly,again im no expert these are just tips i picked up,its a funny thing on the waters ive fished people have generally been really hepful ,passing flies round that are working that day etc,christ when i first started carp fishing years ago if anyone was within eyesight people wouldnt cast in case someone saw there bait I once saw an angler strip and dive in to find bait on the bottom in a recently vacated swim where a guy had caught a 15lb mirror hope some of this helps,Dave

[niall_b73 41]

well done niall never done it myself but seen it on tv were a pike crashes out of the lillie pads taking the fly its something thats taking big now and also for carp on the fly john

 

well we normally trawl the water that we fish on because of the sheer amount of water there is to cover.

when either of us hook into a fish on the trawl we switch off the engine and reel the fish in but what ever the effect of a pike being caught on the trawl has on the pike it seems to knock the pike out if you know what i mean.

in other words the pike could be reeled in just like an old boot and no life out of it untill it reaches the boat when it then decides to try to get away.

but with the 2 fly caught pike, from the moment they were caught till the moment i netted them in the boat, they were full of beans all the way.

jumping all over the place pretty much like a trout.

great craic to see and feel.

 

niall_b73

[niall_b73 41]

Sometimes lures take a good few casts to wet them before they will sink mate you could also put some GINK on the mono (or mud!)this will make the mono sink,pulling down the fly,again im no expert these are just tips i picked up,its a funny thing on the waters ive fished people have generally been really hepful ,passing flies round that are working that day etc,christ when i first started carp fishing years ago if anyone was within eyesight people wouldnt cast in case someone saw there bait I once saw an angler strip and dive in to find bait on the bottom in a recently vacated swim where a guy had caught a 15lb mirror hope some of this helps,Dave

 

aye i wet the fly in the water before i used it, squeesed it like a sponge a few times that done the trick.

and i think i will stick with the sinking line as it has done the buisness so far so i think i have found the setup i like and will stick with that for a while tho will be experiment inbetween.

cheers

niall_b73

[billybaltic 308]

Wondered about that myself Billy,some of them flies are huge though,i could see it ending in tears trying to set the hook with a 6 wt ,having said that it is tempting...... Dave

If i used my normal fly gear i would not be able to lift some of them fly's, and to set the hook, my rod would be bent over to the handle, but i have got a 8dt line and a 8-9 weight rod that never get's used and i have been thinking of trying it out, but have heard you need 10-11 wt gear, thank's for the set up guide niall, if you made your own trace's, would you have a loop one end and a safe-lok link the other end, or is there some other link, thank's.

[mattydski 560]

I've used my standard AFTM 7 10ft reservoir rod, and although i've never hooked a monster, all have been successfully hooked and landed. Nicolas Valentine, who works in Glasgow Angling centre, fishes from a Kayak and uses a 5wt rod successfully, and has caught monsters.

 

I think the main reason for using the heavier gear to have weight to cast the larger flies required. Although I normally only use a minnow pattern

[niall_b73 41]

Wondered about that myself Billy,some of them flies are huge though,i could see it ending in tears trying to set the hook with a 6 wt ,having said that it is tempting...... Dave

If i used my normal fly gear i would not be able to lift some of them fly's, and to set the hook, my rod would be bent over to the handle, but i have got a 8dt line and a 8-9 weight rod that never get's used and i have been thinking of trying it out, but have heard you need 10-11 wt gear, thank's for the set up guide niall, if you made your own trace's, would you have a loop one end and a safe-lok link the other end, or is there some other link, thank's.

that is pretty much it for me on the trace, yeah the loop on one end and the safe-lok on the other.

just depends what type safelock tho. some types wont let you pass the eye of the hook on the fly due to the shape.

 

the snap swivel works great with me

 

but the cross lock snap swivel wont pass through the eye of the fly due to the you bend !!

 

niall_b73

[niall_b73 41]

the link to the thread below might be usefull to some of you thinking of using lighter gear:

 

http://www.flyforums.co.uk/fly-fishing-other-species/258168-pike-7-8-rod.html

 

niall_b73

[northern lad 2,292]

Got to be worth a shot with the 8/9wt Billy

[billybaltic 308]

Wondered about that myself Billy,some of them flies are huge though,i could see it ending in tears trying to set the hook with a 6 wt ,having said that it is tempting...... Dave

If i used my normal fly gear i would not be able to lift some of them fly's, and to set the hook, my rod would be bent over to the handle, but i have got a 8dt line and a 8-9 weight rod that never get's used and i have been thinking of trying it out, but have heard you need 10-11 wt gear, thank's for the set up guide niall, if you made your own trace's, would you have a loop one end and a safe-lok link the other end, or is there some other link, thank's.

that is pretty much it for me on the trace, yeah the loop on one end and the safe-lok on the other.

just depends what type safelock tho. some types wont let you pass the eye of the hook on the fly due to the shape.

 

the snap swivel works great with me

 

but the cross lock snap swivel wont pass through the eye of the fly due to the you bend !!

 

niall_b73

I like the cross-lok better, but that could be fixed, thank's.

[billybaltic 308]

Got to be worth a shot with the 8/9wt Billy

I have come close a few time's, i think i will give it a try, it's mainly jack's upto around 7lb-8lb, so should be ok, i hope that doesn't come back and bite me.

[billybaltic 308]

the link to the thread below might be usefull to some of you thinking of using lighter gear:

 

http://www.flyforums...ke-7-8-rod.html

 

niall_b73

Well that's it now.

[northern lad 2,292]

The main difficulty with lighter rods would only be the casting/setting hooks,cant see reasonable sized pike up to 15+lb being a problem,the guys fishing dever springs are only using 4wt and catching trout to 30+lb ,funnily enough just watched a guy on telly land a 15 on esthwaite onthe fly,it was on a white zonker about4 inches long,i think with a bit of care in fly selection is the key Dave

[northern lad 2,292]

Or the number for a good rod repairer

[billybaltic 308]

A pike's mouth is a lot harder than a trout's, that esthwaite is some place isn't it mate, i've fished it for trout but not pike, some big girl's in there.

[northern lad 2,292]

They had 3 doubles and a twenty out in one morning going off the topic a bit I think my kids hate me ,Ive just opened a toblerone the youngest bought me for fathers day its like chewing a plug definetly going to give it a whirl with my 7wt,the next issue is finding a water locally that Ive got room for the backcast