To connect your wire leader to your pike fly setup, you first need to attach a fluorocarbon leader. We recommend a 20-30 lb fluorocarbon leader of about 5 – 6ft in length.
What pound leader should I use for pike?
For pike, a 60-80lb test fluorocarbon leader should be used.
How long should a pike fly leader?
around 8-9 feet
How long should a pike fly leader be? The length of your whole leader and wire trace is important. For floating line fishing, this should be no more than around 8-9 feet (just under a rod’s length).
What is the best leader for pike?
Titanium Wire
This should be your go-to leader if the water you are fishing holds both pike and musky! While a thick enough fluorocarbon leader will withstand most pike attacks, it will be less resistant to those ultra-sharp musky teeth. Using a titanium wire is definitely the best protection against bite-offs!
What size fly line for pike?
Most serious pike fly anglers use a 9 or a 10 weight rod. This generates enough line speed to cast your large pike fly and wire trace. A reel capable of holding a 9 or 10 weight fly line plus backing line is required. A good reliable drag for fighting those big predators is also a must.
Can I use fluorocarbon line as a leader for pike?
For fishing techniques where the risk of bite-offs is lower, fashioning an 18-inch long leader from 50- to 80-pound a test fluorocarbon line is a good option. Fluorocarbon is flexible, holds knots well, and has enough abrasion resistance to turn back the teeth of pike and muskie in most situations.
Do you need a wire trace when fly fishing for pike?
When fly fishing for pike the use of a wire trace is essential always. Pike boast very sharp teeth which will slice through other materials. A few have recommended the usage of hard nylon monofilament in a very heavy breaking strain, whilst conceding that occasional bite-offs were inevitable.
What flies to use for pike?
Top 15 Pike Flies
- Clouser Minnow.
- Wiggle Lemmings.
- Barry’s Pike Fly.
- Gen-X Bunny.
- Banger.
- Northwoods Ninja.
- Reducer.
- Umpqua Baitfish.
What do I need to fly fish for pike?
Equipment For Pike Fishing on the Fly
Anglers need to be able to cast big rods and flies consistently over a long period of time. A good pike set up at a pike-focused destination like Midnight Sun in Alaska is a 10wt rod with a floating or intermediate line using a straight 65lb wire leader.
Can pike cut braided line?
Braid is junk for pike teeth, the easiest of all line material to cut for a given break strength. There’s a reason muskie fisherman use 80 lb braid mainline and an 80 lb fluorocarbon leader.
Can you catch pike on monofilament?
Both braid and monofilament are great choices when it comes to picking your mainline for pike.
What is a 10 weight fly rod good for?
10-weight Fly Rods
These are good choices when fishing for extremely heavy Freshwater applications. 10-weight fly rods are also used for medium to heavy Saltwater applications such as tarpon, salmon, roosterfish, and permit, where fishermen are casting very heavy or large flies – typically with extreme wind situations.
What is a 8 weight fly rod good for?
These rods can handle all kinds of lines, wind, and flies ranging up to larger patterns like bass bugs and saltwater streamers. The amount of power in an 8 weight also means it can take on some bigger, stronger species, yet more average-sized specimens remain enjoyable because it’s not too much rod.
Do wire leaders scare fish?
Do Wire Leaders Scare Fish? As many leaders are coated or come in dark, low visibility colors, they do not seem to scare the fish you target. I have run many experiments where I fished for predators with both thick fluorocarbon leaders and wire leaders, and the results were exactly the same on both materials.
Does pike cut fluorocarbon?
Fluorocarbon is more abrasion resistant than monofilament and braids, so it has a better chance in contact with razor pike teeth. Most scientific sources also consider it much less visible to fish than monofilament and, especially, braid under water.
How long should pike traces be?
18 inches long
For the safety of the pike, should it swallow your bait a too deeply, your wire trace should be at least 18 inches long (45 cm) whenever bait or lure fishing.
Do pike eat flies?
From small pike in ponds and lakes to trophy size fish in the 50″ range, pike are awesome gamefish and will eat flies readily. They are extremely exciting to catch on topwater flies, as quick as a barracuda and are eating machines.
What is a 9 weight fly rod for?
A 9wt fly rod is designed for fast-action performance with powerful swing rates. This means you can easily launch big flies over considerable distances in bustling winds and yet remain precise. You could say that a 9 wt fly rod is somewhere in the middle of being a lightweight and heavy duty fly rod.
What test fishing line should I use?
It should roughly match the weight of the species you are fishing for (e.g. use line in the 30-pound test for tuna in the 30-pound range). A typical line to cast for trout would be 4-pound test. Consider braided line of 30-pound test or more if you go after large game fish.
How do you measure fishing line strength?
- Tie a hook onto a 6-foot length of the fishing line you wish to test.
- Hook the end of the line onto an object that weighs as much as the listed test strength of the line, then lift the object into the air using your fishing rod.
Lorraine Wade is all about natural food. She loves to cook and bake, and she’s always experimenting with new recipes. Her friends and family are the lucky beneficiaries of her culinary skills! Lorraine also enjoys hiking and exploring nature. She’s a friendly person who loves to chat with others, and she’s always looking for ways to help out in her community.