If you want my opinion, I don’t think sticking a pair of eyes on a pike fly helps in anyway in improving your chances when trying to entice a pike into taking your fly. Yes they may look esthetically pleasing on the eye for a human and might give you peace of mind in giving it that authentic fish pattern look but on a whole I truly believe eyes on a fly are a waist of time. This I might add though is opposite when tying in or sticking on eyes for saltwater flies, purely because I feel saltwater species aren’t as easily fooled due to the clearer water conditions you are fishing in. At first I only bought flies with eyes on them, and then moved on to tying them with eyes, but it didn’t take me long before I realized that they just don’t last long enough before they get ripped of under the constant thrashing a pike undertakes once it realizes its hooked. .…….. that’s unless you place them under a resin coating off course!
I’ll go out on a limb here and say that I have actually caught more pike on the flies that no longer have eyes on the sides of them or have never had eyes, than when they did. Not only that, but I just feel I could spend my money more wisely than on a packet of eyes. 80% of all the creations you tie anyway, look nothing like a fish, especially if you have mixed an assortment of bright and gaudy colours along the shaft of the hook. Yes some eyes on the market seem to slightly rattle once shaken, but It’s the volume of the materials you have tied on to the hook that pulsates during the retrieval of that fly that attracts the pike to it. These pulsations and waves have a far greater effect on a pikes sensors than any faint rattle given of by some small plastic imitation eyes. These are only observations I have come across over the last ten years, and I’m not suggesting you stop placing eyes on your flies, but why not try tying up some that would normally have eyes without, and find out for yourself that the money you spend on them could probably be put to better use…..like another bobbin of cotton!
If you want my opinion, I don’t think sticking a pair of eyes on a pike fly helps in anyway in improving your chances when trying to entice a pike into taking your fly. Yes they may look esthetically pleasing on the eye for a human and might give you peace of mind in giving it that authentic fish pattern look but on a whole I truly believe eyes on a fly are a waist of time. This I might add though is opposite when tying in or sticking on eyes for saltwater flies, purely because I feel saltwater species aren’t as easily fooled due to the clearer water conditions you are fishing in. At first I only bought flies with eyes on them, and then moved on to tying them with eyes, but it didn’t take me long before I realized that they just don’t last long enough before they get ripped of under the constant thrashing a pike undertakes once it realizes its hooked. .…….. that’s unless you place them under a resin coating off course!
1 comments:
Interesting observations... I too have caught pike on flies with no eyes... However, as I've turned it(tying) into a secondary hobby I have started putting eyes on... Why? Aesthetics admittedly, but also for that extra little sparkle that 3D eyes can give or a rattle with those eyes that move... Yup totally unnecessary but it just finishes off the fly!
Can't wait 'til you have a thaw and start catching green slabs... that'll make me jealous!
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