Can you catch pike on a fly rod?

Pike are among the best freshwater fly-rod predators, because for weeks each year the big ones live in water a fly fishes perfectly. After ice-out and through the post-spawn period, pike hold in shallow, warming bays under 2 m (7 ft), and a 15–25 cm (6–10 in) streamer of bucktail or synthetic hair, stripped with long pauses, hangs in front of them in a way no spoon can. Use an 8- to 10-weight rod, a floating or intermediate line and a bite tippet of wire or heavy fluorocarbon. Strip-set — do not lift the rod. Expect follows: speed up or change direction at the end of the retrieve. When summer pushes big pike deep, the fly rod becomes a tool for smaller weed fish; the window reopens as the water cools in fall.

Browse every question