{Tidal Potomac Fly Rodders} Re: After Midnight...

Growing up, used to fish in Northern Michigan every summer a bit, and we tried doing the hex thing a couple times. Definitely recommend it. 

Silt-bottom stretches in coldwater streams get the best hatches, but they blow up all over the place. If you're in northern Michigan (like on the AuSable or Manistee), it's not complete dark until almost 10:30pm. You're standing out there in a muck-bottom stream, hearing coyotes yipping & owls & maybe seeing some bats overhead, and all of the sudden you start hearing splashes that sound like somebody dropped a rock, and you can feel these slow buzzes passing your face. The bugs seem like they're the size of a goddamned hummingbird, and they are slow, awkward flyers. The fishing is about short casts, based on sound & whatever you can remember the surrounding area looked like, and trying to time out the risers. You still have to be reasonably accurate with the pattern, but when you're throwing size 6 mayflies, it's easy to pick the pattern. 

The Michigan & Wisconsin guys seem to be into night fishing later in the summer- almost all with mouse patterns; there's also some folks that hit tailwaters in the Ozarks like Taneycomo, chucking big heavy streamers into shallower water than they usually would. 

I think the general theme of night fishing seems to be "throw meat".  

On Tuesday, June 16, 2015 at 8:55:49 AM UTC-4, Forrest Allen wrote:

Good morning, 

I am seeking any advice or tips for a novice night fisherman. I'll be on water with rainbows, brookies, and some browns this weekend, and want throw a few flies out there to see what I've been missing in the dark shadows at night. 

I am very curious about what flies tend to get a fishes attention at night? Is it necessary to have some sort of hatch in order to get these fish to rise to a dry? Do bigger patterns do more to get fish interested? I've heard of using mouse patterns for browns at night, and matching a hatch for all species, but will the basic flies I use for these fish during the day suffice at night? I expect the standard woolly patterns would do ok... but what about nymphs?

I am reasonably familiar with the stretch of water I want to fish during the night, so I feel comfortable wading to most any spot. Do the fish get more or less spooky at night? Should I approach the water differently? 

Any advice will be much appreciated! I think this info will be a good addition to the blog too - I couldnt find much on night fishing in any one particular thread. 

Forrest

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