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 Post subject: Fly fishing at night
PostPosted: Sat Nov 19, 2016 6:09 pm • # 1 
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In the late fall and winter I keep up my daily routine of fly fishing by hitting the ponds after dark. In general, the fishing is more productive than during daylight. Around the first week or December, the blue gills catch falls off but the bass caught are generally larger than during the warmer months. Currently the bass I catch are widely distributed in the pond but as the waters cools most of the catch will be close to concrete bridges.
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Above picture was taken by my son Joe who enjoyed catching some nice bass with me after dark. Joe was using UL baitcasting (a technique I taught him).
The above was caught with a #3 three forks using a #8 yuk bug. Joe and I caught about 8 bass in 30 minuets with most falling to Joe's UL, but my catch included some nice gills.

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Here's another on a different night caught with the 3wt 3 forks and a #8 yuk bug

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A gill caught with a 3wt native custom with a #8 bead headed wolly bugger.


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 Post subject: Re: Fly fishing at night
PostPosted: Sat Nov 19, 2016 6:38 pm • # 2 
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Great way to spend an evening! :applause


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 Post subject: Re: Fly fishing at night
PostPosted: Sat Nov 19, 2016 10:10 pm • # 3 
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Nice catches. May have to get out there in the dark myself. I've always found that casting at night helps improve technique since its all about timing and feel.


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 Post subject: Re: Fly fishing at night
PostPosted: Sun Nov 20, 2016 5:52 pm • # 4 
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Nice report. A friend and I went out one night for the evening hatch on the Davidson in Pisgah NF, NC. I caught tree limbs & rocks. He caught a bat.


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 Post subject: Re: Fly fishing at night
PostPosted: Mon Nov 21, 2016 7:55 pm • # 5 
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Dang, thats some good fishing!

I'm on a dry spell. 10 days on one of our big rivers with no fish and probably a half dozen trips to the lake by me without so much as a nibble. :(

A couple months ago I did toss in a rat fly at the lake at night and snagged three bass back to back.


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 Post subject: Re: Fly fishing at night
PostPosted: Wed Nov 23, 2016 5:38 pm • # 6 
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Fly fishing at night has it's challenges. If gators and snakes are active in the area, I don't feel comfortable at night; not a problem in cooler months and gators are scarce in the
area I live and fish in now.

When we had our North Texas UL fly fishing get together this summer, Linecaster offered a suggestion that's been very useful for night fly fishing: modify a fly line to form a shooting
head and use short back casts. Implementing Linecaster's suggestion has been extremely helpful for night fly fishing. Loading the rod with the short backcast so that no false casting
is needed keeps me out of trees and bushes. I haven't hung many flies in trees since implementing the short back cast.....helps with the fishing budget too.


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 Post subject: Re: Fly fishing at night
PostPosted: Sat Nov 26, 2016 6:05 pm • # 7 
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Wow I feel good Jim, glad it has worked out for you. I have found that the Skagit type roll cast also works with the short head. Night fishing much easier on the short head.


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 Post subject: Re: Fly fishing at night
PostPosted: Sun Dec 04, 2016 10:22 pm • # 8 
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Wanted to post the catch tonight. Photos are lousy so I'll post one, caught 3. Fly casting can get confusing at night when your not getting the results you expect. I've decided to fish the 3 forks 3 wt with several home-made shooting heads for night fishing this winter. Sticking with this set up will eliminate some confusion. The shooting head I used tonight was a 13 ft, level 8wt; this was attached to the backend of a 5wt WF (5wt running line). The fly I was using was a 1/0 purple Joe pawn. A normal cast with this fly, rod and fly line set up is 47 ft (measured this afternoon in a trial run). Only the head and a foot of the running line are used in the backcast and there is no false cast.


Image


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 Post subject: Re: Fly fishing at night
PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2016 5:44 am • # 9 
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Very nice! Congrats!


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 Post subject: Re: Fly fishing at night
PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2016 10:21 am • # 10 
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Glad to hear the heads are working Jim. Nice bass there too.


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 Post subject: Re: Fly fishing at night
PostPosted: Mon Dec 05, 2016 11:20 pm • # 11 
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Nice!!


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 Post subject: Re: Fly fishing at night
PostPosted: Fri Dec 09, 2016 6:44 pm • # 12 
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Last night was the coldest we have had so far. 35 by the weather report; I had to clear ice from my guides so maybe colder

ImageW
Was fishing my 3 forks 3 wt, 13 ft shooting head and #1 purple joe pawn.

