Essential tools you need for pike fly fishing Read More

Essential tools you need for pike fly fishing Read More
Last week I tried out fishing a complete new location. A branch of a river that is know to its healthy population of northern pikes. I heard from this water already a few months ago but never had time to find try it it out. It is an exclusive piece of nature. Even you have to register to a queue when fishing a single day. Its name… Stempfelbach I was really excited whether it was worth the effort. Read More
Wading through 4 feet of freezing cold water, stuck knee deep in mud, blistering cold fingers and constantly blowing wind,… fly fishing for northern pikes. This is the winter fly fishing on Rügen. I’m loving it. Read More
Day 7, last day
Too much of a good things ain’t such a bad thing. The mission for our last day, catching pikes as we never did ever before! Read More
Day 6
Back to the forbidden! Two more days for fishing here on Rügen and we wanted to fish another delicate spot. A spot, where just the way to get there let your heartbeat raising. The most important thing when fishing there. Don’t get caught. Read More
Day 5
The time has come to offer a fishing more exciting than ever before. The story tells about a group pikes that were after a swarm of baitfish. 9th of November and a new level of pike fly fishing began! Read More
Day 4
There are days that offer a superb fishing, a great experience. Last day was such a day, but our fourth day wasn’t in no case such a day. Read More
There are always some things you should do and some things you shouldn’t do. Within this chapter I want to tell you what are the real musts and what can be skipped. Read More
Day 3
Fox, You’ve stolen the goose, and if they didn’t fall from sky, they still would fly happily around. Noooo, I’m not crazy, but now here is a crazy story Read More
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. Read More
Day 2
Day 2 of our trip and we wanted to do the ultimate fishing day on a spot that is well known but unexplored because,…. fishing a forbidden fishing spot!. Read More
Can you imagine wading a quarter mile out from shore, sand to muddy ground with a lot of water plants. You wade through 2-3 deep water till it you reach a drop off, the place to fish for northern pike. Nothing for the faint hearted. Read More
Day 1
The sun rises over the endless reed beds that are softly blowing in the slight morning breeze. The water is calm and crystal clear. Some small baitfish are swimming around your feed when you wade slowly through the water. Everything seems to be peaceful. But appearance are deceptive……. There is something in the water with bad intention. This is the moment when you focus your attention to just on one thing. Strip line off your reel, lift the rod and cast the your fly. All your senses told you where to cast, you can feel it. You start stripping, 1, 2, 3, 4, a jerk in your line…. and you know this morning becomes a great Read More
It had to happen and has happened!! Before I will unleash a new flood of reports about my recent adventure to Rügen@Germany I do have a story that cannot be deferred. Read More
As every year it draws my fellows and me to the north for some for some Baltic pike fly fishing on the archipelago Rügen. Let’s call it a relaxed men’s retreat wade fishing for plenty of toothy critters. The last two years were a hell of a fun with a partially unbelievable good fishery. With the cooling water temperature the big pikes migrate from the open Baltic sea into the archipelago. They can now be found in the deeper water areas and wholes. The journey begins…… now.. Read More
Saturday, … and we had different things in mind. Actually we planned explore something completely new, fish the weekend in hungary on the lake Theiss. But well, things always end up differently than you think Read More
Thanks god its Friday!. After a hard week at work I thought the time came to use the last hour daylight for some after work pikes. Now with the early sunset the fishery has to become very effective. There is no time for some experiments. Read More
But not too long ago I went with my mate Stefan for some serious trout fishing on a warmer authum day. What should I say. I’m thoroughly a pike fly fisherman but when it comes for raising brown trouts you don’t need to convice me long. Pure dry fly heaven follows, now! Read More
Sunday, again out for fishing on our recently discovered lake. This time together with my mate Mario. Although he is more addicted to spin fishing we tried our luck with the fly rod. The fly fishing on that lake has its up and downs. Recently more downs but the hope never dies. Read More
This Saturday once more it attracted me for some pike fishing in the hope to continue with the excellent fishing I had the last two weeks. When I saw the sun raising in the morning and the first sunbeams shining into my face then nothing could stopped me. Read More
So far I didn’t had luck with the big ladies this season. Now in spring the chance is high to draw them out. They need to feed as much as possible for the upcoming winter and more important for us fishing guys is that the all present water vegetation is dying and opens up area that couldn’t be fished during the year. Now see what happened. Read More
