Last seen clenched between the jaws of a 30" pike heading north in the Housatonic River.
I went to my favorite pike section of the Housy and found a few willing participants, including a thick 33"er that probably weighed 8 lbs or so (caught by non-ff means). I wanted to get one on the fly rod but they didn't seem interested in my frog diver. I kept going back to the spinning rod (just to search for fish :hihi: ) and caught a couple more nice pike and a multitude of perch and bluegills. I finally decided to try my firetiger pike diver (the prototype of the pattern I tied for the pike swap) and vowed keep using it until I at least got a hit. Well, I got a hit and then some! I casted to a patch of shade next to the bank, and on the first "sploosh" a nice pike hammered the fly from below, came completely out of the water and did a somersault before spitting the fly at my head and splashing back into the river :whoa: . I casted a few more times with no success and drifted downstream a bit. A few minutes later the wind pushed me back to the same area so I tried another cast. This time the pike slashed at the fly twice but missed both times. On the next cast the pike absolutely crushed the fly and stayed on the hook long enough for me to pull it up and get a look at it. I could see the head of the fly protruding from the side of its jaws so I thought I might actually land it, but on the next surge we parted company. I stuck around for a while hoping the fly might pop free and float to the surface but no such luck. Next time I'll use a heavier leader .
Q
I went to my favorite pike section of the Housy and found a few willing participants, including a thick 33"er that probably weighed 8 lbs or so (caught by non-ff means). I wanted to get one on the fly rod but they didn't seem interested in my frog diver. I kept going back to the spinning rod (just to search for fish :hihi: ) and caught a couple more nice pike and a multitude of perch and bluegills. I finally decided to try my firetiger pike diver (the prototype of the pattern I tied for the pike swap) and vowed keep using it until I at least got a hit. Well, I got a hit and then some! I casted to a patch of shade next to the bank, and on the first "sploosh" a nice pike hammered the fly from below, came completely out of the water and did a somersault before spitting the fly at my head and splashing back into the river :whoa: . I casted a few more times with no success and drifted downstream a bit. A few minutes later the wind pushed me back to the same area so I tried another cast. This time the pike slashed at the fly twice but missed both times. On the next cast the pike absolutely crushed the fly and stayed on the hook long enough for me to pull it up and get a look at it. I could see the head of the fly protruding from the side of its jaws so I thought I might actually land it, but on the next surge we parted company. I stuck around for a while hoping the fly might pop free and float to the surface but no such luck. Next time I'll use a heavier leader .
Q