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First bass caught in 1 foot of water next to the concrete retaining wall. He was the smallest at 12 inches or so (guessing). The second must have been close to 2 lbs caught in a couple feet of water about 10 feet from a bridge.

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The third had to be between 2 and 3 lbs in 3 feet of water, about 8 feet from the wall.

This last one I caught on the way home from work this afternoon on a #8 chartuese cone head, rubber legged wolly. He hit in a foot of water but there was a
hole close by.

Image

It should be colder tonight and if it is and I catch anything I'll post it. Come on cold weather!


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 Post subject: Re: Fly fishing at night
PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 2:05 pm • # 13 
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Jim you da man fishing in that cold weather. Seriously I would not have believed bass would bite in cold water and with a cold norther having just blown thru. Thanks for posting.


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 Post subject: Re: Fly fishing at night
PostPosted: Sat Dec 10, 2016 8:26 pm • # 14 
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Eric, yes and if they had not been feeding I don't think they would have been so shallow. Caught nothing last night but the area I caught them in the night before had alot of surface debris and difficult to fish; still I tried other areas and no hits.
Tonight the wind has shifted from the south blowing the debris elsewhere and of course it's warmed up. I'll give it a go, it's a good way to end the day.


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 Post subject: Re: Fly fishing at night
PostPosted: Tue Dec 13, 2016 8:08 pm • # 15 
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The weather here in North Texas cooled again last night and I caught a few fish. The two days before the weather warmed and I caught nothing.

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I hooked another about the size of the one above but he got loose a foot from my hand.

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The above was smaller than the other two. All three took a #1 purple joe pawn fished with a 3 forks 3wt, shooting head was 8ft of #8. The quality of fight from these
bass this winter is excellent and that really has me excited looking forward into the winter...hope it holds up.

The last was a surprise catch after I switched to a #6 bead head purple wolly. This is the latest in the year I can recall catching a gill.

My casting with the 3 forks 3wt, large flies, 8 and 13 foot shooting heads has really stabilized and getting good results every evening. Tonight I am switching
to my 3wt Native Custom. If I am lucky enough to get hook ups, this 7ft fiberglass 3wt will make for some exciting hook ups.

Image


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 Post subject: Re: Fly fishing at night
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2016 12:11 am • # 16 
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Keep the candle burning Jim, thanks for the reports, nice winter fish. Nice Blue Gill. The only reason why you are catching is because you are fishing.


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 Post subject: Re: Fly fishing at night
PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2016 12:24 am • # 17 
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Thats an inspiring report for cold weather bassin! Good job.


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 Post subject: Re: Fly fishing at night
PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 8:23 pm • # 18 
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Thanks for the comments Eric, Joe.
Interesting comment Eric, catching because fishing.
Alot of us, and I know I do, try to reason the factors that contribute to our catches but the conclusions
are speculative. If we consider catching a fish an experiment and try to repeat the experiment
to prove the conclusion, repeating the experiment is impossible on several accounts.
The only conclusion we can be sure of is, as you stated, "catching is because you are fishing".

Tuesday night I caught 3 bass and lost 1. Last night just 1. Tuesday I was fishing with my 7ft 3wt, native custom. Catching the
fish on the native custom was great fun but casting the #1 joe pawn stressed the shoulders more that fishing the 3 forks. Last
night I experimented with a 5 wt, 7.5ft but the #8, 13ft shooting head didn't load it well.

Don't have time to post pictures tonight but will still try to slip out of the house and get in 45 min of fly casting before bed time.


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 Post subject: Re: Fly fishing at night
PostPosted: Sat Dec 17, 2016 10:16 am • # 19 
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Here are the three from Tuesday night caught with a 7ft #3 native custom, #1 Joe pawn with a level #8 8ft shooting head.

Image

Image

Image

I think the last one shown here was my largest night bass of the year. They were great fun on that native custom fiberglass, but compared to the 3 forks 3 wt
the native custom works the shoulder more. Frankly, in the past few years I've been doing night fishing in the winter, graphite has fished better for me.

Nothing since tuesday except for one on Wednesday on a 5wt. Looking forward to the cold front coming though later this weekend. Seriously considering experimenting with some other locations at night to see if I can uncover another winter/night hot spot. Hard to give up fishing a spot that produces and
move on, but I've managed to do it before.


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 Post subject: Re: Fly fishing at night
PostPosted: Sat Dec 17, 2016 11:36 am • # 20 
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Thanks for the update Jim those are some nice bass.


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