Pike on the fly with Josh McQueen

I just came back from the best fishing trip I’ve ever taken. I went to Ohio and met up with the Head Guide of Ohio Fly Fishing Guides and Mad River Outfitters, Josh McQueen for some pike on the fly.

Josh is the originator of guiding for pike on the fly in Ohio and has been doing it for many years. I’ve been wanting to get over that way and do this for a long time and things just never worked out, until this year. Josh is extremely knowledgeable about pike and asked if I would tie some flies and bring them along. So we worked together to come up with some flies to take with us. Josh recommends flies that are about 8 inches long. I tied mostly single hook flies on Partridge Universal Predator X Hooks in a size 6/0. But I did tie a few that were articulated with two hooks as well.

I have fished for muskie and had follows, but never caught one. They are frustrating to say the least. This was the first time I had fished for pike, but as soon as we were on the water Josh started to fill my head with the knowledge I needed to catch these explosive fish. He already had the rod, line weight, leader setup and everything I needed to get started all ready to go. He had the spots on this float down to a science and would point out the best places to cast to catch a fish. The first pike came on a large version of my Pumpkinseed of Doom that Josh highly recommended I tie in a large version. Josh told me to lay a cast between two upright dead trees. I did and started to strip back and I kid you not, a pike rocket came from the left side and just annihilated the fly. BOOM!! Just like that, I had my first pike on the fly!

You can watch videos, read about it or have someone tell you about it, but until you get out there and experience it yourself, you cannot understand just how crazy fast and hard pike will smash a fly. This makes for some of the most exciting fishing you will experience, especially in freshwater.

There were times on the float where a pike was leery and wasn’t sure it wanted to take the fly. I would listen to Josh while he called the shots. “Twitch it, strip, twitch again…strip…SET THE HOOK!” Listen to your guide and he will help you catch fish.

My goal on this trip was not only to catch a pike, but to catch a trophy pike. With Josh’s help I was able to do it. It came later in the float as we just kept working spots. Josh saw a fish at one point and as we picked that spot apart we could not find it. As we moved downstream I casted and striped several times in and a pike showed up out of nowhere right in front of the fly and just smashed down on the fly in one bite. BAM!! I set the hook and Josh grabbed the net and we landed her. Josh said he thinks it was the same fish he saw that had just moved downstream and was hunting my fly. It was the best catch of the day and the trophy pike I had wanted. It’s hard to explain the feeling, but it was such a wonderful experience and something I will remember for the rest of my life.

I would highly recommend if you are wanting to experience an awesome, exciting fishing trip, you contact Mad River Outfitters and tell them you want to schedule a trip with Josh McQueen for pike on the fly. You will not regret it.

To follow Josh on Instagram and check out more amazing pike pics, go to https://www.instagram.com/thegreatpikesby/