Pike on the Fly - Tying the "bunny fly"

Spring is here! And with spring comes pike fishing.

Esox Lucius, the northern pike is one of Canada’s great game fish. And spring is the time for fly fisherman to target them. Pike spawn in the spring with most spawning in Alberta taking place underneath the ice or shortly after break up. Pike often remain in the shallows after spawning if the water temperature is warm, however, they may leave temporarily if the water is cool and return when water temperatures have warmed. This is when these fish are most accessible to the fly fisherman. And not only are they accessible, they’re hungry.

Pike can reach sizes of more than 30 lbs in Alberta. The larger pike (those exceeding 10 lbs) are all females. It’s critical that they are released.

Pike are aggressive, voracious feeders and will eat fish more than half their size. For this reason, many pike flies are quite large, often over 6 inches in length. The bunny fly is the single most effective pike fly I’ve ever used. It can be tied in a wide range of colors.

Below are the instructions and recipe.

Hook: 1/0-3/0 Saltwater Hook (Mustad 34007 or Daiichi 2546)

Thread: Flat Waxed Nylon

Tail: Magnum (1/4") Rabbit Strip

Flash: Use your imagination. Just don’t use too much.

Collar: Body Fur

Head/Eyes: Build up head with flat waxed nylon and epoxy eyes to complete fly.

1. Pinch barb
2. Place hook in vise ( yes, I know that’s obvious )
3. Attach thread and rap back to the bend of the hook
4. Tie on a 3" to7"rabbit strip tail
5. Attach a heavy monofilament loop on top of the rabbit tail extending past the bend (This helps the tail from fouling around the bend of the hook) the loop should be curving upwards.
6. Pull the tail up through the mono loop
7. Tie in some flash material on each side of the hook (i.e. krystal flash, polar flash, salt water flashabou)
8. Tie in and wrap forward some Body Fur to form a collar. Two colors can be used either one in front of the other or tied in and wrapped together to mix the two colors.
9. Attach eyes and epoxy to finish.