How to Fly Fish at Night for Monster Trout

The night was blacker than tar as he crouched in the tall grass, sweat and dew mixing together, making his shirt cling to him like a second skin. The buzz of mosquitoes droned through his consciousness, their sharp mouths testing the vintage of his blood like appreciative connoisseurs. But still, he remained motionless, sensing the imminence of contact approaching. A heartbeat later, the river next to which he hides erupts in a spray of foam and violence. The ensuing battle tests every bit of his will and endurance as his adversary comes at him in a series of rushes before diving back into the darkness. The sound of his heartbeat drowns out that of the river, while - with shaking hands - our victor slowly draws his quarry from the water, posing quickly for a Polaroid to memorialize this epic 8 pound brown trout before releasing it back into the icy depths.

For the intrepid angler, some of the best fishing starts when the sun begins to sink and everyone else breaks down their rods for the evening. While trout of capable of perceiving color during the daylight hours, at dusk the receptors in their eyes responsible for color detection recede into the eye while those responsible for sensing light move to the forefront. The result is that trout see in grey scale at night (black and white) and with the mild cast of the moon through the water, fish can actively navigate and capture food. Understanding this, your favorite red copper john or pink san juan worm might not have as much attraction to the now color-blind nocturnal trout. It is instead the large profile flies and streamers tied with contrasting colors of light and dark, exaggerated motion created by rubber legs and elongated rabbit strip tails, and flashy materials that reflect the little sparks of light that area going to prove more productive in the dark.

Our PS Martian Mouse pattern is tied with Glow in the Dark Flash along the belly to imitating a mouse swimming across and frothing the water at night!

Another factor playing in favor of the nighttime angler is the propensity of large trout to leave their daytime refuges of undercut banks and deep un-nymphable pools to feed in the shallows and minnow-crowded riffles. Once freed from the daytime fear of being detected by predators, large trout will move from cover to actively feed throughout the night hours. Several fish studies have shown that brown trout in many waters begin to feed and move about almost exclusively at night through much of the summer. When attempting to stalk and land these midnight monsters, it is important to remember the location of deep undercut banks and pools that might have been passed in the day so that you can return to them that evening. Your ears will also help to guide you as you begin to discern the splashing strikes of small trout verses the hollow plunk and sucking that will key you into a truly large fish.

So this summer, get ready to lock and load your 6 weights, load a full magazine of streamers and mouse patterns into your fishing vest, and get ready to do battle with some truly bad browns under a star filled sky!

Client Austin E. getting it done at night on the Dream Stream!