Fly Fishing Nation: Small Tributary

Small Tributary - Giant Pike
by Stephan Dombaj
feat.: Paulo Hoffmann

Let´s play a game! We call it down&dirty; in a short subsumption: Watch out for a troop of itinerant fishes that gather around some heavy cover (Carps preferred, but this game is equally dope if you find some big resting crackers ) which we call a street gang, get as close as you can, present your pattern, lower the tip of your rod to the watersurface, see the strike, nail it via flyline, close to dragsystem to "barely-justifyable" and hold it down - whatever it takes... hold it down and away from the cover (Rod tip under water)

Another piece of water we have never seen before - actually we came there because we have been told that this water holds several pretty descent size carps, which was absolutley correct - but it turned out that this tributary has a toothy secret. When I made my first cast it was quite clear for me that we should be trying to get some pikes lateron, but our first target was carp. GloBug Fly really is a serious carp killerfly - but sometimes it´s much more fun using quite unconventional patterns, such as crazy charlie or other saltwater-crap-pattern. First cast... first strike! Like it should be when your going for some down&dirty-action.

(Flyfishing Guerilla on tour)

(On Tour Pt.II)

(Item to go: Crazy Charlie - a Bonefish-fly)

(...First Hook-Up)

(Get It Down&Dirty)

(Yeah, Give It A Try Bitch!)

(Runner...)

(Turn Around - Force it...)

(...Landing)

(Decent Fish - Watch The Back)

(Nailed...)

(Paulo´s Turn - Down&Dirty)

(PT.II)

(Glo Bug!!!)

(Sweet Fish - Paulo did a great job)

!!!No it´s getting hot in here!!!

A small group of carps took a brake in the shade...easy cast - two times rodlenght. GloBug hit it just right. One fish turned and came closer...BANG. Holy cow - a big pike blasted forward and nailed the GloBug!!! Damnit!!!

(BANG - PIKE JUST NAILED THE GLOBUG RIGHT AWAY!!!)

"I like to get kissed before I get fucked!!!" - No time for kissing here! A good pike angrily shakes it´s head at the end of my 0,22 tippet - enjoy the moment as long as it lasts...

(Chucking Pike)

After a few minutes it came close to the shore... chucking up another pike and the fly popped out (No, it didn´t cut the line)!!! **** - Game Over!

Damnit, I knew it before... this place must be a perfect place for pike!!! But guess what? Time for bitchslapping way around! While Paulo prepared himself for another Carp-Crackdown I was in search for a pike that could fill up the hole of misfortune.

A small 25inch fish nailed the floating mouse right away from the surface but it got away when I touched the tippet. Anyway, I was in search for something way bigger than this...and I found it...or let´s say it found me. While the smaller fish was splashing on the surface, I saw a serious big pike moving along the shore. Big fish on first sight, for sure bigger than 40 inches... but I wasn´t ready, because I was - let´s say - attached to another pike...so I lost "contact"...

(Bobs Banger for big bangers)

(There it is...)

...but I found it again, resting in the shade of a half-submerged tree. MONEY SHOT! I ran back to Paulo who was busy with taking some pictures of itinerant carps...Within a few seconds I was done with rigging up the 7weight 12ft. Multi DH Rod for pike. To be true, a DH rod is in most cases not the right tool for pikefishing, but as shown in the following case it is sometimes not up to you to decide. You have a chance... use it or abuse it... Due to the fact that Pikes, especally bigger ones, have a very hard and boney mouth, you have to make sure that you set the hook properly! After the take, wait a second till the fish turns, then nail it via flyline and the buttsection of your rod...several times. As far as your equipment is concerned, make sure that it´s prepared for these harsh actions...needlesharp hooks, shocktippet and an appropriate steelwire or fluocarbontippet.(Toothy Secret Series coming soon on FlyFishingNation) But check out the following pictures...