Pike Flies - Ahrex Hooks

Three Flies

We have decided that we’ll start running a series of blogs with the same theme – Three Flies. These won’t be the usual “if you could only have three flies…”, but more as an inspiration to those starting fly fishing or venturing in to new species and locations. We’ll try and mobilise some of our Ahrex ambassadors and ask them about three essential flies for their fishing and local conditions. Since we’ll depend on the good will of our ambassadors and others as well, they won’t be regular entries, but ones that we’ll run every now and then. They’ll be seasonally relevant as well.

Pike

I think I said it last week, or maybe the week before, May is a difficult month for fly fishers. Everything is on, everything is happening and there’s everything to choose from and a new mini-season is opening every two weeks. Soon it’s night fishing for sea trout in the rivers, but for now, let’s just focus on something that is very close to our hearts, here at Ahrex: Fly fishing for pike.

Marabou Pike Fly

Winter has arrived in Scandinavia. We have snow in the northern Denmark and in Sweden. At Håkan’s there’s quite a bit. Snow and cold is a bit of a showstopper when it comes to fishing, but here in Scandinavia, not always. A drop in temperature in the salt usually sends the rest of the spawners up river – and the big, shiny sea trout are left. December is usually quite a good month. The temperature obviously drops in the lakes as well, but that’s not necessarily detrimental to fishing either. Pike spawn in the spring, so they have to keep themselves well fed during the winter and a drop in temperature often seems to get them eating.

Post spawn pike – needs a slow hand

There’s just something exiting about hunting for predators. As much as I love seeing a trout rise and sip down a tiny mayfly or midge – I can’t help being more wound up when a large predator decides to kill my streamer fly. I guess it’s the violence and brutality of the attack that get my adrenaline pumping… especially when pike fishing. But while part of the season is all jerk, strip, pop and bang – the start of the season might require a less powerful approach. Continue reading “Post spawn pike – needs a slow hand”

Big is beautiful – but challenging

When tying pike or muskie flies, you are faced with the laws of physics. You want to use a big fly in order to get the attention of the top predators. But you still want to be able to handle that fly on a single-handed fly rod that you are able to cast all day. In fact the same challenges are equally relevant when tying any kind of large streamer fly… for predatory trout or most kinds of saltwater fly fishing. But for this blog… let’s stick to flies primarily designed for pike and muskie.

Continue reading “Big is beautiful – but challenging”