Big Trout after Sunset

There is a common misconception about night fishing for trout held by those that haven't done it or just haven't done it much. I held it too before I did any night fishing.

Night fishing is exciting, action packed, fast paced, the fish are really aggressive and they'll hit anything. Aggressive retrieves, big mice, big streamers, and huge fish... that's night fishing.

I was dead wrong. Just a few nights on the water told me otherwise. Night fishing is about being quiet. Staying out of the water as much as possible. Treading lightly. Fishing really, really slowly. You can't see anything, most of the time the bites are few and far between, and fish won't just eat anything and everything thrown at them.

I've drifted away from fishing big mice and streamers except during the short windows where that is likely to yield the biggest fish. Now, for me, fishing "bigger" flies at night means huge wet flies and small mice or gurglers. For the bulk of a night, I'll fish very subtle presentations very slowly. Often this means standing in one spot and covering the water in front of my inch by inch and foot by foot, then moving five feet and doing it all over again, leaving nothing worthwhile un-fished. Catskill dries, caddis, hornburgs, small black leeches, and black wets have become my mainstays. The later it gets, the bigger I fish. By 11:00 I'll try unweighted muddlers or steelhead wakers. By 12:00, if I'm not catching what I want to be catching, I might tie on a Master Splinter or a Morrish Mouse. It is 95% or more quiet, dark, nothingness, 5% or less excitement, fear, and big fish. After my initial disappointment in not catching big fish every night and having to fish much slower than I do during the day, I embraced night fishing for what it is: hunting without sight. And last night the hunt was bountiful.

I knew it was likely to be a good bite before it even got dark because there was an exceptionally heavy rise without a strong hatch. That typically means the fish didn't really feed much during the day and they are making up for it as it gets late. I caught some fish on small caddis before darkness, including a long, fat and handsome rainbow.

After I couldn't see a fly on the surface anymore, I changed to a light cahill, size 14, and fished it to the sound and feel of the take. It was responsible for a handful of fish including another great rainbow in the mid teens.

When the insect rise had decreased and I could hear takes of the slashing and boiling variety that signify that baitfish or frogs are being taken, I switched to a Puterbaugh Caddis and fished it on the swing. After two missed takes I came tight, and it was a good fish. The sound of it jumping and landing back in the water got my heart pumping. This was that little percentage of true excitement and fear. The fish of the night. After a long battle I slid the fish, a big rainbow, into the shallows.

Big trout and darkness. They go well together.

Swinging the puterbaugh then went silent. Fish were still slashing, but I couldn't seem to find a solid pattern. Streamers failed. Wets failed. I caught only one on a waker.

Mike Carl joined me after 11:00. For a little while I kept cycling through different patterns with no success. Then, despite having told Mike that mice never really worked here at night, I put on a black Master Splinter. And...

I caught a couple small rainbows, some small browns and one nice fat one on the black mouse. The retrieve had to be mind numbingly slow. But they were eating it. I'd here the sound, then feel the pull a second later, and it was fish on. I caught more trout on mice this night than I had on all nights on this river prior. It was an exceptional bite, one I hope to capitalize on again tonight. 

Photo Courtesy Michael Carl

Photo Courtesy Michael Carl