Here’s something you might every pike fly fisherman should have in his fly box at all times. Synthetics are in some situations unbeatable and especially big ones offer a great shape under the water and also create lot of pressure under the water that can be recognized by the pikes lateral organ even in the murkiest water conditions. And never forget the visual imprint! Read More
Fishing with two buddies, nice weather, a lot of pikes, and a real big fish. Just that I’m going to fish with my buddies was clear when I woke up at 0500 Saturday morning. The rest was just pure fly fishing fun for pikes. Read More
Need a fly reel for pike fly fishing? More a must have then a need to have. Seriously you need a fly reel and I will tell you which one is the right one. Read More
Last Sunday, beautiful weather and I went out for fly fishing. Since a the last 2-3 weeks the weather calmed down and the sun came out. This will be my day. The idea was to fish the whole day from sunrise to sunset. And with the nice weather hopefully the pikes will be in good mood. Read More
Work, work and again work. I wish I could go more for fishing. Its Tuesday and somehow I was able to made it for a quick hour fishing to my new lake. This are the hours that can change a hectic business day to a successful and enjoyable fishing day. Read More
Back for some pike fly fishing with my buddy Mario. And the competition was on, who will catch the most pikes?. The spin fishing guy or me with fly fishing. See what happened. Read More
I’m lovin it! Read More
Last Sunday afternoon I went with a friend, Mario, out for trying out a new lake in the surroundings of Vienna. It says, the pure paradise for pike fly fishing. Nobody there is fishing for pike, just a few carp fisherman. Virgin pikes that have never seen a fly before. Read More
Some new tasty pike flies for toothy pikes out there. This one has been tied with a bunch of natural materials like ostrich hearl, icelandic sheep, marabou feathers and given a mix of flashabou fibre for some attraction in the water. The trick of this fly is ….. that it catches pike like cheese the mice. Read More
What is the perfect fly rod for pike fly fishing? Do you thing there is an all satisfying answer on this? Asking this question to 10 different people you can be sure to get some different answers. 8 out of 10 will recommend a 9 weight rod and the rest tend to recommend maybe even a 10 weight. I rarely came across somebody who recommended differently. I love 8 weight rods that fullfill 98% of my pike fly fishery. Read More
Once more I tried my luck, very early in the morning. The water, a real jewel in the middle of a metropolitan city. It offers so much to me. Recreation, Regeneration, and fun. And it holds the biggest pikes you can imagine. Pikes above the 45-50 Inch class. Every year many of those big giant pikes are caught. Read More
It’s the early bird that catches the worm!
In this sense, Philipp and me went out, last Saturday, for some pike fishing in the hope that with the rising autumn the bigger pikes get hungry, leaving behind the pikes kindergarten. With the first sunbeams we were on the water. The water and the atmosphere looked so promising. But did left the pike babies behind us? Read More
Since long time I made it yesterday to the water for some pike fishing. Although I blogged the last couple of months about dreamy saltwater fishery, I still love my pikes. It is a different fishery but still fascinating. I didn’t had time yesterday a lot. Just made it for 2 hours to the water to a lake directly in the city, shutting down from stressful working day. Read More
Your line if it has to go fast down under
You might know the situation that you have to get your fly down very fast. The fish is swimming deep, you fight against current or the there is no time to wait till an intermediate line sinks. This is the metier of the RIO Leviathan 26ft sinking fly lines. They are designed to close the gap where intermediate fly lines are too slow sinking essential when you want to fish deeper waters. They already saved my Cuban trip when I fished there for Tarpon in the river Rio Hatiguanico and on Aitutaki I used them for smaller trevallies in the partially milky lagoon water. Read More
Aggressive fly rods require aggressive fly lines
On Aitutaki I fell in love with an ultra powerful sort of fly line, the RIO Tropical Outbound Short. A fly line that is made for ultra long casts. A line that loads modern super fast fly rods easily. A line that cast exceptionally easy even at the strongest wind. The line of your choice if you want to cut through the wind like the hot knife cuts through the butter. Read More
There are situations when you have to present a fly deep for bonefish
On Aitutaki I was phased exactly this situation. The water was deeper than on the usual flats. Fishing with floating lines would have been much more difficult getting the fly down fast and keeping it down. It is the fact that bones don’t like when the fly is popping up too much. At least those on Aitutaki were very sensitive on too much fly movement. Big dumbbell eyes would also work but they also make a big signal when they hit the water. This are the situations when you need a intermediate fly line such as the RIO General Purpose Floating/Intermediate. Read More
What is your expectation to a fly line fishing for GT?.
