fly fishing for pike

I too am going to try for the toothy critters this year..
I have tied up some floating long white weedless zonker strips for my try at them.
I would think any large minnow pattern should work..

The two best places I know of to catch pike in my area are Eaton Resevoir(Bull Dam) and Conneaut lake just out of Meadville.

1- single hooks... they hit the head and the amount of water displaced by the gill flare is enough to suck up the entire fly
- you can tie and cast doubles

2- orange/red... white/red

3- yes along with INT or sink...
- int are cool with topwater.... it will make you fly dive rather than skip
- a floating line will not allow you to fish effectively past 4ft deep

4- wire leaders... look at craft stores for wire bead string or FF companies make all kinds
- there are guys who swear by 70 or 80 lb fluro for big fish... but smaller fish have sharper/more teeth and will shred

5- learn how to shoot line with minimal false casting... 4 false casts to hit 90ft is much more effective than 8 casts to hit 70
- a WF or shooting head line

I also use chrome soft baits that look like large minnows, you can cast them a mile with a fly rod, and yet strip them like a fly

it is at times, less costly and sometimes very productive. takes practice

large pike are not always in shallow water.  early in the season they are shallow but if you're going in late july to august they may be deeper, depending on how far north you go and what the primary bait fish is. so have both a floating line and sinking line to cover the whole spectrum or use a nonflyrod for the deeper stuff.  for flies, have different color combos because pike will change their preference, even during the day.  i think it depends on light intensity and sun angle.  red/white, yellow/black, white/blue, chartrues/black, orange/yellow base combos have worked well.  now for each combo throw in some gold, silver, copper flash and you cover all bases.

use a tieable wire like surflon or titanium.  check out the latest in-fisherman magazine to get a handle on the wire set up.

as for a rod i use an 8, and it is ok but i'd rather use a 9wt., it will be easier to cast the big wet flies, especially if your using a lot of rabbit strip flies. and it's better when windy.  i take both and have each rigged with a different type fly, a top water on 1 the other a bunny leach or deceiver type.

yeah only maybe 2 or 3 weeks till we test the waters although the best fishing is over a month away

hi long time reader first time poster questionon this topic: in regards to Presque Isle. Do pike find their way into the ponds and lagoons and if so, can you wade for them?

Thanks for the info Loopy I will give a shot this spring and will post some pics if I get into some fish

wow thanks for the advice fish whisperer, do you think is an April event or in May? assuming a normal spring

Yeah guys thanks for all of this info. I am psyched to try this for the first time this year. One question.... at what water temps will they start to retreat to deeper colder water?

Actually the pike can be ON from late March through April. My best action has been in April.

Has anyone used braid as appose to steel leader?
Thinking of trying that this year to give fly more action.

Are there pickerel in Geneva March and/or Conneaut Lake?

With a 9 or ten weight rod and a good double haul, im sure it will turn over...

ORIGINAL: dimebrite

With a 9 or ten weight rod and a good double haul, im sure it will turn over...

Has nothing to do with line speed. The line itself just doesn't have enough body/stiffness. Only way I've ever seen it used as a leader was furled.