Modern Angler

Pike Fly Fishing

Recently I had the chance to go Pike Fly Fishing with one of the countries top Pike anglers Dave Lindsay (McFluffchucker).

I Must say over the years i have always wanted to go out pike fly fishing but have never really known where to start. I thought it would be very similar to trout fly fishing but in fact i had to learn a number of different techniques.

The Set-up for the day consisted of a 10 weight rod and WF10 Floating line, a short twisted leader (which was all done by Dave Lindsay) and one amazing looking fly called a SUB BUG tied by the same man.

The Sub Bug is a awesome fly and really does make the fish come up and show you who is boss. Being close to 8" long and weighing close to that of a house its a pig to cast but what i lacks in finesse it surely does make up in pure effectiveness.

Depending on how you pull the line the fly will duck, dart and dive in all directions.

THE DAY

Needless to say i was very excited about fishing for these aggressive species having never done so before.

We fished up the margins on a private Loch called Portmore for the first hour with no success other than a few weed pulls and the occasional branch snag.

With our guide Dave Lindsay rowing the boat we headed for a bay at the top end of the lake where what only can be described as a small alligator came from nowhere and smashed at my fly, Unluckily it missed and attacked my Friend Conan Fyvie's Sub Bug.

After a number of takes and a few missed few I finally hooked into one of these powerful fish, which lead me on a fierce fight before finally heading towards the boat and a landed fish, again caught on the deadly Sub Bug.

Conan hooked a number of fish before i finally caught my second, i was really having a'lot of trouble keeping the fish on the hook. After some advice for Dave Lindsay i finally seemed to get the hang of the new technique of hooking these fish. Unlike trout fishing where you lift into the fish to set the hook, with pike you let them pull with the rod down for a few seconds then slowly lift up to play the fish.

Even with this technique employed i still managed to lose a number of fish, but finally after some persuasion and patience i managed to hook and land my second fish of the day.