I had a session after pike at the weekend and in addition to my normal gear took along a couple of salmon rods. My mate took along his usual Hardy Ab Swier Pike rod which is short and powerful - much more so than normal short reservoir lure rods.
With the huge pike flies there was no doubt that the big salmon rods handled them and distance much more effectively. My own single handed pike set up (Steve Parton Imperator 10ft #11-13) is even more powerful then the Ab Swier set up but even it did not have the easy authority of the salmon rods.
Using the big 18 footer with an #12 and 75foot head it was easy to send the flies at least 50% further and with less effort than the single handers. Dropping back to a 15 footer with a #10 with 65 foot head it was still much easier to send out a much longer lline. However it is the ease with which the rods handled outsize flies of 8 inches long that really impressed me. Fishing shorter distances with a double hander takes on a new meaning: 30 yards is ridiculously easy. Fishing at distance can be quite important on some of the lochs near me.
It might be worth trying a double hander before parting with cash for a heavy pike set up. I fancy that a short powerful double hander might be the ideal pike rod.
I think the heavy single hander will be consigned to small water and saltwater duty in the future.
Mind you: double hander + saltwater - there's a thought!
I use a 9ft 9/10wt, far too much arm power, and duck a lot :8)
To be honest I never really cast far when pike fly fishing, I tend to explore round about structures in the water.
Did you catch any Malcolm?
I'm not sure I fancy using a double hander to be honest. They are so big and clumsy and take a lot of the enjoyment out of fly fishing for me. That said I have very little experience with them.
Fred
Once you are used to handling them they're fine and feel quite natural, I generally tend to use them at either end of the year and the first few hours feels strange.
Paul,
Yes we did have a few but nothing special. The best was about 7lbs taken at distance on my 18 footer.
Col,
For many situations I think you're right however casting more than about 28 yards with a heavy single hander and big wind resistant flies is beyond me I'm afraid and even that sort of distance is hard work if you are having to do it every cast, smaller flies do make it easier.
OTOH casting the 18 footer is a piece of cake and it's effortless to aerialise 70 feet and then shoot more. It's just so much easier and more relaxed. Needless to say it wouldn't be my first choice if all my pike fishing was at short distance.
I'm not an expert pike fisher however, far from it. Do you find that smaller flies (say up to 5 inches or so) are effective? It would make it much easier.
Malcolm, how do you fish to the edge with the big DH and then extend line for the next cast? Is it not a palavver?
Alex
The length of lever and weight of the head the double hand setup gives will cast to the horizon. Not to mention how easy they are to cast far. I've only used my double hander seriously a few times and as malcolm says a 30 yard cast is not exactly pushing the limits. I've fished a small river with a 15' rod once, impossible. As Alex says i can't imagine fishing all day with it if a shortish cast was needed.
QuoteAs Alex says i can't imagine fishing all day with it if a shortish cast was needed.
That's not really what i was getting at Scott :) I just wondered if Malcolm is raising the rod as the fly comes close in and then rolling it out. I suspect this is what he does.
Having said that, as I'm useless with a DH rod, then I would prefer to use the single hander anyway.
Alex
My bad! I stand by what i said then.... i'm scared of my double hander i think. It's a big, mean, far too powerful, line weilding device. It's a tool reserved for the distinguished real fishermen like Malcolm.
Alex,
I lift the rod then slowly sweep to the side - as you've seen me roll cast you'll know what I do - flip the line out and into the routine of working the line out. I actually wondered since then about chucking some of the slack line at my feet out in a series of spirals (like we talked about a couple of weeks ago in the context of drifting a downstream dry fly).
Malcolm
QuoteI actually wondered since then about chucking some of the slack line at my feet out in a series of spirals (like we talked about a couple of weeks ago in the context of drifting a downstream dry fly).
That might work quite well Malcolm. Think I'll try that on Sunday.
Alex
Fred..You are a big poof! Mrs Z is 5'1" and can swing a DH all day. She struggles with the SH because her wrists are not very strong and she can't get a good stop. however with a DH no strength is needed with good technique and all the strain is shared on both sides of the body. I have seen her fish down a pool on the Conon with MY 15" B+W Norway with a full sinker on and she was as consistent as you like.
It seems strange to me that you have spent all that money on rods and spent a lot of time on casting technique to just dismiss DH fishing as difficult for you. I prefer DH casting as a pastime. I like the movements and the rythymn. It is like a martial art in that respect.
Just not interested in it Ian. Like cricket I suppose. :D
Fred..I should be in Dyce next week so if you want to pick me up and take me to the river I will show you how to use it with both hands like a real man.
:D
What? A cricket bat? :D
Apparently a lot of the guys that fly-fish for pike in the baltic sea use switch rods, I'm not sure of the difference (if there is any). I have wondered about using DH rods for my pike fishing too but I have never used one before and I cant imagine how I would fish with it, are all double-hand casts "off the water" types, i.e. roll, spey casts etc? Theres a few places I fish where the extra reach would be useful.
Scott
Scott - they're mainly done using speys and rolls etc. But there is no reason you cannot cast over head, especially with a shorter DH rod. It can be done but it is a pain in the arse wielding it for overhead casting to be honest. I've messed about OH casting with mine, not for me!
Overhead casting with the DH is fine, until you get whacked on the back of the head with a three inch brass tube :roll: Not recommended :)
With ordinary lightweight flies it is easier.
I've skelped myself with big pike flies a good few times, I now fish for pike with my hood up 99% of the time! :lol:
Malcom,
I've not fished for pike in years, but did have success with smaller flies about 2-3" in leech, mouse and muddler patterns. My friend lived on a lake that had been "infested" and we would fish out of his drift boat, covering structure. Most of the time we could see them in heavy cover, reed beds, etc. Used a 9' long nine weight, WF floating line and 3-4 feet of 40# Maxima level leader. They weren't leader shy! Lost at least 1/2 due to cut leaders. Sure liked the take on a muddler or mouse chugged along the surface. This was on the Kenai in Alaska and pike are hated there as there is fear of them getting into the anadromous river systems. Further north around the Yukon and Kuskokwim rivers there are people who've developed pike fishing and there doesn't seem to be the same concern. They get fish into the 30# range there. We never weighed ours but I'd guess about 6-15 lbs was the range.
I'd think if your lakes have leech populations a 2-3" pattern would work for them; try a mousie around cover! Lot more fun than throwing the big junk.