Last week, I participated in my ninth annual spring fishing trip involving my brothers, my dad, and a cast of close friends. Every year we try to time the trip for optimum conditions to target northern pike on the fly. Go too early, and the bite is sluggish. Too late and all the big females have moved to deeper water, leaving a bunch of smaller male, or “jack” pike to contend with. Time it just right, and the big females will be waiting in the shallows, voraciously eating anything that comes in their path. Last week, we timed it right. When not contending with blistering winds, we found an abundance of healthy pike willing to attack our flies. If you’re interested in fly fishing…