Do any of you fly fish at night?

I was looking for information on trout fishing in Missouri and there
was a post saying the biggest trout were caught after dark. Frankly
I'd never heard of fly fishing after dark. Do any of you do this with
any luck? What flies do you fish in the dark?

It almost sounds like a "fish story" to me :-)

When I asked about fly fishing at night in my previous post, it was in
regards to Brown and Rainbow trout, but after thinking about this for
a bit, I thought that maybe folks do this for warm water fishing too
(bass?). Maybe this (fly fishing at night) is pretty common, but I'd
never heard of it before. It kind of threw me when I came across it.

Full moon, frogs jumping on the water lilies and bass feeding on
mini-poppers or Woolly's on a glass like pond with a cool one waiting in the
cooler.......

Priceless....

Bob S.



"mdk77" wrote in message
oups.com...
When I asked about fly fishing at night in my previous post, it was in
regards to Brown and Rainbow trout, but after thinking about this for
a bit, I thought that maybe folks do this for warm water fishing too
(bass?). Maybe this (fly fishing at night) is pretty common, but I'd
never heard of it before. It kind of threw me when I came across it.

On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 02:48:10 -0000, mdk77
wrote:

I was looking for information on trout fishing in Missouri and there
was a post saying the biggest trout were caught after dark. Frankly
I'd never heard of fly fishing after dark. Do any of you do this with
any luck? What flies do you fish in the dark?

It almost sounds like a "fish story" to me :-)


But of course.

It requires a certain amount of preperation. Like choosing your
casting lanes carefully and knowing what kind of water you'll be
wading in but it can be rewarding... and at times rather spooky.


g.c.

On Aug 16, 4:48 am, mdk77 wrote:
I was looking for information on trout fishing in Missouri and there
was a post saying the biggest trout were caught after dark. Frankly
I'd never heard of fly fishing after dark. Do any of you do this with
any luck? What flies do you fish in the dark?

It almost sounds like a "fish story" to me :-)

Yes, most of my really big resident browns have been caught at night.
Quite a few while fishing for sea-trout ( Sea run browns) They range
about a lot more at night, and usually feed on larger prey like
minnows, bullheads etc. In the daytime they hole up and are rarely, if
ever, seen. They are more or less exclusively cannibals, and
streamers are usually the best lure for them, but sometimes they will
take larger dry flies and other stuff as well.

Fishing is best on very dark nights. You have to know your spots well,
and be able to cast by hearing and touch. I have never had any big
rainbows at night, but there are not many rainbows where I fish
anyway, and that is probably the reason.

I don´t know anything about bass.

--
Regards and tight lines!

Mike Connor

http://www.mike-connor.homepage.t-online.de/

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/Flycorner?hl=en

mdk77 wrote:
I was looking for information on trout fishing in Missouri and there
was a post saying the biggest trout were caught after dark. Frankly
I'd never heard of fly fishing after dark. Do any of you do this with
any luck? What flies do you fish in the dark?

It almost sounds like a "fish story" to me :-)

I have fished at night - conventional and fly fishing. All in all, I
don't care for it because it is tough to deal with tangled lines,
wading, and so forth. But I have had success. I swung muddler minnows
in a small trout stream and gotten 13 and 14 inch fish that do not show
themselves otherwise. I got some big largemouth bass and crappie, and
huge lake trout. It is ideal to be in position before the sun goes
down, so you know where your backcast goes, where the drift is, where
the snags are, and all that. Better to be with a friend than alone, in
case you are prone to the heebie jeebies. And to have a cameraman in
case you want to replicate that famous picture of Joe Humphries landing
his state record fish.

Pete Collin

On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 02:48:10 -0000, mdk77
wrote:

I was looking for information on trout fishing in Missouri and there
was a post saying the biggest trout were caught after dark. Frankly
I'd never heard of fly fishing after dark. Do any of you do this with
any luck? What flies do you fish in the dark?

It almost sounds like a "fish story" to me :-)

Before I became an old fart I used to fish at night. It is, of
course, a little different than daylight fishing (I have a gift for
the obvious). Nymphing with a big white yarn indicator is the best
way to go, but many times there are hatches on (usually caddis where I
normally fish). I use a strike indicator with a dry fly set about 3
feet from the fly. The indicator causes some drag on the surface, so
I don't normally get a distance drift. When I see a splash ahead of
my indicator, I set the hook. These fish are brookies and landlocks.

