How a mutli-pronged approach can help you cover water to find active pike in a hurry, yet still have the needed finesse when you encounter those stubborn pike
Written by Andrew Marr
The whole concept of the one-two punch is simple, choose a style of bait that is often described as power fishing and back it up with a slower more finesse system. Fish fast and cover water with aggressive, quick moving baits, locate the fish, catch the active ones, slow down then catch the rest and repeat, simple and effective! This simple and time proven approach is a great way to quickly find pike and catch them.
In my work as a fishing guide who’s focus is on trophy pike, I often employ the one-two punch with both fly and conventional anglers alike. With conventional anglers it is simple, snap on an in-line spinner or other faster moving bait and back it up with a weightless soft plastic or spin-fly. The same approach applies to fly selection, pick one that fishes well at a fast pace, backed up with a suspending or slow sinking fly. Choice of flies in my guide boat often consist of whistlers, baitfish or deceivers to cover water quickly, backed up with a weightless bunny leech, Northern magic or even a large monster magic if they are responding well to larger presentations.
Some days after a major weather event or change in wind direction, fishing guides can realize early in the day that the pike have switched up what they were doing from the day before, the pike locations have changed and moved. If clouds roll in and the ability of visually spotting pike becomes limited, it can quickly turn into a search mission where flies rather than eyes become the search tool. Using the flies suggested to name but a few options, for the search phase allows maximum water coverage at the quickest pace. Ideally, working away in this fashion targeting likely pike locations will yield results. The pike are eventually located and they respond positively by eating the fly. When this is the case the secondary finesse fly may see little use as the pike are responding well to aggressive tactics. It often pays to stay aggressive and keep catching pike only slowing down when the pike do. Sometimes in these situations a large pike may eventually be spotted or turn away from the search fly, an immediate switch to the finesse fly, coupled with an accurate cast can often result in catching that specific fish. Other times the aggressive search phase may only result in lazy follows, which at times is discouraging, but can still be viewed in a positive frame as it may be enough to give away pike the location, allowing the angler to adjust to the slower secondary fly. At this point slow down and focus your effort on the smaller more specific area you have found. Finding the pike is the first goal, if you do but the pike appear to have a negative to neutral mood, slow down. Saturate the area with casts and slow down the presentation allowing the pike time to slowly find, come to and eat the fly.
Another scenario is when you have utilized the search process and located a large pod of pike, you catch a number of them from an area but the bite slows down. It can be tempting to just pick up and search out the next holding area, but as the saying goes it doesn’t pay to leave fish to find fish! If you find yourself in this situation, it can be very worthwhile again to simply slow down, as you may have simply caught the most active fish but there could still be twice as many fish remaining in the area. The remaining pike may just feeling a bit lazy and don’t want to chase down a meal. Under these conditions I have helped many truly giant pike have their pictures taken, just putting in the extra time to thoroughly work the area with the finesse fly, rather than zooming off to the next spot. Simply giving up after the initial wave of bites is over and heading to a new area, as fast as possible can really leave an overlooked opportunity to catch a few more pike before moving on. It’s tempting to stick with a run and gun approach at times and only try catching the most active pike. Putting a little extra time in on spots you know are holding fish can be well worth it!
It is important having two rods rigged and ready to be switched out at the drop of a hat. As a guide I will often hold the second finesse rigged rod with some fly line spooled off, ready to be cast when a guests needs it. Keeping a second rod close and ready, can be hugely beneficial if room allows . If I am lucky enough to spot a larger lethargic fish or have a refusal on the search fly from a big pike, I will instantly swap rods with my guest. A quick hand off for an immediate cast back, allows the opportunity to capitalize on what can be a very quickly closing window. Any delay or hesitation can result in missed chances, being prepared can pay huge dividends over time. Another tip for preparedness is when, for example, a weightless bunny leech is the secondary fly. I will take the fly and submerge it in the water, really working it in my hands, getting the hide to absorb the water. This ensures it is ready to go long before a need to cast it arises. If you leave the second fly dry, it may not be ready to go right when you need it, depending on the fiber material. No one wants to cast a dry bunny leech at a large pike only for it to just float on the surface, blowing the opportunity. Keep those back up flies wet and ready to go!
