Basic pike slider Return to main pike page Return to Clive's main page email
There are lots of variations on sliders.  Pike are not always "on" surface flies, but it seems when they are the pattern does not matter a lot. Simple seems to work okay.
	Hook: Mustad 34007 4/0 or 5/0 Thread: UNI-Stretch Chinese Red Basic directions Anchor thread and lash in preferred body materials. This fly has yellow "fish hair" and pearl gold mylar. Christmas tinsel for the main body. A few strand of rubber legs are added to hang down in the water. Anchor the body materials well onto the hook shank so it is quite thick. This will make a good base for the foam head.  Wrap forward and whip finish the thread and cut off the thread.
	Add glue to the shank and force on the foam head.  This will be a slider because the 'pointy' end is forward and the fly will slide over the surface.  If the foam head was reversed, this would be a popper.  See below.
	Trim the foam head to make it "pointy" so the thread can be wrapped up on the head to anchor the head. Make a few turns on the foam head and build up the thread. Whip finish TWICE and glue. I prefer nail hardeners for cements instead of regular tying cement.
	This foam head was a bit too fat, so it was trimmed flat on the bottom.  This gives a bit more gap.
	I like eyes on streamers and believe they help trigger fussy pike.  I don't know if they help trigger fussy fish looking at a slider. Click here for a discussion about eyes. This "eye" was drawn on with a black "Sharpie" marker.
	This is the final fly. Simple.  About 15 cm long. It will catch pike when they are in the mood.   They don't always look up.   Click here for discussion about sliders
	The top fly is a popper. The head of the bottom fly  was carved from a piece of dense chartreuse foam.  Both have baby doll eyes cemented to the underside.
There are ways to build your own slider foam heads.  Most of the time, I just use a home made copper tube corer and core plugs out of 1-inch thick gardening kneeling pads. They can be hand whittle to shape. The three heads on the right were "lathed" on a drill press using a sanding block.
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