It must be powerful to transport big bulky flies easily out, preferably up to the horizon. And it should have a strong core that gives you a reserve to land the fish even if he tries to cut you off on a coral. All this can be served from the RIO Leviathan Floating fly line (2015 Model is called RIO GT). Read More
The conclusion
What should I say now. I hope, with all my pictures I was able to convey you the beauty and the fascination of the south pacific. It is truly an unbelievable beautiful place on great planet earth and I am really proud to have visited it in my life. All the money I have spent for it, all the worries I survived, all the troubles lay behind, what is left is the memory of the journey of a lifetime. You have to see it before you believe it. What you have seen is just a snapshot of it. There are so many more varieties, the cooks offer, I haven’t shown, simply because I focused on the fishery there only.
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The last day
We are now at the end of my Aitutaki fishing journey. I didn’t thought initially, but I made an extra fishing day, especially due to the finally consistent weather with wind from the least problematic direction. And I couldn’t leave that paradise without another day with the hope for another good fishery. It says you should finish when it is the best so I wanted this feeling when leaving Aitutaki. I had this already once at Cuba, fishing for Tarpon. I lost a big one some days before and this was in my mind and It didn’t let me sleep. So I went for it and caught an even bigger Tarpon on the extra day. A big fish on the last day makes a trip totally perfect. So see what happened on Day #8 at Aitutaki. Read More
Day 7
The day I was waiting for the whole trip. The day started as usually with a call from Itu what and where to fish. Itu said something like that the conditions were rough but possible to went outside of the reef. We agreed to went outside of the reef to fish for tuna and mahi mahi. Sushi time!! Screaming reel and fresh sushi with soy sauce were already in my mind but it came completely different. See what happened Read More
Blue Water Fishing
There is another very interesting kind of fishing you can do at Aitutaki. Far aside of the blue lagoon, outside of the reef Aitutaki offers a paradise for blue water fishery for a big variety of fish. If you want to fish for yellowfin tuna, no problem. Fishing for Wahoo, Barracuda or GT, No problem. Even Marlin or Sailfish shouldn’t be a problem. Caught fish are regularly reported. Read More
Day 6
We are coming to the sixth guided fishing day. Else than the more or less poor last day, this day should be again like Day #4 with a lot of big fish. I mean Day 5 wasn’t totally bad but at Aitutaki you get spoiled with some day where you catch and catch and catch. Also that day?, Rua was again my guide, Itu was still booked by another guide. Although I’m really happy with Rua, I hope that there will be at least one more day fishing with Itu. Why? Not because I thought Itu is better than Rua. No, but you know Itu is Itu, from Itus Bones and I would like to experience also with him. OK, now it starts. 8:30 Rua arrived at Ootu beach, also this time together with Junior. They were pretty hectic because they have seen something…. Read More
DIY Fishing
For DIY fishing Aitutaki offers a big spectrum of possibilities depending where you stay. I can fully recommend Ootu Beach, close to the Airport. Don’t you will not recognize the Airport at all. The advantage there is that you have 3 very good flats directly infront of your house and the reef directly in the back. Everything reachable within 5 min walk and the home flat just 20meters away. But be carefull. DIY fishing for bonefish is not as easy as it might look. Firstly there were a lot of fisherman who tried their luck already, secondly you also have a lot of swimmers and surfers around. The last is less a problem than it might look. The bones are used to it. Read More
Day 5
Day5, and still 8 days on Aitutaki. Slowly I won back my confidence that the luck will be on my side to fish all planned 7 guided days. When I planned the trip I thought the weather would be the least problem in the south pacific. Sometimes you are be wrong. On my fifth day the weather was not perfect either. Still a lot of wind and partially clouds, but the clouds where the smalles problem of all. Of course it made sight fishing for me more complicated but Rua, with whom I was fishing that day, had no problem spotting fish under such conditions. With Itu, we called each other every morning, I agreed with him every morning how we will fish, no matter if he will guide me or Rua. The guide that day was again Rua, joined by Junior, a trainee Guide, and fishing for Bonefish and partially for GT. Read More
The Guides