I fall enough during daylight, so twilight/darkness fishing is no
longer a viable option for me, unless I am in a boat.

If you do go night fishing, buy one of those led head lamps, the kind
where you can adjust the amount of light. I have used one
successfully on the water. We know put it on the dog when we let her
out at night. Great tracking device.

Ask Wayne Knight to tell you the story about our (Wayne, Jeff Miller,
and me) mid-night adventure fishing for biiiiiiig browns in North
Cackalackie. Of course it would have helped if we were all sober and
Wayne would learn how to cast d;o), but it did leave us with a funny
story to tell our grandchildren. "Where's the mouse?" "The mouse is
in the effin tree!"

Just remembered something: A few years ago my local fly shop offered
a jell (about the consistency of lib stick) that would glow in the
dark if subjected to light for a minute or so. It was supposed to be
used with nymphs, but it would be neat to see if it worked on dries.
I bought a small container of it and it still sits somewhere deap in
the bowels of my vest probably never to be seen again. I'll have to
find it and try it next week in Maine.

And something else: When I was a kid, we used to go fishing at night
for bullheads, bass, crappie, and pickeral. I can't remember what we
used, probably bait, but I'll bet that if you tried to fish for
bullheads (catfish) at night with a nymph or bugger that you would be
successful. A big catfish on a flyrod? Gotta be a hoot.

Dave

On Aug 16, 12:54 pm, Dave LaCourse wrote:

If you do go night fishing, buy one of those led head lamps, the kind
where you can adjust the amount of light.

Dave

The Led head lamps are good, I like the Petzl tikka,

http://en.petzl.com/petzl/LampesProduits?Produit=555

Very light, gives good light,can be worn on a hat, and has a very long
battery life.

but if you want to use them when fishing for browns at night, it is
best to put a red filter over the lens. Big browns ( and sea-runs)
spook very easily, and shining your light on the water, or anything
like that, must be avoided. Even on very dark nights, you can still
usually see a little bit, once your vision adjusts, and the red filter
ensures that you don´t lose your night vision from the white LED
light if you have to tie knots, change flies etc. When you do this,
even with a red light, point it away from the river!

After catching a large fish in a pool or run, I usually move to the
next, as the disturbance it causes usually scares off any other big
ones in the immediate area, and for landing the fish, you can of
course then use your light.

There may be a couple of big fish in a small pool now and then, but
usually, really big browns are solitary creatures. Here, and in
summer, it is usually best to fish pool tails, as the big fish often
hang around there looking for minnows etc. I suppose that will be
much the same everywhere.

--
Regards and tight lines!

Mike Connor

http://www.mike-connor.homepage.t-online.de/

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/Flycorner?hl=en

"mdk77" wrote in message
oups.com...

I was looking for information on trout fishing in Missouri and there
was a post saying the biggest trout were caught after dark. Frankly
I'd never heard of fly fishing after dark. Do any of you do this with
any luck? What flies do you fish in the dark?

Hugh Falkus's books on salmon and sea trout (in
Britain) have detailed descriptions with recommended
flies (e.g. wake flies.)

Night fishing is prohibiited in some US states and
Canadian provinces.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

On Aug 15, 10:24 pm, "BobS" wrote:
Full moon, frogs jumping on the water lilies and bass feeding on
mini-poppers or Woolly's on a glass like pond with a cool one waiting in the
cooler.......

Priceless....

Bob S.

"mdk77" wrote in message

oups.com...

When I asked about fly fishing at night in my previous post, it was in
regards to Brown and Rainbow trout, but after thinking about this for
a bit, I thought that maybe folks do this for warm water fishing too
(bass?). Maybe this (fly fishing at night) is pretty common, but I'd
never heard of it before. It kind of threw me when I came across it.

Wow. I had no idea. Thank you everyone for the replies. I've fished
at night with bait, but never realized flies would work at night. All
of the replies were excellent advice (Peter, I would get the heebie-
jeebies alone, so will have to convince my fishing buddy to give this
a try.......he's a spin fisherman).

Man, this newsgroup is a goldmine of good info for a newbie. Thanks.