We mentioned the special problem of fly fishing pike in the reeds and rushes. However, where the vegetation is less dense you can cast straight between the rushes and pull in your streamer intermittently. You will see that surface patterns, like Reinis deer hair bunny or Dahlberg divers, are attacked explosively. Below surface patterns are even better, though the attacks are not so dramatic. Deerhair patterns are a good choice for larger pike that have just started feeding. If you present your flies hard with a heavy surface splash the pike can locate them more easily.
Amazingly, you will likely to be fishing in Lake Engures in only 15 and 30 cm of water. There’s no doubt your best shot at big pike is is where the deeper spots meet the shallows. You’ve got an excellent chance for catching a really big one. In one good season a 16 kg was caught, but a few years ago the lake was fished with nets for pike eggs. The local fishery research centre said that one pike that broke the net and escaped was around 25kg!
And if that’s not enough to tempt you into a fly fishing expedition to Latvia’s shallow Lake Engures, we don’t know what would be.
