Tis the season

[Don Andersen]

Nope - this is not about Santa Claus but about the best time of the year to play with pike.

Headed out to Cow Lake yesterday. Was quiet. The ski boats are gone, the ducks back and the only raucous sounds was Devon with a double tripping about a 1/2 mile away. W/O the diesels it would have been a perfect day.
Except I couldn't catch any fish. Had two flash @ the fly without hook up. Tried all manners of retrieve and flies. Not good. Paddled the pontoon down the bank for a ways.
The sun came out and boy it felt great. Watched a couple of diving ducks working the shallows for minnows.


And they were doing much better than I. The light finally came on. If the minnows are there so are pike. Finned slowly down that way.

Tied on the original pattern. A "Mickey Finn".



First cast, a hammer handle, second cast another. Then they got bigger - much bigger.









And so it went - fish after fish. The smaller ones were <>20" with some of them getting close to the 30" mark. Was a blast. The "bite" started @ 1:00 and lasted till near 4:30pm.

The the fly below landed 26 pike and it's still in decent shape. The fly is patterned after the Mickey Finn originally tied for brook trout. See: http://globalflyfisher.com/patterns/mickey-finn/

The fly below while sharing the colour combination is tied using Red & Yellow Flashabou and wig material from Halloween Masks. For those that tied a lot of pike flies, wigs are cheap and plentiful @ this time of year. Most any Dollar Store has a pile of them. The lead eyes are chromed and the head was coated with Gorilla Super Glue http://www.gorillatough.com/index.php?page=super-glue




The flies are cast using a 9 1/2' Fisher Graphite rod c/w a Pflueger® Trion® Fly Reel and a WF 9F line c/w a 8" 15 lb. test steel leader that I make up.

have fun out there.


Don

[kevin1949]

wow 26 pike on 1 fly yet! I will be tying this pattern, tks

[BBT]

Awesome few hours. Always good when the light flicks on and it works out.

[Pierre]

Originally Posted by Don Andersen

Finned slowly down that way.


Don

Careful Don, that's getting close to 'trolling',

jk, thanks for the post.

[Don Andersen]

Pierre,

Can't be trolling - I ain't from Edmonton!


Don

[Don Andersen]

Quick update...

Was on Cow today. No wind and clear skies dropped the catch rate to 6 with only one little one with the rest @ 5 lbs. or so and the best one <> 8 lbs. A "Mickey Finn" again worked. Any time a breeze showed up, I caught a fish. Need a breeze or cloud.
The rig is gone.
Quiet returns.

Don

[scel]

Originally Posted by Don Andersen

Quick update...

Was on Cow today. No wind and clear skies dropped the catch rate to 6 with only one little one with the rest @ 5 lbs. or so and the best one <> 8 lbs. A "Mickey Finn" again worked. Any time a breeze showed up, I caught a fish. Need a breeze or cloud.
The rig is gone.
Quiet returns.

Don

I have caught pike on the fly, but I have never specifically targetted them. They look fun.
About how deep do you fish them? Could you fish them from shore?

[Don Andersen]

Scel,

Cow Lake is surrounded by "floating muskeg". Standing on this stuff is not for the faint of heart. The muskeg sinks and sometimes it stops. Sometimes it doesn't. From the lake, it appears like some people have fished from the shore. There are a few spots that appeared to have been used.
As I launch from the north end, I don't have a clue about the campground area.
A boat is best.

Cow Lake is shallow with few areas much deeper that 7'. I use a floating line c/w a 8' monofilament leader of 17 lb. Trilene. The flies I tie are weighted with lead Clouser style eyes.
I cast out and allow the flies to sink 4>5' and strip back using erratic strips.


Regards,


Don

[SNAPFisher]

Great report! That sounds like a fun day. Thanks for the post. Makes me think....