Thanks for visiting
my site!

Courtesy of Clive Schaupmeyer a friend and fellow Fly Piker.

Rather than duplicate a lot of information out there I asked my friend Clive from Alberta if I could use some of his information. Upon receiving his blessing, I have included the Following text. Clive does talks and workshops on Fly fishing for Pike.

Pursuing prairie pike with flies is a fly-fishing bonus. It is a practical remedy-and blessing-for many of us who want to fly-fish often, but do not live close to trout streams. And we can fish for pike when streams are closed or blown out.

Our prairie lakes and reservoirs may not have the allure of mountain streams or pristine northern lakes. And there may not be quite as many pike-or as many big pike-as up North, but the waters are close and the action can be hot. Many prairie waters contain trophy pike-the Alberta record pike-38 pounds-comes from a prairie lake.

If you have yet to try them with fly gear, you are in for a treat. They can be electrifying on a fly rod, especially in the spring when their metabolism and fighting spirit are at their peak. If you've been thinking of flying to a northern lodge for early season pike action, then wait no longer!

Pike take flies readily and are rough-and-tumble fighters. Battles are usually down and dirty, and big fish can be difficult to land. Seeking refuge in deeper water or weed beds, pike pull doggedly and double over the strongest of fly rods. They'll make short line-hauling runs, often spinning a float-tuber and angler.

When and Where

Pike can be caught on a fly rod any time the water is free of ice. Generally they are slow to bite during the spring breeding season (just after ice out), then start feeding heavily right after the spawn. They seem to slow down again as the water warms. The action varies with the season, but pike can be caught for six or seven months of the year in most parts of Canada.
(Check regulations of closures wherever you fish.)

Pike move into ice-free shallow bays while the main part of a lake is still frozen. They swirl and twist (in breeding mode) when there is still floor ice in the bays and the water is ice cold. I've caught a few pike during the height of the breeding season-but damn few. Streamers can be stripped right in front of pike floating on the surface, but when they have sex on their pea-sized brains they just aren't interested in eating.

By mid to late April (in the years we could fish in the spring), anglers started grumbling about the pike being off-forgetting it's the same every year. We would have gone out once or twice and caught one pike-or none at all. We kept grumbling. Then at the end of one sunny day in early May, my phone would ring. It was K.K., and the news was: The pike fishing is hot!

In southern Alberta the best pike action is in May through early June, but they can be caught all summer as well. I've fished for pike in northern Alberta and northern Saskatchewan a couple of times-once in early June and once in mid July. The action was great in early June, just two weeks after ice out. We caught our share of pike in July as well, but the lodge owner said we had missed the peak feeding season.

Within the time window when pike fishing is generally hot, there will be ups and downs in the action as pike moods change. A decade of pike fly-fishing has shown us that pike are most active (read, easiest to catch) during clear-sky, high-pressure weather systems. Warm and sunny. Sure, they are catchable on cold, blustery spring days, but the catch rates fall off drastically.

Where are pike likely to be? Pike are ambush feeders and live near, on, over, beside or within something like a weed bed, drop-off, reef, shallow bay or stream flow. Most often, they will be caught where there is some noticeable structure or a change in water condition, such as clarity, temperature or current. Food organisms that attract baitfish-which attract pike-live in weed beds or may be carried in a slow current near an inlet or outlet. When prairie winds boil the water in shallow bays, pike will hold just inside or outside the murky water waiting for a meal to cruise by.

Where would you hide if you were a hungry pike waiting to ambush a meal? Quietly kick your float tube near an island or point, cast to the shallow water, then control your retrieve so the fly drops down as the water gets deeper. Or cast parallel to the drop-off and retrieve at various depths. Hold over a shallow bar or weed bed and cast out to deeper water, retrieving your fly so it travels up the slope or beside the weeds. Cast a gaudy streamer into small open pockets along the edge of a weed bed. Try casting into flowing water that could carry food, or might be warmer or cooler than the surrounding water. If the water has clear and murky sections, cast into or alongside the cloudy water and retrieve your fly into or along the edge of the clear water.