Fly fishing for pike? These are the best pre-made and DIY leaders

In many ways, we are in a golden age of fly fishing for northern pike. For those of us who’ve had the thrill of landing these gators on a fly rod, it’s hard to believe fly purists once looked down on northerns as unworthy of pursuit. As the pike’s reputation was rehabilitated, tackle companies also took note and started creating specialty gear for delivering big flies to these cool-water predators. And the most dramatic improvements have been in leaders.

Fly fishing for the toothiest gamefish in Canadian waters requires a bite tippet—a stretch of tough material at the end of the leader to prevent bite-offs. Before recent innovations, however, they usually weren’t commercially available, and creating one was often vexing. You had to track down 60- or 80-pound mono or some kind of thin, strong wire, then use complex specialty knots or twist the wire strands together and melt the plastic coating. In short, you had to really want to fly fish for pike. Today, however, most tackle shops sell pre-made pike and muskie leaders with bite tippets, as well as the proper materials to make your own.

PRE-MADE LEADERS

For those not inclined to fuss with making their own pike leaders, there are some good commercially available options. I’ve used both Rio Products’ Pike/Musky and Toothy Critter Leaders and Scientific Anglers’ Absolute Predator Esox (above), and they worked perfectly. They have six to eight feet of tapered mono, with 12 inches of nylon-coated steel wire factory-knotted to the end. Some have wire crimps to attach the fly, while the others have either a small snap or flexible wire for tying.

There are a couple of drawbacks to such leaders, however. For one, they cost about $10 apiece. And suppose you use up your supply of leaders during a fishing trip? I’ve never had one break, but I’ve lost them on snags. With that in mind, it’s handy to be able to make your own.

DIY LEADERS

The key to making your own pike leaders is tieable wire. No single innovation has made fly-fishing for pike more accessible and straightforward than this incredible wire. Strong and thin, this plastic-coasted wire is supple enough that you can tie standard fishing knots with it. I’ve used most of the tieable wires commercially available and, to date, my favourites are AFW’s Surflon Micro Supreme  and Rio’s Powerflex Wire Bite Tippet (all above). The wire comes in a variety of sizes, but I mostly use 20 pound, which is about as thick and flexible as 10-pound mono. And it costs between $15 and $20 for a 15-foot spool, enough for at least 10 bite tippets.

My standard pike leader is four to six feet of monofilament, between 15- and 30-pound test. I go up in size for larger fish, bigger flies and on windy days. With a sinking line, I shorten the leader to about 30 inches. Then I use a double surgeon’s knot or paired uni-knots to tie on about a foot of wire, to which I tie on a small, high-quality snap, using a uni-knot or a clinch knot. If you’re not totally confident of you knots, put a drop of superglue or UV glue on them. I used to do this, but don’t bother any more. Tapering from heavier to lighter mono is not required, and extra knots offer just another place for a leader to fail. And I have seen various other types of pike leaders fail under pressure, but after 10 years of seriously targeting pike on the fly, I have never had one of my simple DIY set-ups break.

SNAP TO IT

I almost always use a small, premium-quality snap (above) instead of tying the fly directly to the wire. Although tying knots with soft wire is a breeze, changing flies with a snap is even faster. Plus, every time you snip off a fly and retie, you lose a few inches of wire. I also find that big streamer flies move  better in the water when not tied on directly. Just be sure to use snap rated for the size of fish you’re after, and don’t cheap out. More than once over the years, I’ve seen anglers using $1000 worth of gear (sometimes on a $5000 trip), lose fish thanks to a 75-cent clip, when a two-dollar one would’ve held.

Here’s another interesting thing about plastic-coated tieable wire: as toothy critters chomp ’em, some of the coating gets scraped away, causing the wire to pigtail at the end. You’ll eventually have to retie, but don’t be in a rush. The resulting springiness gives the fly an unpredictable wobble at the beginning and end of each strip. And sometimes, that’s just what it takes to turn on the predatory instincts of a lazy spring pike.

Scott Gardner is Outdoor Canada’s associate editor and fly-fishing columnist.