Baitfish fry
Waters are warming up here which has braught the larger shoals of baitfish closer to shore and as I mentioned towards the end of last season I would spend the summer months fishing with much smaller flies than previous years through July and August. It's been interesting to note that inside the stomachs of the pike I've taken home for the table the last couple of weeks many have been filled with either tiny roach,sticklebacks and perch fry no longer than 2" inches in length. So I've downsized on my flies considerably as well. This fly is no longer than 3 inches, tied with some bucktail,craft fur and some dazzle grey flash caught me this fish last week.
Which in someways goes a long way to showing that these fish do change their eating habits here around the island no matter what size they are. I suppose its far more beneficial to gorge themselves twice a day by darting into large shoals of fry than targeting one larger fish every two days. Whether small fry are more nutritious with higher fat content than a larger prey sauce is a question I need answering. The sheer abundance of these slow moving shoals probably makes them an extremely easy food source, so it looks like the decission to use extremely small flies here during July & August is the way to approach pike on the fly here around the island.
Waters are warming up here which has braught the larger shoals of baitfish closer to shore and as I mentioned towards the end of last season I would spend the summer months fishing with much smaller flies than previous years through July and August. It's been interesting to note that inside the stomachs of the pike I've taken home for the table the last couple of weeks many have been filled with either tiny roach,sticklebacks and perch fry no longer than 2" inches in length. So I've downsized on my flies considerably as well. This fly is no longer than 3 inches, tied with some bucktail,craft fur and some dazzle grey flash caught me this fish last week.
Which in someways goes a long way to showing that these fish do change their eating habits here around the island no matter what size they are. I suppose its far more beneficial to gorge themselves twice a day by darting into large shoals of fry than targeting one larger fish every two days. Whether small fry are more nutritious with higher fat content than a larger prey sauce is a question I need answering. The sheer abundance of these slow moving shoals probably makes them an extremely easy food source, so it looks like the decission to use extremely small flies here during July & August is the way to approach pike on the fly here around the island.
Si,
ReplyDeleteSiounds like you've had a great year so far...glad to hear it!
I've spent the last 12 years fishing the same piece of the North Carolina, USA coast. With rare exceptions, I fish 2 to 4 inch baitfish pattern flies with the best size being 3".
Right now, our primary bait is about 2" in lenght and that is what the feeding fish are tuned into. An inch larger and they won't even look at it.
In another month, that bait size will be 3" and by Sempteber, 4".
On hundreds of occassions I have tested the size matters premise, that is with the fish, and found that 1 inch too large or small and you're out of the fish.
One of our favorite flies here isvery similar to the one you have posted here,the Big Eye tied with craft fur, the Clouser and one that I like but not used much these days, the Blonde.
Take Care,
John