Fly Fishing for Pike

Im starting to fly fish for pike and muskie(mainly in the St.Croix) and was wondering about kinds of leaders to use, Peoples favorite lures and anything else useful.

for something that big i use a longer piece of heavy mono. and have a loop connection off of it for the flies. For each fly I use tieable wire and pre-tie them and make a loop on the side that would be connected to the leader. Then this way you have a bite guard and also a quick change from streamer to streamer. Theres many different ways to do it

Thank you. I just tied that up, and it looks good.

This works too:

SR

I mainly use heavy mono 60-80 lb. for bite leader or u can buy knotable wire leader material nowdays that works as well. I Have had great luck with Perch flies for large pike in the 40 inch plus range in N.Saskatchewan lakes. I tie as large as I can comfortably cast with my Loomis 8 wt. I have heavier rods but it becomes too much work casting for hrs. so 8 wt. seems good for me. I love to come in behind the gear chuckers and let them watch me nail some real hogs. Big Pike love flies, some of my largest Pike have been on the fly, mostly always just below the surface so the strikes are all visable, way too much fun. Fish safe

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Knottable wire only here.

My total leader length is usually in the 3-4 range with about a foot of that being wire. You can use whatever wire works for you. I’m a fan of Surflon or Rio.

I really don’t think it matters too much what fly you’re using so long as it meets a few very basic requirements. Those requirements are: Large enough for a pike/musky to be interested in eating it, pushes water when being stripped, and has a kicking motion when the strip is stopped.

Aside from that, putting the fly into the strike zone is the only other thing that matters to me. I don’t get one bit worked up over colors (especially in stained rivers like the Croix). In fact, if you looked at my musky fly box chances are you’d only see about 3 or 4 basic color patterns.
-Orange
-Sucker pattern
-All Black
-Maybe Firetiger

My highest all-time fish catching pattern is called a Buford. Mostly natural materials and flash, with a spun bucktail head that will help displace a lot of water. Here’s a link to the video if you want to see it tied. https://vimeo.com/40496757

I have tried a few different things. I like to have the first foot or so off the lure to be heavy mono 40-60lbs range. Then I go to a break off section of 15lbs then from that I go 45 to my fly line or as low as 25.

Hoping to resurrect this thread and repurpose it a bit if that’s okay.

I’m a long time “gear chucker” for pike but very new to fly fishing. Got a setup for a salmon trip this summer and would like to try for pike.

The first day or three for salmon really showed me how little I knew. Unfortunately the guys I was with knew even less, long story

For pike how do you get the fly into the strike zone? What if the strike zone is a foot down over weeds? What about a rock point that breaks from 4-15? What about the deep edge on a weedline?

Currently have a floating line on it but guessing that is good for some presentations and not others.

For setup I’ve got an 8wt as well. Most of my pike time is on the north arm of Rainy but will be doing some practicing at the cabin in Brainerd.

Thanks in advance!