Midnight Mousin' - Small stream 2014

Sunset over WNY

Yup…It’s that time of year again. Time for a little midnight mousin’.

Over the past several years some friends and I have made plans during the dog days of summer for a late night rendezvous with some local small stream brown trout. 

We try and meet up right at dusk to give us the opportunity to get tied up, go over the game plan and even walk in before it gets too dark.

Curtis, Jessie & Flyfish Horton

I had been watching the water gauge closely over the past few days, as some recent rain had brought the stream levels on Oatka creek up to just over 3.0 – a level that would make for some very difficult fishing at night. But as the weekend approached, the water subsided, and was now reading right around 2.85. Not ideal, but doable. The only hope was that the water would be clear enough to enable the trout to see our mouse patterns. The lower and clearer the water – the better the results!

This year I would be joined by a few old friends JessieHollenbeck of Wide sky Fly Fishing and Bob Burrows, and also a few new ones – FlyfishHorton and Curtis AnDré Lindo.

The creek seemed to be in good shape, but in the dark, how can you really tell? And we weren’t about to go around shinning lights in to the water to find out either.

Oatka at night

Curtis and Flyfish Horton were first up in a favorite spot of ours that typically holds plenty of willing trout, but after more than a half hour of fishing with only one good pull, we began to wonder if Oatka would give up any fish. Jessie and I soon joined the fray, and even with a move to some other downstream locations and a few more splashes and pulls, we all still remained fishless. We soon worked our way down to Bob’s location and found out that Bob and his wife Kim hadn’t faired much better.

Flyfish Horton and Bob left, leaving just the three of us pour saps to figure it all out for ourselves. And with another half hour of no action under our belts, we decided to make the move to Spring creek. And as we navigated our way out of the creek with lights now on, we could see why the trout weren't willing to commit to our flies - The water was still well stained.

Curtis' 1st mouse caught brown

A new start was what we needed, and as we started out for the stream Jessie said what we all were thinking - “I have a good feeling.” A feeling that would be proven right over the next hour or so.

Spring creek was fantastic, even though it took a little while for it to happen. Fish began to respond to our fly patterns with splashes and pulls, and then, as Curtis fished a new spot with a new mouse pattern – it happened – Fish on!! Finally one of us put a fish in the net. A few pictures later and Curtis gently released his first mouse caught brown trout. We were now on the board – well – at least Curtis was!

By then our fishing time was nearing its end, but not before we tried one more spot at Jessie’s suggestion before the walk to the car.

For the next twenty minutes we each hooked up and landed fish including a really nice fifteen inch wild brown, and as I was walking out, I watched as both Curtis and Jessie hooked up again. 

15 inch wild brown

A little bit later I got a text from Jessie letting me know that they each landed several more nice trout before the action slowed.

What a night!

One of the mouse patterns we used.

One of Jessie's Spring creek browns

Curtis and a well fed 14" inch brown

I’m just glad we stuck it out till the end. Perseverance was our lesson on this evening….what a blessing!

Midnight Mousin'

The ride down to one of my favorite inland trout streams at dusk

Last month I had the pleasure of fishing with several friends in what will hopefully become an annual event – Midnight Mousing!

I have talked about doing this kind of fishing for years. I was curious to see if we would have a chance at a truly large fish in a small stream setting. But it wasn’t until last year that I finally made the commitment to just do it! And of course it was good. In fact surprisingly good. In weeks prior to my trip, my friend Lucas Carroll had provided me with a few good stories from his recent outings that made it sound almost unbelievable. But a first-hand experience made me a believer in how good it can be. In fact last year I was able to land quite a few trout with the largest being about sixteen inches – Not bad for a small stream.

The first of many that came to hand via the mouse

I am happy to say that this year’s fishing lived up to the high bar set by that August of just last year. In fact both of my fly fishing friends who joined me this year can also attest to the successes that can be found while tossing flies in the darkness. Both Bob Burrows and Jessie Hollenbeck of Wide Sky Fly Fishing had plenty of action with many fish landed between the two of them.

We had about one fish landed to every four or five strikes, slashes, boils and pulls. And we ended up landing a good dozen fish. That’s a lot of activity! Even though the ratio between fish landed to fish felt/hooked wasn’t all that great, you have to remember that you can barely see what’s going on, even right in front of you. So for me, it was a success!

A little better fish

The key for a better catch rate for me has been to wait until you feel the fish pull the fly. You may hear splashes and even see a glimmer of a boil or splash, but that doesn’t mean the fish has taken the fly. It is far better to let the fly sit and drift in the current and wait for the fish to come back and eat the fly, than to try and set the hook on anything and everything you see or hear. Being patient and waiting for that pull, has made all the difference in the world.

Bob fools one with a muddler

Jessie holds on of a few fine small stream wild brown trout that he brought to hand for the night

A little bit bigger fish that fell for a big old streamer

We didn’t get into any really big fish this year, but I am confident that in years to come we will be able to find a few fish between sixteen and twenty inches. It is going to take a lot of work and experimentation to find what will work the best, but I’m up to the task!