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  When starting off fly-fishing for pike, apart from the basic tackle requirements such as a rod, reel and line; most people will then go on to choose a selection of flies for the job. Whether its a popper for stripping back across the top of a weed-bed, or a baitfish pattern twitched and pulled along the contours of the lake floor. All very good. After all without this you wouldn’t be able to go fishing. But it seems to be the terminal end that tends to let a lot of anglers down. Probably overlooked as boring and irrelevant- but it is the thing that keeps the catch of a lifetime, attached to the end of your rod.

  You can use tried and tested things over the years. When first starting my pike fly-fishing career I hadn’t much idea. You can use a level sea-fishing line as leader, with a traditional spinning trace attached. Combined with an oversized and overdressed mess wrapped around a 6/0 hook, things were looking bad from the start. It’s not the easiest thing in the world trying to cast a large wet pike fly. But the idea is to make things as easy a possible, and enjoy the days fishing instead of struggling.
You can use these pike fishing tips to look at the best ways of compiling the terminal end. Firstly to make the casting easier, and then to find the best trace material that didn’t hinder both casting and fly presentation. The first thing was weight. Unlike a spinning rod that actually casts out the lure, a fly rod is designed to cast the line. The fly that is attached is simply coming along for the ride. So the heavier the fly that the line has to pull behind it, the more awkward the casting. Often known in the game as a ‘chuck n duck’ cast. The best flies to cast are light and airy. Tied to give the illusion of size and bulk, and made up from materials that help to shed water whilst casting and have plenty of movement when been fished. But it is the part in between the flyline and fly leader that is most often overlooked.
  There are plenty of purpose made pike leaders available on today’s market. I always make sure I use a tapered leader. The advantage of this is the energy transfer to the fly. Quite simple to construct. You usually start with a four feet length of 35lb fluorocarbon, and step down the breaking strain to 20lb. I like the leader to be as short as my fishing allows. Usually between about 8 and 10’ in length, with the trace tied direct of about 18”. You can try using a mono trace. Using a length of 40lb hard saltwater monofilament to which the fly was attached. The advantage was that the use of snap-link and swivel could be eradicated, and fly and leader could be attached direct. Casting became so much easier, as the swivel and snap-link would often hinge during the cast. Through out, the mono trace held out quite well. Very abrasion resistant, and durable. Remember a pike can bite right through the mono. It is better to use wire instead.

  Presentation when it comes to fly-fishing for pike isn’t  that important.  It has to be right. But it’s not so important as when flicking a small dry fly to a wary brown trout.  It was common to use 80lb braid, with a solid steel wire trace. Once the pike had locked onto its target, it didn’t seem to worry about the trace or line. So don't worry about using wire whilst fly-fishing for pike. The only problem was connection. Today there are purpose made trace materials designed to be supple and tie direct to the leader and fly. American Fishing Wire, produce a massive range of trace materials designed for fly-fishing. Also Angler-Pro, produce Pro-Leader which is another excellent trace material. Some are very supple wires, which tie direct and others are made up of a braided core, coated in strands of steel wire. The knots that you can use for attachment is the double grinner for making up tapered leaders and attaching the trace, and a half blood knot for attaching fly to trace.
So as you can see, even though casting an 8-inch water logged pike fly can be hard at times. It can be made easier by compiling the correct terminal parts of the set up. There’s nothing more frustrating than seeing a hungry pike smashing into baitfish about 5’ further out than you can reach with a cast. At least if everything is correct in your set-up you will have a better chance of reaching the pike!