Fly Fishing Oatka at night - Early fall edition

Bob takes a few last casts before calling it a night

This past Friday I finally got out to do a little fly fishing.

I met up with my good friend Bob Burrows on Oatka creek for a little night fishing. The goal was to find some big trout, and maybe a few bass and pike, while tossing mouse patterns and big streamers.

The stream gauge was reading right at 2.45 CFS which meant we would be fishing in low clear water – near perfect conditions for tossing flies at night.

17-18" inch brown taken on a deer hair and rabbit strip streamer

The fishing wasn’t easy, especially when you are limited by what you can see, or for that matter, what you can’t see. You become more reliant on your other senses. A practice that takes some getting used to. At least we had a little help from the bridge lights from time to time.

We did manage some nice fish for our efforts. On the night, we landed two rock bass, one pike and one brown trout.

Fishing with a little help from the bridge lights

All fish where taken while fishing large streamer patterns that where fished just under the surface with a slow but steady retrieve.

Hopefully I’ll get a few more cracks at these inland trout before we start to gear up for the fall migration of lake run salmon and trout into our local tributaries.

1 of 2 rock bass on the night

26-27" inch Northern Pike

Until then….tight lines!