Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Grayling and pike

OK you last two guys...what KIND of Mono for leaders?

Ive only tried it twice...80 Lb. " Hard" mono made for tarpon leaders. The second one set the longevity record for lasting six seconds....

Maxima Chameleon 20# doubled is my standard...

Thanx...will give that a try...

I can get away with 50 flouro mono for leaders 90% of the time when pike/ musky fishing. Still have the occasional bite off. The mono hook-up ratio vs steel leader is much higher on pressured water and can sometimes make a big difference.

I think pike is just as good as walleye if caught in cold water

I�m wid ya on da flyfishing for dem pike! And the shore lunch.

Learnt my lesson many years ago on a backcountry canoe trip in Ontario, when my casting rod broke and all I had left was a fly rod.
The pike were running small anyways, but what fun!

Old Norwegian joke.

Can I flyfish when we get back into that lake?

Ya sonny, you can fly vat ever you vant back into dat lake.

don't forget jaw spreaders

A few favorite pike lures. Catching on top the most fun






This lure won a fishing contest with brother and his buddy. Landed 62 pike in one afternoon on it

Used this one a lot for sub-surface. Ended up getting the pattern from a fly swap a while ago. Turned out to be one of my favorites.

Articulated rainbow:


They seem to eat everything when you get remote though. After snacking on some peanuts and throwing the shells off the side of the boat we kept hearing splashes. Thus the nut popper was born

Tom,

I use some hard-finish 30-pound mono, can't even remember the brand. Made up a bunch of leaders a while back and still have some. Can't absolutely say I've never had one come apart, but can't remember when it did. I

Another vote for that.

Thanks JB..we may have to discuss this further over adult beverages...

Sounds like a plan!

Mason makes a hard mono. Also good. A bit more difficult when making knots because of its hardness

Mason is very hard to find most of the time... Maxima is everywhere...

Halibut circle hook welded to a license plate has crossed my mind for lunkers.

I found them a little difficult to cast on a fly rod...

Practice, you swatter, you.

Dean, if your fishing with a spinning outfit bring along some small Mepps spinners and I mean SMALL as grayling have small mouths.

On my last float hunt, I brought along a small packable fly rod with some tiny little brown and gray flies (cannot remember what they were called) and I didn't have much trouble catching them. From what i've seen and experienced, once a grayling hits your fly, the rest will follow suit. As for eating, grayling are delicious if you use enough seasoning and you'll want to eat them right away, don't save them for later because they will get soft and mushy. I've cooked them in beer before and they were very good, butter is better though. Bring along a shaker of mixed seasonings like, salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder, cayene (if you like spicey), oregano, parsley, and whatever other spices you prefer.

As for pike, I;ve found that when they are hungry, they will bite just about anything. I use to fish Minto Flats every summer when I lived in NP and catching pike was never a problem, it was catching the BIG pike that was a bit diffcult. And pike are excellent eating except for those pesky Y-bones.

Y-bones are not a problem if you know how to remove them. I find taking them and the reasonably-sized ribs out of northerns much less of a pain than taking the steel-girder sized ribs out of walleye. (And then you have the epiplurals to deal with in walleyes as well.)

There is a video on YOUTUBE demonstrating how to remove the Y-bones from Northern Pike.