LE VIEUX MOUCHEUR
7 - The lures
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7 - The lures
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FLY-FISHING FOR PIKE by Paul Le Gall, translated by Claude BELLOIR 7 --THE LURES The
size of the lure, what it is supposed to represent and the environment in
which it will be worked, call for some general remarks that govern its tying. SizeAs far as I'm concerned, the validity of the rule
“Big lures for big pike, small lures for small
pike”
has proven true while fishing.
Indeed, I was once lucky to catch on a very big
streamer, a 90-cm long pike which was regurgitating an absolute soup of
freshwater shrimp. One would have thought it had swallowed them just like a
whale taking krill. Tiny preys to be sure, but in enormous quantities at once.
Caviar by the spoonful!
Another
time, a monster pike was quietly head and tailing over two metres of water
along a bank lined with bulrushes. Only its dorsal broke the surface every two
or three metres. It appeared to
have been busy swallowing whole schools of tiny fry which were literally
swarming on the surface. The big streamer which dropped out of the blue was
immediately taken. As it was poorly hooked, it swam off less than a metre away
from the boat, close enough however for me to admire its enormous size in the
crystal-clear water and give the unlucky angler the regret of a missed
opportunity. "About 135 cm, from 38 to 45 lbs !", my fishing guide
moaned. Once again, a streamer was chosen over tiny preys, even by the mouthful.
On the other hand, I have had to shorten a long
tandem streamer to the 4 or 5-cm long front hook after a series of missed
takes. Most of the time, they were caused by small pike, and sometimes, but
very seldom, by fish of average size only. I've only mentioned this to show that one shouldn't be put off by very large lures, provided they can be cast out on a fly line. That's why it's up to each angler to tie his own lures bearing in mind that a 15-cm long streamer must be considered as a minimum. Indeed, for technical or financial reasons, most models on the market are ridiculously small and unfit. Many look like catalogue models and can't be regarded as fishing lures. Aspect and colour Pike lures are supposed to represent potential
preys. Most of them are food fish and exceptionally may come from or evolve on
the surface (frogs, ducklings, etc...). They can even be found
on the bottom since pike can be caught ledgering with kippers. A
lurking pike locates its quarry through its neuromast organs and lateral line
system. It's only after that, it seems, that the pike relies on its vision.
Indeed
I remember an experiment made in sunny weather and crystal-clear water. A good
pike was sitting a little under the surface. The streamer, cast from about ten
metres away, across and behind it, had just landed on a bunch of water lilies,
and therefore couldn't be seen. It was fascinating to see the pike move round
slowly and position itself exactly in the axis of the dropped streamer.
As soon as I started to pull in the line, it sank slowly and disappeared as if
it had been unhappy to be disturbed in its siesta in the sun. Though
it came to nothing, this was enriching as for me, it represented the ultimate
evidence at water's edge that the very first functional quality of a
lure was its capacity to be perceived from as far away as possible before
being actually seen by the predator.
A lot has been held forth about the colours that
are supposed to make it easy for the pike to see the lure. Here again, just
about everything has been said or written. Such and such a colour should be
reserved for cold waters, and without such and such another one, there'd be no
point in fishing in warm waters. Some shade or other would only be efficient
in deep waters whereas it would be imperative to resort to another to fish on
the surface, etc... Whether they feature streamers, spoons or plugs, the colourful range of fishing catalogues and magazines is mind-boggling. For
a number of years now I've been fishing with streamers whose wings are
fine mylar strands in all kinds of shades, from silver to purple
through bright and dark red, copper, bright green and ultramarine blue. I have
even tied a special blue-white-red streamer for July 14th which never fails to
entertain my fishing friends. All these dressings have been successful without
any significant differences concerning the size or the number of fish
caught according to the colour.
So why choose one particular colour rather than
another one? To my mind, we should do as the fancy takes us according to the
time of day or when the beauty of the surroundings makes us feel
like fishing with beautiful lures and enjoying ourselves. When the angler
trusts his lures, he fishes better, as we all know.
On closer examination however, all these
variously coloured dressings share the brightness
and extreme mobility of the materials. On the other hand, when we deal with dressings whose materials are also variously coloured, but dull instead of bright, e.g. bucktail, some colours, especially the light ones, are supposed to do better according to Dutch anglers. It's indeed the case of Guido Vinck's “Piker's Point” streamer whose efficiency has long been proven. It consists of a three-colour tying, matuka-style, in yellow, white and magenta adorned with a few strands of Crystal hair.
In as much as the rules of retinal
perception in human beings can be applied to fish, this streamer would achieve
good results because, it seems to me, of the law of contrasts.
It has got two colours, white and yellow, which become even lighter over a
dark backdrop, as all colourists know. It also includes some pink which
becomes brighter over a background of vegetation with a green
complementary colour. It does well indeed, in all likelihood because of its
luminous colours and also, it should be noted, probably because they are
brought to the attention of the fish by the flash of Crystal
hair.
To sum up, in spite of all that may have been said or written on the question, practice has convinced me that the important thing in a pike lure was not its overall colour but first its ability to stir up water. Its flash, as long I think as it isn't blinding, has also appeared to me is more essential than the colour itself. I consider, maybe wrongly, but I'm convinced of it, that what must be taken into account during its tying, should be first its mobility, then its flash and finally its relative brightness and colour contrast, above all for dull materials.
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