There is nothing more exiting and adrenalin rushing in the world of flyfishing than topwater action… Wherever it being browns or grayling sipping dries, blue water species smashing a popper or a pike chasing down a slider and in the end hitting it with nothing else than mean attentions!… Thoose few seconds from the first visual contact to the first fell of the tug down through the blank and into your hands, Thoose few seconds is just what surface fishing is all about…
To me summer is equally surface action on the smaller shallow ponds… Now the vegetation is really starting to grow and soon a surface fly is your only option and very often also the most effective way to fish these water… I use two types of flies for my surface fishing for pike and perch… The popper and the slider, but in this post I am gonna focus on the slider witch is the fly I use the most when fishing on the surface…
With the hook connected to the articulated shank you will increase your hook -up rate significantly due to the join witch allows the foam head and the hook to move independent…
Fishing on the surface with poppers, sliders or divers tend to provoke some pretty spectacular takes! Often the pike hits the fly so aggressive, that a traditional surface fly tied with a foam head on the hook very often gets smashed away without any chance for a hook-up!… After a lot of experimenting with a lot of diffent style of patterns I experienced that if I added a join between the foam head and the hook, the head would still take some beating when the pike hits the fly, but due to the join, it would be able to move independent allowing the hook to stay in position and digg into the jaw…
Sliding silent and innocent through the water in search of its next victim… A real “go-to” fly for low warm water!..
Fishing the slider is a bit less technical than its noisy cusine ,the popper, but in my experince often way more effective… The slider is designed to slide through the water creating a wake on the surface and is the perfect fly for searching of a lot of water in short time… I fish it on a steady retrieve with small but very fast strips… Very often the pike will chase down the fly several meters away giving you plenty of time to build up shaking hands and a lot of adrenaline!… When the pike starts the chase I usually speed up the retrieve with great success… The wake from the fly add a very visual impression to the fly witch allows me to tie my sliders a bit smaller than my usual pike flies… The smaller flies is less likely to get pushed away in the take and also allows me to use a smaller hook witch is easier to set…
THE TAKE!… The essens of topwater flyfishing!
The takes on the surface is explosive and violent! And you wil always see the take before you fell it, so a common mistake for most is to lift the rod I order to set the hook before they even fell the take and thereby pull the hook away from the jaws… Most effective is to just keep striping until you fell the weight of the fish, then set the hook with a strip strike and then lift the rod… I takes some nerves to do this and not lift immediately the first few times but once learned, it will get you a lot more fish to hand! Not only when fishing surface flies but also when fishing for a lot of other predatory species…
The silent Assasin is a basic pattern that can be made in all diffent color combos… I usually go with the white and pearl combo, imitating a small baitfish, but during poor light condition or in colored water a Black and copper version usually gets the job done!…
My favorit fly and setup for for chasing summer pike on top in the shallows!
“The Silent Assassin”
Hook: FF C4 #15
Tail: Supreme goat+starflash
Body: Signature dub
Collar3: Supreme goat
Colar2: American opossum
Shank: Articulated streamer shank
Collar1: American opossum
Head: Foam head
So grab some sunscreen, pick up your favorite rod and tie on a silent assassin… Throw it out there and get ready for some ferocious topwater action!…
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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...
Latest posts by Marc Skovby (see all)
- “The Tail dancer” – A Predator fly Step-By-Step - 12.11.2018
- Bluewater gold - 23.10.2018
- Hairy Hackles – Opossum - 01.07.2018