Okay, so the first points have been tallied up after 10 days. Water temps have been unseasonably cold 4'c - 6'c due to three weeks of Northerly winds blowing pushing the warmer water back towards Sweden. This has meant the pike have started spawning a lot later than the last couple of years here. I have had 3 blanks during the 10 days and missed 2 days due to being off the island. Blanks means that I dont carry on with the same set of flies so I missed 2 days with hooks due to a blank and a tube day. Largest pike of 97cm went to the Blue/white Pulse. Anyway check out to see how your progessing in the league table.

Hooks!

These are the two hooks I'll be using for this years pike challenge Partridge's Universal predator hook above, and the Sakuma Manta 540 below.

So lets take these Sakuma 540 Mantas which were kindly sent to me by Mikko Blomqvist at "The Nordic Angler" They look amost identical to the Partridge Universal predator X strong hook above, except are ever so slightly thicker. Whether this will make them stronger than the partridge I dont know but I'll be using three of these on the hooked flies in my challenge this year as well as three Partridge and see what results I come up with if any!

Substitute flies

You might wonder, why would I want to fish in this manner for a whole season with only 18 flies, swapping between hooked flies one day and tubes the next & alternating the fly after each fish caught. Well there are numerous reasons for my madness. Over the last 6 yrs here I've fished this island practically every day (Winter excluded +- 5 & 1/2 months) and when you get to fish a fishery as much as I have, and keep the saught of records I have you obviouly start to get a much better understanding of the fish your targeting. Where to find them, what colour they prefer during what seasons, What speed of retrieve to fish them at, what type of fly works better for each season & what doesn't. This regimented recording of detailed catch reports is now going to be put to the test to see whether what I have learned here over the last 6yrs has been worth all the effort. Summer is going to be extremely interesting because it took me 3 yrs here to realise that the pike were gorging themselves extensively on the many small baitfish shoals and once I down sized my flies and started matching the hatch so to speak, I started to become really successful during the summer months of July & August. This season though I'll be alternating between flies daily, that generally aren't productive patterns during the summer months and could spend much longer periods while fishing these flies without a hooked pike to show for my efforts. this will prove once and for all that my findings are confounded and that I've really come to grips with my fishery...Replot island!

Lefty Krey said "That if its not chartreuse....It's no use!" and this is a colour combination that works in practically every body of water I've fished in since starting fly fishing for pike. I did'nt have it in my starting line up because its a decent summer & Autumn fly to fish with so will hopefully get to use this during the warmer months depending on the choices the fantasy league players choose.

This is also another pattern my "Olive Baltic Scud" that has been earmarked for the summer & Autumn months. All will be tied around 80mm - 100mm in length and they will catch fish quickly and probably attract slightly larger pike aswell than some of the attractor patterns I'll be fishing with. The down side is they are constructed with synthetics so they are going to have to be well looked after if they are going to last the distance.

Last of the tubes

So these are the last two bucktail Pulse tubeflies I'll be starting the season with. Both simple constructions yet very effective. Blue has been probably one of the most prolific Spring colours for me here over last 3 seasons around the island, and accounts for 65% of the fish I catch. Its not the best Autumn colour though but this might be one of those flies that you could substitute at the league progresses.

Another bucktail Pulse tubefly, this time in Black/white and flash & is slighty longer than the blue version. A personal favourite of mine and again one I'm sure will catch fish throught Spring, Summer & Autumn. all my tube fies have been tied onto Aluminium tubeology tubes so I can change the cone heads for different weights so as I can fish at different depths. I'll be showing their construction later in the season and why I decided to use tubeology's ally tubes instead of plastic.

So there we have it....all the flies except three extra substitute flies which I will add within the next couple of weeks. Get choosing and emial your team name and four flies to uivelon_kierros@yahoo.co.uk

More to mull over!

Personally, if I could only fish with one fly the whole season this Black/Purple Replot stinger would be the one. It catches me "a lot" of fish from Spring through to ice out in November. Perfect for low light conditions, Murky water, Cloudless sunny days....It will last the season and is pike mouth friendly come the start of the play offs!!! Down side to this fly........It hasn't any!!

This will be another tube I'll be using. Yellow/Chartreuse schlappen with black & white raccoon with some long holographic flash thrown in for good measure. Perfect for spring and will get better as it deteriorates. I've fished this exact fly here now for a number of seasons until there is practically nothing left of it, and it still catches fish.

More choices on the chopping board!

Pike eat pike...its what they do! and no respecting challenge like this one wouldn't be complete without a fly that imitated a snotrocket. I started fishing with this Olive/yellow/white pike imitation woodhead early last year and it was a very successful . It has fantastic movement under the surface and will be one of the few flies in the collection of 18 that will catch fish throughout spring, summer & autumn.

The pink/white replot stinger.....you just know you wanna have this fly in your team! It will have logevity as its primerily tied with fur n feathers, in fact I have several still in great condition after two seasons of fishing with them. A fantastic spring & late autumn colour. Dont hold out much for this in the summer though as I could have this on my line for long periods in the warm water.

Tied up three tube flies yesterday which will be added tomorrow that will most definitely interest you.....well they're flies I would have in my starting four any day!

Free swag!

So lets go through the prizes that I've already secured so far for this seasons Fantasy pike fly Challenge.

1st place: Airflo Nano bluetooth 10"10# rod with travel case
2nd place: Tubeology kit
3rd place: Reel not sure what make yet but it will be a large arbour reel
4th place: A mixed assortment of fly tying materials worth €100
5th place: Fly line for pike - choice not been made yet!
6th place: Bugbond Starter kit with torch
7th place: A set of all the flies used in this challenge
8th place: 180 x 4/0 partridge ultimate predator hooks

I'm in talks with a few more companies about sponsoring some other prizes so stay tuned!