Bone fishing is a big business on Aitutaki. Depending on the season there are more or less a lot of anglers on the atoll. In terms of guiding you have two options at Aitutaki. Firstly you do have Itu Davey and his guides that offer all kind of fishing. Literally everything you want to do in terms of fishing can be provided by them. No matter of bone fishing, GT fishing, Reef fishing or even offshore fishing with their new 10 meter offshore boat. The second option is Butch Leone who is already guiding on Aitutaki since a lot of years whom you can book fishing inside the lagoon for bonefish and also other species. Since I haven’t fished with him I can’t tell you much about him, just that he is a friendly and competent guide. So my below review is only in respect to Itu and Rua Davey. Read More
Day 4
The fish are getting bigger. This day it was planned to fish again for GT in the hope to get at last the big GT we were after. Itu was unfortunately already booked by another client. It was planned to fish more days with him but the weather really balked my plans. So Rua saved the day once more and came together with Shaka, a funny guy that is also guiding for Itu. The weather was much better than the days before but not fully perfect. At least the wind came from a direction from where the flats where sheltered by the islands. Good but not perfect
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Dos and Don’ts
If you now decided to go to the Cook Island and especially to Aitutaki you will be lucky. Here are some things you should consider for your trip. The Cooks are not big and the offer of activities is limited but there are some really must dos and also some things you can stay away in order to prevent from failed trip. Read More
The tackle
I received already a lot of questions regarding gear and tackle, what to bring to Aitutaki. So what do you need to buy to be prepared. I was, for almost all aspects, perfectly equipped so I’m very happy to share my success recipe in terms of fly tackle. Read More
Day 3
.. at last. I was close to get a crazy there. Every day wind, wind and even more wind. Finally there came a slightly calmer day. Yuhuu.. Or should I say fuck!!?!?!. I was not the only angler on the island and Itu was already booked. Don’t give up hope, Itu said, and sent me his brother Rua. Yuhuu, lets go fishing. I really had panic that I couldn’t have made my 7 days of guided fishing. But, OK, day 3 was about to start. Quickly for a breakfast and only the cooperation of the bones could stop me now. Read More
Getting There
How to come to the most beautiful place in the world? With all the beauty of the lagoon and the big fishes in mind, as a European, I have to say Aitutaki is really far away. Flying overseas is peanuts, compared to this. Almost 50 hours of travel time, 23.000 km of distance to travel and 12 hours of time difference. If you now ask me if it was worth to do. Definitely yes, it was. I’m even honest that I did such a extreme journey. Whatever comes after will be just a piece of cake. Read More
Day two
My second guided day. This day I was invited to fish with Itu and Rua (brothers) together with a clear target. A Giant Trevally on the fly. I can tell you in front, that was the best guided day I had so far. Each, Itu or Rua, has the ability to spot fish far away and in a very good count. But having four eagle eyes on board was awesome. No fish did escape from our vision. Casting and hooking all of them was a different topic but you will see later. Read More
Giant Trevally
The ultimate gangster of the flats. I was dreaming of GTs since I saw a guy fighting one on the fly rod at Youtube. They grow up to 200 lbs and 150 cm of length. Fighting one is like you hook a truck at full speed. They can make mince meat out of a 12 weight rod with within seconds if the angler is not prepared. There is no room for mistakes when fishing for GTs. And most of all they are very clever. They really know their hunting ground and use every obstacle to fool you. If there is a coral in their way they will use it to get rid of the fly line and at last the hook. Hooking a big one, fighting and land him, then you can say you really reached the peak of what is possible with the fly rod. There is only a handful of fish that can top a Giant Trevally. Read More
Day one
Let me remind to that day….. Its already more than a month ago but I still can remember like it was yesterday. We initially canceled that day fishing because the weather forecast said that it’s too windy. So I went out in the early morning for DIY fishing. I was 10 minutes on the home flat as my girl friend came running with the message that Kaleena, Itu’s wife is on the phone with the message that fishing can start because the weather became better. I think I made the 100 meters on the flat faster than Usain Bolt. On the phone Itu told me that Rua, his brother, is going to fish with me on that day and he will pick me up directly in front of our beach villa. Read More
Bonefish
When I think about bonefish immediately a screaming reel comes in my mind. I haven’t seen so far a fish that takes, compared to his size, more line than a bonefish. These are pretty amazing fish. Hard to land, hard to catch and the most of all hard to see. I was fishing for them already in Cuba and they were a miracle already there but in Aitutaki bone fishing comes to its peak, .. for spotting them and especially because of their size. In Aitutaki catching a bigger one, lets say, above 7 pounds is more likely
than catching a small one.
