Fly Fishing for Big Pike in the Mountains of Northern Sweden
3 years ago, we visited a remote mountain location in Northern Sweden for the first time to target pike on the fly.
The plan was to make a really cool pike film with meter-long fish slamming mice and lemming patterns on the surface. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen because the water was already too warm by that time and most of the fish had moved out of the shallow coves.
So, fast forward and we decided to try again later on during the first week of the open season. During spring I had developed a pattern based on the new Surface Seducer Howitzer baitfish popper heads that was more of a subsurface pattern with 2 hooks, a Fish-Skull Articulated Shank, and a big Dragon Tail at the end. I wanted a pattern that would work well both when fished roly poly as well as with strong pulls.
The helicopter brought us out the Tjuonajokk fishing camp, located way above the Arctic Circle.
The plan this time was to drive with the river boats through the rapids upstream to a big cove were the pike had spawned a few weeks before and were still hanging around waiting for whitefish and grayling to come in and feed in these shallow areas.
We took turns poling the boat forward and with only one of us fishing at a time so our cameraman could catch every single take in slow motion. How did it turn out? See for yourself.
Howitzer Topwater Pike Popper Fly Tying Video
If you liked this fly featured in the Topwater Mamas video, give it a try yourself!
Fly Recipe
- Hook: Partridge Predator CS86 X 4/0 in the front and Partridge Attitude Extra 1/0 in the back.
- Glue: Zap brush on, Devcon Epoxy 5 min
- Thread: Textreme Power thread 100D
- Connection: Partridge 49 strand pike wire 40 pound. Fish-Skull Articulated Shank 20 mm, One 6 mm articulated bead your color choice
- Connection for wiggle tail: Partridge 49 strand pike wire 20 pound, Fastach size 0, one 2 mm bead
- Head: Surface Seducer Howitzer Baitfish Popper Head, Large, Yellow Chartreuse
- Eyes: Epoxy eyes 5, 5 mm Fl. Red
- Tail: Dragon Tail large Fl. Yellow or Wave tail XXL Fl. Chartreuse
- Body: Extra Select Craft fur in Fl. Yellow and Fl. Orange, Polar Reflector Flash in Yellow and Hot Orange, Ripple Ice Fiber Shrimp Pink and Electric Ripple Ice Fiber Fl. Orange
Will you tie this fly? Where would you use it? We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
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About Niklaus Bauer:
Niklaus Bauer is a Swedish pike bum who has been targeting pike on fly for the last 30 years. He has been a big part of the modern pike fly tying development in Scandinavia for the last 10 years, especially when it comes to pike tube flies and tails. He is a part owner of the Swedish fly fishing company Fly-Dressing, which is a distributor in Northern Europe. Their YouTube shows #flytv and #tietv have become very popular and are watched by 12,000 people every day all over the world.-
Niklaus Bauer
Comments on this post (11)
Greetings,
I hope this message finds you well. My name is Josphat, and I hail from Kenya. I come from a family deeply involved in the fishing industry, particularly in the production of fishing flies. For the past 45 years, my father has served as a tier, supervisor, and manager at Unwin and Sons Fishing Company, garnering invaluable expertise in the field.
Over the years, thanks to my father’s dedication and experience, we have secured two steadfast customers—one from the UK and another from Italy. These loyal patrons have been ordering substantial quantities of fishing flies from our company for the past eight years.
I am reaching out to you humbly to inquire whether you would be interested in purchasing our high-quality flies or perhaps connecting us with potential buyers. Your support could greatly contribute to the growth and expansion of our company, and I assure you, it would be a mutually beneficial arrangement.
Despite graduating from university four years ago, I have encountered challenges in securing employment. However, I am eager to apply my knowledge and skills in the fishing fly business. I am committed to working diligently and ensuring the success of our venture
Should you require samples for evaluation, we are more than willing to provide them promptly. Attached, please find a list detailing the patterns we tie along with their respective prices.
I eagerly await your response and thank you in advance for considering our proposition.
Warm regards,
Josphat
— segera
Dear Sir/Madam,
We are fishing fly tier based in Kenya specialized in supplying high quality fly ranging from different patterns like the Nymph, Saltwaters, Streamers, Bass Emergers, and Dry Fly . Our flys are tied with with the most popular hooks like mustard, daichi, kamasan and TMC.
We sell our flies in dozen and clients can order any quantity of fly.We can also send you our samples and check out them
We are requesting if you could have any orders of fly you could consider us for the work.
Clients can also send us their material and we will tie for them their flies.
We have worked and gained more experience to tie any type of fly.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact us
Thank you.
Regards,
Mark
— Mark Adom
Great movie,
Looking forward to exploring the fishing in Sweden – so many amazing opportunities
— adrian westlake
I was wondering what weight rod you use and do you overload the line weight or use line weight recommended by rod manufacturer, Your videos are really great keep em coming
— David Przybylski
Hi there!
Am a fishing flies manufacturer based in Nairobi Kenya.I am writing to you to request flies supplier job from your company.I have got enough manpower for the job .If you enroll me as your supplier i will guarantee Consistency and honesty in this great deal.
I will also service your orders in a timely manner
— Fred luyali
Just found you and am really excited to tie up some flies for muskies that I started chasing a year ago with the fly rod. Your detail really helps a novice appreciate whats done and why in building a fly.Thank you so much!
Gary Anderson
— Gary Anderson
Just tied up a bunch of these patterns in a couple of colors. They look great with the XL size wiggle tails. Going to give them a shot for pike this weekend!
— Jesse Erhardt
sweet vid
what kind of boat is that? Here in Alaska we often use jet boats but I think that type of boat would be awesome up here traversing weedy lakes where jets do not preform well.
— Chirs
Just awesome!
— Jan Balvan
Great vid guys, really enjoyed it!!
— Michael Gabrion
I have been watching this Pike Fishing Video for several months and have tied about a half dozen of these in various color combinations (thanks to his fly tying video also). Both are awesome, can’t stop watching those two having so much fun catching all those huge Pike and the videography is Fantastic. Can’t wait to get out this spring for some NE Ohio Pike. Thank you Nicklaus for ALL your fly tying videos and insight into fly tying and fly fishing. Also: Love ALL the Flymen products.
Dave Hudak
Instagram Davedak848688
Facebook: Davedak
— Dave Hudak