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I’ve been building the Night Fishing for Trout Series here on Troutbitten for many years. It’s an ongoing series of chapters that cover some of what I’ve learned about trout after dark.
But I’m careful with that word “learned.” Sure, I’ve come a long way in the fifteen years or so that I’ve spent night fishing. And time on the water has taught me things both by fish in the net and through repeated failure. I’ve gone through a period of time where I dedicated a few years to night fishing as my primary motivation, fishing after dark at least once a week, even through the winter months, and spending a lot more than that under the dark summer sky.
What I’ve learned is often very different than the stuff that’s supposed to work. And then again, some of it matches up pretty well.
Then, after over a decade of night fishing as a solitary endeavor I met my friends Josh Darling and Trevor Smith, who join me on this podcast episode. These guys somehow found that same rare drive to search and discover after dark, and it’s more than just a passing fad for them. They’ve dug deeper into the shadows than anyone else I’ve met. I Iearn from them. They are my trusted fishing friends. Their experience becomes my own. Their reports, their observations, are nearly as valuable as having my own boots in the water. These guys night fish, and they fish hard.
So for this podcast episode, our goal is to provide an overview, some kind of path down the lonely, dark and wonderfully mysterious road that is night fishing.
We Cover the Following
- Motivation
- Places
- Planning
- Moonlight, Starlight and City Light
- Headlights, Flashlights and Glow-in-the-Dark stuff
- The tactics of drifting and swinging
- Water Types
- Fly Types
- Big Trout and Finding the Right Locations
- Fighting Fear
- Accepting the Mystery
- The Rods and Lines
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Resources
READ: Troutbitten | Category | Night Fishing
READ: Troutbitten | Night Fishing for Trout — People, Places and Things
READ: Troutbitten | Night Fishing for Trout — Moonlight, Starlight and City Light
READ: Troutbitten | Night Fishing for Trout — You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Rope
READ: Troutbitten | Night Fishing for Trout — Spaces
READ: Troutbitten | Hell-Hot Sun and the Strawberry Moon
You can find the dedicated Troutbitten Podcast page at . . .
Season Three of the Troutbitten podcast concludes with Episode 15 — The Versatile Angler. So look for that one in your Troutbitten podcast feed.
Fish hard, friends.
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Enjoy the day.
Domenick Swentosky
T R O U T B I T T E N
domenick@troutbitten.com
Love this Dom. A rockbass ate my mouse the other night. Buddy got a decent fish swinging the mouse no action. Apparently it works well?!
Great stuff guys not sure if you mentioned this but what do you think of missing a fish and then casting back to the same area? I have found that at night I can miss a fish and present the fly the same as I just did, in the exact same area, and get another strike from what I think is the same fish. Would like to know your thoughts on this.
I will use glow in the dark emergency tape cut into little tags as an indicator if nymphing and just above a micro swivel I use for streamers and larger flies even when using glowing fly line. It helps with my poor eyesight when the fly is close or if I need to pick it up to clean it off.
I love fishing at night and I remember on one of my first nights out the thrill of hooking into a branch under water that had some give to it and was in enough of a flow that the branch, still anchored to the bottom, wavered like it was a fish. It lasted for a second before I figured out what was up however that “hook up” was solid and it really felt like I had hooked a leviathan brown. Literally one second was all it took to figure out I was snagged but that feeling and excitement of the possibility of what could of been keeps me up late at night.
Loved this podcast. Love fishing streamers at night. Why? Because, when asked by my partner about the fish I just netted, it’s the only time I’ve ever said: “He was only 20 inches.” Night fishing ruins your sense of perspective and expectations. But do expect to get skunked more often.
Also, “mouse emerger” is a great name! Watch a video of a mouse (or frog?) swim. Their head is on top but the rest of his body is dangling down in the water.
Great points, Greg. Good to hear from you.
Dom
How long do you typically spend hitting prime night lies? Do you have a general rule of thumb for the number of casts you give great looking spots? do you move at the same pace when swinging wets as you do when you are working streamers? When you go to nymphs do you fish the same pace as you would in the daylight?
I think I have been moving too quickly but I am not sure. I cover about the same 500 yards in 4-6 hrs as you guys, but my river is at least 200’ wide. I usually work one bank or the other and hit good looking pools, tail outs and riffles in the middle. There is so much good looking water I start to feel rushed and probably don’t spend enough time focusing on individual lies. I am catching a few fish but nothing worthy of a picture yet.
I found that mixing glow in the dark dye with UV resin and applying a heavy coat to my airlock creates a glow in the dark indicator that is MUCH easier to see and holds a charge significantly longer than the glow in the dark thingamabobbers.
I know you dislike airlocks, but this would work on your preferred thingamabobbers as well.
I am going try applying the dyed resin to the blood knots on my sighter section to help with visibility during low light conditions.
Sorry for rambling. I am a little sleep deprived.
Hi Matt.
As far as how much to move, it’s just too conditional. Low and clear water, for example adds another variable, because you’ll spook fish by moving too much and creating waves. Sounds like, with a 200 foot wide river, I would move more. Just fish and keep stepping slowly.
Regarding the glow Thingamabobbers — you may have gotten a bad batch or something, because my glow TBs are actually too bright, too often. I have no need for painting Airlocks, in this case. That little glowing orb of a TB is money.
But . . . if you found something that works for you, then that’s it!
Cheers.
Dom
Thanks Dom. Maybe I haven’t been stealthy enough with my movements.
As for the strike indicators I think the problem I am running into is light pollution and lack of overhead cover. It never seems to get truly dark. Even on a new moon there is enough artificial from nearby man made structure light that I can vaguely make out the edges of the bank. I bet the TB would work better in a remote location where the contrast would be greater. I will give them a try next time I make it up to the mountains.
I know what you mean.