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The Fishing
There are many reasons to come to Aitutaki, but if you are a fisherman, the biggest of all reasons is the fishery. The lagoon is full of fish, starting from Bonefish, to several trevally species, triggerfish, milkfish, and many more. And the best, they are all catchable with the fly rod if you know how. The main target fish is the Bonefish. No wonder, the atoll became known and popular for it’s bonefish conservation program. In 2009 the marine resort decided to protect the bonefish population, prohibiting netting for bonefish in the lagoon of Aitutaki, and only allowed catch and release fishery for bonefish. The device was. Get the wolf to protect the sheep. The netting fisherman of the past times are the guides that make fly fishermen’s dream come true.
The blue Lagoon
Aitutaki is famous about its turquoise-blue lagoon. And this lagoon is so blue that it should be stated in the Duden under true blue. You firstly see the lagoon when you come with the plane. When the plane circles over the lagoon you do see billions of turquoise-blue facets only interrupted by the dark color of the corals blocks, almost white sandy beaches and the green of the palm trees. In that moment I knew that it was worth to come the long way from Europe to the cook islands.
The Preparation
Uhhhh.. That’s a sensitive topics. I’m someone who always goes on the safe side. Everything that could be needed must be prepared. Like the device. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
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Introduction
Everything started two years before in Cuba where I got infected by the salt water fly fishing virus for Bonefish and Tarpon. From the first minute it was clear that this was not my last adventure to salt water. Last year we were a little bit unsure where to go so at last we decided to go for a vacation close to our home, firstly to take the dog with, secondly to save for the ultimate trip… for this year Read More
All Flies out plus 2 Bonus flies!!!. Welcome to my first pike fly collection. Its starts with my all time favorit fly pattern. This fly doesn’t have a name. Its just a very productive pike fly. Sparsly tied this fly is really nice to cast, create a nice profile under water and does have a slinky play.
What is worse than a small, shaky nutshell? A sunken small, shaky nutshell!!. Read More
I bought a new play tool. Already when the Method was launched I was very interested in it. Why. hmm.. That’s a good question. Maybe because it’s red. Read More
Today I want to tell you about big pikes, really big pikes. Since I began fly fishing for pikes I was dreaming about the big ones. The internet is full of happy fisherman with big fish smiling in the camera. All this motivates the ones sitting behind the screens. The tales from the old generation fisherman about descent pikes been fished centuries ago doesn’t make it better. Wouldn’t they have killed all them in the past there would not be only dreaming but also a serious fishing for them. Read More
Last year I got a recommendation for a new fishing water. A water in the middle of a metropolis, Vienna. The city I’m living. It sounded like a fairy tale. No long rides to the water, no high expenses driving around for hours, no wasted time that could be better used with a fly in the water. But is this water really that excellent as many people say? Yes i heard from many people about that water. So I gave it a try …. see what happened during Season 2013 …. Read More
This is the third issue of my pike fly fishing trilogy. Unfortunately it was also the last day for this season. I felt getting sick and the season was close to the end. Only a few days left. For me the last chance for a last pike. Read More