This plan of approach can produce different results on any given day. One day the search fly may produce well, and the finesse fly is only used to pick off the odd straggler here and there. The day next you might lean on the finesse fly for longer periods and use it to catch the majority. I have experienced many spring days when water temps are colder in the morning, clouds are present and the pike haven’t gone shallow yet. Success often comes from fishing the outer edges of a bay, or the deeper middle sections with the search fly. By the afternoon, water temperature in the shallows can start to climb or the sun breaks through and big pike start sliding up on sand flats, to warm their core temperature and speed up digestion. I recall one such spring trip with a guest where this was case, for 4 days straight we would experience ok results in the morning with the search fly, out a little deeper. We were catching pike, just no particularly big fish were being caught. Every time I would slide the boat shallower to check the shallows they remained mostly empty. Each day though by late afternoon the shallows would warm, again I would slide the boat shallow where it suddenly seemed all the big pike had finally shown up. When we would get limited response with the search flies the finesse flies came alive. We would scan the shallows, looking for pike basking in the afternoon sun, spot a big pike, lead it with a bunny leech and slowly but surely the pike would almost imperceptibly close in and gently suck the fly in. Over the course of 4 days, my guest caught several over 40″, every one coming after 4pm on the finesse fly. Many nice fish were caught each morning but by being prepared to adjust over the course of each day helped us be successful. Implementing the one-two punch for big pike on the fly can play out differently from one day to the next but when you set out willing to rely on this program you are setting yourself up for success whatever conditions your presented with!
The one two punch for saving energy to fish all day:
My guide client base consists of a wide range of age groups, ranging from young kids on their first fishing trip with their dad’s who want to learn to fly fish for the first time. Some guests are longtime repeat guests returning for their annual trip. Several of the returning guests, some with over 20 years of returns trips under their belts, started out as novice conventional anglers who, over time though have grown into dedicated fly anglers. Other guests are passionate fly anglers but have physical limitations, making it challenging to cast a fly rod all day or under more extreme weather condition’s.
Within the various groups of anglers, it is becoming more and more common that anglers want to balance out their day and desire to catch big pike on the fly, while trying to avoid the extra effort and soreness associated with casting a fly rod all day long . We do this by incorporating a spinning rod into their program. Doing so allows my guest and I to still incorporate the one-two punch approach in our daily routine. Using a lighter spinning rod which is less physically demanding, they are able to still help me, their guide, quickly search larger areas, breaking them down quicker to find where the pike are holding each day. As we search for pike with the spinning rod, the fly rod is always ready and rigged up with a finesse fly attached and ready.
If we do end up in the thick of it, finding ourselves amongst a bigger pod of pike, we are able to slow down and pick them apart with the fly. If we spot a big lazy pike that doesn’t want to give chase, we simply switch to the finesse fly. Doing this has allowed anglers to fish all day, who otherwise would be incapable of casting a fly rod the entire time. Some guests have said in previous years they only wanted to fly fish, as much as possible, but have now fully adopted this split style approach with great success. At the end of a four day trip the physical impact can be noticeably less, guests joints and back aren’t as stiff allowing them to keep going strong, while still getting the reward of catching some big pike on the fly.
The one two punch with two anglers:
In my personal fishing with friends and sometimes while guiding I have utilized the idea of the one-two punch in another way. While fishing a friend I was often the one driving the boat, growing up fishing out of a small aluminum with a 15hp outboard and no trolling motor, I was forced to get creative at times. One very successful approach was for my friend to stay in the bow of the boat, casting the spinning rod to quickly search out the pike. In the mean time I would have one hand on the tiller controlling the boat, keeping my partner in casting position, while moving along shorelines or weed beds. The whole time I would have a fly rod in my hand, ready to cast at the drop of a hat! I would only cast once a fish was spotted or followed my friends bait as the emphasis was to maintain quality boat control.
This approach is not unlike guiding a solo guest where again, the tiller is in one hand and a fly rod, ready to swap for my guest is in the other. For a couple of young anglers guiding themselves this was a very successful line of attack. We could cover water fast with the fly angler picking off the fish the angler in the front raised or missed. Even though the angler/pilot doesn’t get near as many casts in, they were always high quality casts as they were almost always aimed at fish. It wasn’t uncommon that by days end the driver would have caught the biggest pike but made only a few casts to do so. With two anglers plus a guide the system can remain the same, power fisherman up front, finesse angler ready right behind, guide on the tiller. This is just another very simple way to utilize the cover water quickly approach in conjunction with a slower follow up fly.
Hopefully on your next pike adventure your able to utilize the one-two punch to create your own on the water success regardless, of what mood or location the pike are in!
