The last 3 years a lot of gear went trough my hands and I can say I found for me the ultimate gear fishing for pike, especially also or fishing on Rügen. And in case you likes what I have showed so far and you are ready to start into your own adventure let me explain what you should bring along with you.

The Rod. Although most thought being the most important tool for fly fishing it is by far not the most important tackle and in many cases over estimated. Indeed you need a good weapon for the fishing there. Distance is everything. Imagine you are standing on the edge of a deep hole that has a diameter of two hundred feet. Where is the big mama? Do you believe she is standing directly in front of your feet. Maybe but maybe also directly in the middle of the deep black hole.

My all time weapon for pike fishing is my Sage ONE 890. I love that rod and it turned out for me the ultimate all fish rod where distance, accuracy and fun is requested. Why an eight weight and not a nine weight? Simply because I trust in the fun factor. An eight weight offers a great spectrum of more than enough power, lightweight fishing and fun during the fight. Any eight or nine weight in length of 9 feet would also do the trick. A night and a half foot rod would be no mistake too, especially when casting out or along of the reed. Bring in any case a spare rod with you. Most of the time you cast in open area with no obstacles but occasionally you will also fish along of reed beds where your fly tend to tangle. In such cases you might unluckily ruin your rod. This principle we have proven from year to year!

The reel, is something that can be neglected except for two major requirements. Just care for a big arbor reed that can hold the big diameter pike fly lines and a sealed drag since the water is brackish water, slightly salty. Since you are standing permanently in the water your reed will be soaked with the water all time.

Fly line as a philosophical conflict? Nowhere else than on Rügen you get more different answerers when choosing a pike fly line. Manly you will receive the recommendation for a shooting head system I was also fishing the last two years successfully. It works great but my recommendation is straight forward the RIO Versitip. I switched over to this line for my all year pike fly fishing and it never let me alone in any situation. So what makes the difference? Of course it is always a matter of preference but lets assume you are middle good caster with not endless time and budget to buy ten different shooting heads and tips. You are by far not as flexible in the low to medium water depths. Sinking shooting heads tend to sink to deep especially fishing on longer distance. You would need a big variety of shooting heads starting from floating, hoover, intermediate and Sink3 heads to cover all needs. Definitely if you have the time to setup your lines and have no problems in creating your own tips you will be more flexible with shooting heads. The market is enormous bigger. On the other side you have a out of the box system that works. I really love the easiness of tip changing and all you need in one small valet. For me the RIO Versitip is a comfort win. And I like the casting of long head fly lines. Some shooting heads are more like overweighted hammers that not always a fun to cast, especially with the faster sinking heads. The RIO Versitip even with the Sink6 tip casts like a normal fly line. And from the casting distance I coudln’t see big difference, even those I had much more confidence casting the long belly Versitip into the wind than the short headed shooting heads.

The leader is a piece of cake. Four or seven feet of 15lbs monofile/fluoro carbon and a one feet long long titanium wire. The monofile or fluoro carbon leader line can be anything that is available out of your fly tackle bag. Never use fluoro carbon as bite tipped. You will lose a lot of fish if you don’t believe me. At least up to 50lbs we went up with horrible results. If they wouldn’t cut it immediately they would damage it. The pikes there must have sharper teeth. The best and only recommendation you will receive from me is Knot2Kinky 1×7 titanium. This stuff is unbeatable the best I have ever used. It doesn’t kink and is bullet proof to pike teeth with a ultra low diameter. I was using it with 12lbs breaking strength. Try it out, you won’t switch back to anything else.

And of course, the most important tool you will need there is a striping basket. Not the most sexiest piece every fisherman need to have but ultra essential for the fishery there.

Knots:
Fly line to leader: Perfection loop
Leader to wire tippet: Albright knot
Wire tippet to snap: Improved clinch knot

Summary:
Rod: Sage ONE, Xi3 or METHOD in eight or nine weight
Reel: Nautilus NV-G8, or any other large arbor reel that has a sealed drag
Line: RIO Versitip WF9
Leader: RIO Fluoroflex Saltwater tippet or any other monofile leader 15lbs + Knot2Kinky 12lbs 1×7 Titan
Other: Striping basket, Waders, Wading jacket, warm underwear like fleece bibs, long pliers, hook hone

tight lines
Philipp