Pike Flies for Every Presentation
Pike are not subtle fish. They eat mice. They eat frogs. They hit a Clouser Minnow, a weighted streamer fly that rides hook-point-up and swims just below the surface, hard and without warning. Pike fly selection depends on water depth, light conditions, and feeding aggression: surface patterns produce in low light and shallow cover, and subsurface flies take over when pike push off the top in midday heat. This collection covers the full presentation range for pike: surface poppers, mid-water divers, and subsurface streamers. Each pattern is priced below what most fly shops charge for equivalent hand-tied hooks.
- Top Water Deer Hair Assortment: Six size 2 topwater flies covering 4 surface styles in one pack: a mouse, a frog popper, a deer hair diver, and a deer hair bass bug. All tied from hollow deer hair, which floats without flotant gel, the paste or spray you'd normally need to keep a fly riding on the surface. $25.00 (marked down from $28.75), or $4.17 per fly. 15 reviews.
- Deer Hair Mouse: Size 2, 2 flies per pack. A surface pattern tied with a full hollow deer hair body that displaces water on each twitch and stays afloat between pauses. $13.50 (marked down from $18.50), or $6.75 per fly. 14 reviews.
- Deer Hair Frog Popper: Size 2, green frog, 2 flies per pack. A surface fly built with a cupped popper face and a hollow deer hair body tied to mimic a frog profile. The cupped face creates a hard pop and surface splash on each strip. $13.50 (marked down from $18.50). 11 reviews.
- Clouser Minnow: Size 8, chartreuse, 6 flies per pack. A subsurface fly tied with bucktail, a dense hair that sinks when wet, and bead-chain eyes that add weight and flip the hook to ride point-up on the retrieve. That hook orientation lets you strip through weeds without fouling the hook. Chartreuse is the strongest visibility color in stained or murky water. $13.20 (marked down from $18.20), or $2.20 per fly. 4 reviews.
- Large EP Fly Assortment: 12 flies, includes a carry fly suitcase. Large baitfish patterns tied with EP fiber, a synthetic material designed by tyer Enrico Puglisi that absorbs far less water than bucktail and stays lighter on the cast even after an hour on the water. Holds its profile after repeated pike strikes. $54.00 (marked down from $65.00), or $4.50 per fly.
Which Pike Fly Is Right for You?
If you're new to fly fishing for pike and you're not sure where to start, the Top Water Deer Hair Fly Assortment is the right first pick. It gives you 4 different surface presentations in one pack, so you can test what the fish respond to before committing to individual patterns.
Northern pike hold in heavy cover like weeds, reeds, and fallen timber and ambush prey from a standstill. These same patterns also take largemouth bass in the same water.
If you already know your water and your target, here's how to narrow it down:
- You fish weedy, shallow water and want to see the strike: Reach for the Deer Hair Frog Popper. Pike in slow, weedy water key in on frog profiles near the surface. The strike is visual and violent, which is most of the reason people fly fish for pike.
- You fish at dawn or dusk, or anywhere near marsh grass and reeds: The Deer Hair Mouse is built for low-light conditions and heavy cover. Pike hold tight to structure at the edges of the day, and a slow-moving surface mouse is one of the few presentations that pulls them out of it.
- The fish are below the surface or the sun is high: Switch to the Clouser Minnow. Once pike drop off the surface in bright conditions, a fast strip through the water column puts your fly in front of fish that have stopped responding to topwater presentations.
- You fish both freshwater and saltwater, or you're targeting trophy-sized pike: The Large EP Fly Assortment covers both. The larger pattern size matches the forage that big pike key on, and the materials hold up in saltwater conditions that break down natural-fiber flies faster.
What Pike Flies Cost at a Shop vs. Here
Most fly shops stock deer hair pike patterns at $5.50 to $8.00 each. Clouser Minnows typically run $3.50 to $5.00 each at retail. Larger EP baitfish patterns go for $6.00 to $9.00 each, and that is before you spend 20 minutes at the counter waiting for someone to pull them out of the display case.
Wild Water's pike flies run $2.20 to $6.75 per fly depending on the pattern, compared to $3.50 to $9.00 for the same flies individually at most shops. The Clouser Minnow 6-pack is the sharpest example: $13.20 for 6 flies at $2.20 each, versus $3.50 to $5.00 per fly at retail. That is up to $17 back in your pocket on a single pack, shipped free to your door.
Fly tying is a great skill to build over time. Tying a deer hair popper from scratch takes a beginner 45 to 60 minutes per fly, plus the cost of deer hair, hooks, thread, and head cement. These show up ready to fish.
Still Deciding?
Call us at 585-967-3474. Wild Water has helped anglers get into pike fly fishing since 2006, and we're happy to talk through gear, fly selection, or anything else before you buy.