April 2005 
 

All of my pike streamers have large eyes and they have for years. Unlike other tyers who usually place the eyes at the from the of the head—right behind the hook eye or so—I place the eyes back a ways “inside” the fly head. 

Why use eyes? A good question, and we will likely never know for sure. However, long-term experience seems to indicate that they work. 

First, the eyes may trigger fussy pike into hitting the fly. Probably 70 percent of the  time—when pike are feeding actively and aggressively—the eyes make no difference at all. But if the pike are tentative, pike will hit eyed flies when they won't hit flies with no eyes. Seems to be so. 

Secondly, the large eyes may improve hookups on larger flies. I recently was told of this concept by a friend and I think there is basis in this. The concept is simple: large eyes direct the hits toward the hook end of the fly. Years ago, we started with smaller flies and after a couple of years graduated up to 6-inch flies with no eyes or small brass eyes. We used to get a lot of false hits. Apparently the pike would hit the back of the streamer and miss the hook. There is a general consensus by a few of us that the large eyes result in fewer false hits as they attack the head end. I reverted a bit and tied 4 and 5-inch flies. 

However, for the past 8 years or so I've gone back up to larger flies that they are typically 6 to 7 inches long. And they all have the large eyes. I don't think I get as many false hook-ups with the larger eyes. I should explain false hook-ups. A pike hits and you think it is hooked but after a few second sit gets off. The consensus on this is that their teeth get hooked in the body fibers, but not in the hook and they pull free after a few seconds.