Midnight Mousing Trip – August 2017

Bob sends out a few nice loops before dark.

We have had a great end to our summer and I have much to catch up on. 

I always try and do a late night fly fishing trip to our local stream during the dog days of summer. I make sure to pick a night near or on the new moon, and when the water is low and clear. This gives us the best opportunity for success.

Last year I didn’t even try and get out on the stream, because of how poor the fishing conditions had been over the past few years. The local trout population had suffered greatly since we had to back to back bitterly cold winters. The locations that we usually could find plenty of fish were now vacant, and up until this past winter, seemed to be on a very slow rebound.

The fish and the fishing are now starting to make their way back, but it will still be a few years before the stream begins to fish as well as it did before.

Midnight fly change

This year my good friend Bob and I decided to start at a new location. It was a section of stream up from where we normally fish that receives plenty of stocking during late March and into April, depending on stream conditions. Sure it gets plenty of pressure from all kinds of anglers throughout the spring and summer, but I also know that in those same areas, bigger holdover and wild trout can be a pleasant surprise.

Arriving with plenty of light to rig up our rods, we fished a nice pool below the bridge before the darkness set in. We worked it over pretty well, but no fish came to hand.

We then walked way downstream, tied on high-riding mouse patterns, fished a great looking tailout, and worked our way back up slowly.

We fished our mouse patterns on the swing and with a constant slow and steady strip. In all that time, we only had two or three fish come up and give a good pull, but none of them could stay hooked.

With just a couple of hours or so left, we then headed to a section of stream that we had spent a good amount of time in fishing at night. It is a place, that in the past, we could always count on catching at least a few trout before heading home. Even here, the fishing started off incredibly slow. I was beginning to think that the fishing that I had experienced earlier in the year was just a fluke. And that the fish, were not rebounding like I thought.

Finally on the board!

Over the next half hour or so we flogged the water, until I heard a loud splash followed by a hard pull. It was the first trout of the night. We were on the board!

Over the course of the remainder of our time we had just a few more good pulls, but none of those made it to the net. We left the stream that night feeling fulfilled and tired, and perhaps most importantly, hopeful. Hopeful of the future of this stream and the trout that reside within it’s ever winding course. 

The fishing that we used to experience is still a little ways off. In the meantime, I plan to try and get out when I can enjoy the fish that are there and willing to take a fly.

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!

Late May family fishing

Katie with a rather chunky brook trout

Fishing for me has been an elusive activity as of late. A busy schedule always seems to be the excuse.

I am hoping that this fall will provide more opportunities. Besides I have a new camera to experiment with and I can’t think of a better way to learn its operation than taking lots of photos of fish and fall colors.

But until then, I’m regulated to look back on some early summer fishing trips that have provided me with enough good memories to keep the fire burning.

So here are a few photos from a late May family fishing adventure we had at Oatka creek.

We caught trout on streamers, nymphs and dry flies. All fish were released.

Ready for release

Jonathan did very well while fishing an #14 tan Elk hair caddis

My wife's 1st ever fly caught trout

Even Dad got into the action while nymphing with the 2 weight