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 Post subject: pike...almost
PostPosted: Tue Jul 03, 2018 3:57 pm • # 1 
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Joined: 04/04/18
Posts: 211
Location: Idaho
Fishing my 7.5' 0wt the other day for crappie and sunfish, I managed to hook up to a respectable northern pike, probably 8-9 lbs. It took a size 8 mess of a rubber leg olive wooley bugger at 5' deep about 20' from shore. I think that was the first time my UL rod has been truly outclassed, at least in my hands. First I assumed I'd just caught another snag because there was no movement when I put a good bend in the rod, but then there was the slightest pull back and I was trying to decide if I was just imagining things when she made a run. It was about all I could do to keep any bend in the rod at all while desperately trying to palm my old spring & pawl reel to keep it from freespooling. She made a couple of those, and then headed back towards me while I couldn't reel fast enough to keep slack out of the line. Stripping in like crazy, she surfaced about six feet from the boat and looked at me. She must not have liked what she saw, because she dove and raced off again. Unfortunately with all the direction changes and my jumping around trying to keep her from getting under the anchor rope, and the frantic stripping I had managed to wrap some fly line around my ankle. I slipped line until it came tight and I realized it was caught on me, but no time to fix it. With the rod pointed right at her and no ability to give line she popped the tippet knot instantly and cruised away with my fly.

There isn't anything quite like a big fish to expose gaping flaws in your fish handling skill. It turns out too that I wasn't quick enough palming the reel on one of the runs, because it had freespooled and there was a birdsnest on the reel that would have probably broke her off on the next run if I hadn't done it already. Still, a fun minute or two while she was on there. The kind of stuff that keeps you coming back...


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 Post subject: Re: pike...almost
PostPosted: Tue Jul 03, 2018 5:20 pm • # 2 
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Joined: 12/29/12
Posts: 1835
Location: Rusagonis, New Brunswick, Canada
Man, that must have been an exciting few minutes! I'd say you did pretty well, given that the fish was about 10X the weight of the fish you were fishing for, and I expect the drag on your reel with the 0 wt line wasn't designed to slow down a torpedo. Its amazing what a fly line can get wrapped around in a boat. Paddles, fishermen, seats, coolers, you name it.
brent


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 Post subject: Re: pike...almost
PostPosted: Tue Jul 03, 2018 11:07 pm • # 3 
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Joined: 08/31/15
Posts: 1042
Location: Coppell, TX
I could picture it as I was reading; thanks for the post.


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 Post subject: Re: pike...almost
PostPosted: Wed Jul 04, 2018 10:00 am • # 4 
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Joined: 04/04/18
Posts: 211
Location: Idaho
Thanks, I mostly just needed to complain to people who would understand :applause
I'll likely get another chance at a pike before too long on the UL, the 5-7lbers are common by-catch around these parts though they usually are looking for bigger food. It did cause me to realize that the pawl drag is not strong enough to prevent backlash if the line gets pulled quickly. I may have to upgrade to one that had adjustment, or use a disc drag. It did make such a really fun sound though.


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 Post subject: Re: pike...almost
PostPosted: Wed Jul 04, 2018 10:42 am • # 5 
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Joined: 07/10/09
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Location: Plano Texas
Sounds like a wild ride for a short time,enjoyed thr account.


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 Post subject: Re: pike...almost
PostPosted: Mon Jul 16, 2018 5:05 pm • # 6 
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Posts: 936
Location: Southwest Florida
Next time!


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 Post subject: Re: pike...almost
PostPosted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 3:00 pm • # 7 
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Joined: 08/27/15
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Location: New Jersey
Exciting!


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 Post subject: Re: pike...almost
PostPosted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 5:28 pm • # 8 
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Joined: 04/04/18
Posts: 211
Location: Idaho
strummer wrote:
Next time!


Indeed I hope to get another shot at it, they're regular bycatch around here. Still haven't managed to land one on fly tackle though.


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