Light RSI rods rigged for Pike!
Finally the ice was gone an my schedule was open! I arrived to the lake in the thick morning fog… The water was flat calm, a rare sight on these western lakes!… My drifter and rods was already rigged and ready… Even the lake is pretty narrow the thick fog blocked the sight to the other bank. I have fished this lake a lot of times during the years, but the light and the silence created an almost magical atmosphere…
I clicked a fly on, which I had tied last night in the light of candles during Earth Hour, slide into my fins and slides out on the lake in the drifter an headed to the other bank… Deep into the fog I could occasionally hear a splash from a hunting pike and while I was getting closer I could finally see the other bank through the fog… I toke my 5wt RSI and started cover the area in, an just outside the vegetation in the shallows… It didn’t toke long before the fly disappeared in a swirl and the line came tight… A smaller pike was landed shortly after, but never or less the first one of the day…
The next hours the pikes chased down my grey, pearl and orange baitfish fly and at the end of the day, 22 pikes have been landed, a few lost and a few takes missed… Most memorable fish of the day must be the last one;
95cm on a 5wt
In the beginning of the day I drifted down a small channel witch is running into the lake… I have fished this channel a lot of times but never caught or seen any pike in there… While drifting, I spotted a very nice fish just beside the float tube but before I could present the fly I got to close and it was spooked… I have never giving this channel much attention due to I have never experienced any fish in there but this fish got me thinking…. I fished all around the lake and when pike number 20 was landed I felled it was time to call it a day… On my way back I crossed the channel and immediately I spooked an other pike… I decided to give the spot where I saw the bigger fish earlier a shot again just to see if it might was back… The Fly, witch now was an “Ultra worm” tied only by FF Ultra mix landed just on the spot and a smaller pike headed for fly the second it landed on the water but missed it… One more cast, I stripped a few times and an other pike grabbed the fly and was shortly after landed… The next few cast a couple of smaller fish in the 70cm size missed the fly, I decided to put out one last cast a bit further upstream… The fly landed just along the bank, a few strips and a nice fish grabbed the fly at the surface and continued half way out of the water and the line went slack againg… I picked up the line and layed down the fly at the same spot aging and after a few strips it all happened all over again but this time the hook sticked to the bony jaw!… My 5wt bended deep into the blank while the pike want crazy in the narrow channel… In the end I could finaly land the last and the biggest fish of the day… A beatyfull chubby lady at 95cm…
FF Slinky Baitfish
Fly of the day! – By fare the most productive fly of the day was this grey/orange/pearl baitfish… Tied with the new FF slinky fiber witch creates great volume to the bigger flies but yet gives a light expression to the pattern…
Materials:
Hook: gamakatsu F314
Tail: FF Star flash, ICE ICE
Body: FF Star Flash ,ICE ICE
Back: FF Slinky Fiber,Light Grey
Belly: FF Slinky Fiber, Orangde
Throat: FF Ultra mix, FL.Orange
Eyes: FF 3D eyes 9mm, Fl.Orange
Fishing the shallows in the early spring often means a lot of smaller pike with a fair chance of getting a shot at one of the Big Girls… The males, which are smaller than the females, are during the late winter months often moving into the shallows, close and in between the vegetation, or at least what there is left of it after the winter… Here they are waiting for the females and for the spawning to begin…. When the water starts to warm up the Big girls are joining the party… If you observe the fish are spawning, please respect the pikes and give them some privacy… Roll up in your line, put the rod aside and just enjoy the show…. To see a one meter female in 30cm of water surrounded by smaller males spawn in t the vegetation is an experience fare beyond than trying to cast at them and disturb them while the securing the next generation…
Gearing Up – When I fish the shallow waters I the early spring, or actually no matter where and when I am fly fishing for pike, I tend to go lighter than most… A RSI 5wt is pretty much my standard rod for most of my pike fishing supported by an RSI 7wt for windy conditions or big waters with an high average weight on the fish… The 5wt Rigged up with a prober line as the Guideline bullet or the new 3D+ ULS heads combined with a suitable leader will with out any problems cast af 12-13cm pikefly…
The light rods are great fun to catch smaller pikes on and if used right during the fight it will handle very big fish too… its not the rods who is fighting, it the man who holds it…
Tight lines – Marc
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Marc Skovby
In his home waters, salmon, pike and seabass are among the favorites and these are the species that responseble for most of the days countedon the water during the year...
Marc like to combine techniques, styles and experincefrom different species and fisheries into his flies which often shows out in some untraditional but effective patterns...
Marc is also a part of the Guideline ambassadur team
For Marc, being a flyfisher and flytyer is not just a titel... it´s an identity...
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