Fly fishing for Pike advice - Toronto Islands

[badboi]

Hi all,

 

just curious...anyone fly fish for pike at the Toronto Islands?

 

What weight rod would you suggest + type of line...?

 

I have only fly fished for rainbows in BC so pike is a totally different beast, literally

 

What flies, dries or wet? colours? proven patterns?

 

thanks for any suggestions, also when is the earliest I can target them?

 

thanks

[fishing n autograph]

Hi all,

 

just curious...anyone fly fish for pike at the Toronto Islands?

 

What weight rod would you suggest + type of line...?

 

I have only fly fished for rainbows in BC so pike is a totally different beast, literally

 

What flies, dries or wet? colours? proven patterns?

 

thanks for any suggestions, also when is the earliest I can target them?

 

thanks

 

For pike, you're looking at a 9 weight or more rod...you'll need a wire leader the most common brand is called toothy critter....you'll want to look for large baitfish immitations, go to Wilson's in Toronto and you'll be able to pick some up, or you can tie some deceivers or other patters, and you'll want to fish them subsurface....

[MJL]

I used to take my fly rod to the islands a few times a year. Haven't done it for about 4 years but it was fun provided the wind wasn't too bad. Didn't catch any really big ones though - mostly under 5lbs. I used an 8wt Sage XP matched with an old pike taper fly line my friend gave me (Think it was made by Scientific Anglers) and used flies like Deceivers, clouser minnows and polar fibre minnows. At the islands, watch out for trees and pedestrians behind you.LOL

 

Here are some of my flies for my pike fishing

 

 

 

 

[purekgw]

i have never fished it but i would try out a large rabbit hair leech

[highdrifter]

You could get by with an 8w... Bunny leeches, clousers, deceivers will work, when only when the fish are really hungry and arn't skittish..

 

I'll be there again in the spring. Maybe we'll bump into eachother dude!

 

Tight loops

HD

[badboi]

Awesome guys!

 

im excited now....!!

 

ya, im not really picky, anything that bites will be enough excitement from me

 

I do really like dry fly fishing tho... any luck with surface flies?

 

Oh ya, one question, if you have a tapered sinking line and add a wire leader won't that make the weight all weird for casting..?

 

thanks again

[MJL]

I’ve tried using floating poppers for pike a couple times but never caught any. My friends set me up with a floating line + 6-8’ of 12-15lb mono + 20lb wire leader that you could actually tie knots with (Cortland I think) + fly and it worked OK when the fish were shallow. Never tried a sinking line for them before.

 

In general casting wasn’t pretty and on more than 1 occasion I did nail myself in the head with a clouser minnow…Opening up the loop when casting big or heavy flies really helps to prevent that from happening. LOL