Now that the winter is over and the fishing season has started, it is time to get out our gear and head off to our favourite fishing hole. The goal for this trip is to catch pike and walleye on a fly.

At this time of year these fish are generally found in the shallower water near shore or in and around the mouths of feeder creeks, which are ideal locations for us to start our fly fishing season.

For this outing the rod and line combination I would recommend would be an eight or nine weight system, nine to ten feet long, with a floating line. When fishing for toothy predators like the pike, the tapered leader should be seven and one half to nine feet long, eight to ten pound test, with either an eighteen inch length of forty to sixty pound test mono or a fine wire tippet. For walleye on the other hand, a standard tapered six or eight pound, seven and one half leader is all that will be required.

While fly fishing for either pike or walleye I would recommend the use of a subsurface fly such as deep diving minnow, a mickey fin, black nose dace or a muddler minnow. These flys can range in size from 1/0 to size 6. Good results for Pike can also be achieved using large deerhair bugs, similar to the divers and poppers used for bass.

When fishing from a boat or float tube, concentrate your efforts on a 40° angle towards the shore. This will allow you to thoroughly cover the target zone, existing primarily within a good cast of the shore this early in the season. Although pike are notoriously aggressive, sometimes repeated casts to a likely spot will be required to provoke strikes from pike or the less aggressive walleye that may be present.

If you are fishing with streamers, cast out and let the fly sink for about three to four feet then strip the line back in short jerks, varying your retrieve with each cast. To fish deerhair bugs, cast them out and let them sit on the surface for a few seconds before you start to retrieve them. Strip in about two feet of line, then let them sit on the surface. Do this several times before you cast again. Be prepared for a violent strike at all times.

The deep diving minnow is fished in the same way you would fish streamers with the addition of a pause after each strip to let the minnow sink. This imitation minnow will swim with the hook point up making it weedless and allowing you to bounce the bottom.

The Deep Diving Minnow

Hook: Mustad 9672 or 79580, size 2 to 6

Thread: Black 3/0

Eyes: Lead barbell type, painted to suit

Wing: White bucktail on top of the hook, yellow and brown on the underside of the hook

Note: Add your personal touch by changing wing colour to white-red-brown, white-orange-brown or yellow-orange-brown, etc.

Before going out on the water, how about tying up a few deep diving minnows to replenish your fly box. Just follow the steps below and you will be able to add that personal touch to your fly collection.

Steps For Tying The Deep Diving Minnow Pattern

Step 1: Place a hook in the vice and tie on the thread 1/4 of an inch behind the eye.

Step 2: Tie on a set of barbell eyes at the thread tie in point, on top of the hook shank with a figure 8 wrap. After the eyes are tied on, give the thread a good coat of head cement. This will help to hold the eyes in place.

Step 3: Take a small bunch of white deertail and tie in front of the barbell eyes. Tie hair end down from the eye of the hook, back to the barbell eyes. Place two to three wraps of thread behind the eyes. Again give the hair and thread a good coat of head cement.

Step 4: Turn the hook over in the vice and tie on a small bunch of yellow bucktail so that the tips extend past the tips of the white by about a 1/4 of an inch. The thread wraps should only be in front of the barbel} eyes.

Step 5: Take a small bunch of brown bucktail and tie in as outlined in step 4.

Step 6: Wrap a neat head, whip finish and coat head with a good coat of head cement.

A good location to use the deep diving minnow is below a set of rapids. Here you would cast across the river and let the fly swing down into the pool below.

When the fly is directly down stream from you start your retrieve

Limit your first cast to approximately fifteen feet. To cover all of the water in this area, lengthen your line by one to three feet with each cast.

Now that we have covered where and how to fish, our gear is already and our fly box has been replenished - It is time to be "Just Fishing". 

Reprinted with permission from the pages of "Just Fishing" with 'Big' Jim McLaughlin.

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