Fishing for trout at night is very rewarding if your aim is
to catch consistently bigger fish than seem to be about in daylight. Last month I wrote
about my introduction to trout fishing at night.
In this article I want cover some of the things I have learned since, about this fascinating
aspect of our sport.
Most people who fish at night concentrate their efforts around lake edges
where rivers and streams enter the lake (the rip). There is a good reason for this. It
is much easier than fishing on a river in the black of night. Fish seem to congregate
around stream and river mouths. In the warmer months they come in to feast on smelt that
swarm in the shallows near these mouths.
In winter, spawning
trout congregate before making their dash up the river.
Most fishermen who fish river and stream mouths make a beeline for the
centre of the rip, cast out and retrieve up the rip. Many catch fish using this method,
but it is my observation that the fishermen who catch the most, and biggest fish, do
not fish in the main rip where the river enters the lake.
In the diagram hereabouts I have attempted to illustrate the dynamics of
a typical rip. The diagram is not to scale, but designed to show how most rips develop,
and the prime positions to fish.
The first point to note about a typical rip is that almost invariably a
rip will after flowing into the lake, bend and travel along the lake shore. Sometimes,
especially after high on-shore winds, the rip may run very close to the shore. It is
in any situation the wind direction that determines the direction of the rip once it
has entered the lake. The wind will build currents in a lake, and it is these currents
that push against the rip and govern its direction.
At some point the rip usually turns back towards the shore and forms an
eddy that meets up with the main rip. Where this eddy turns back on the main flow may
be only fifty to one hundred metres down the shore, but it can be up to and over 500
metres.
There is an easy way to find these currents. In Taupo a handful of small
pumice pebbles thrown onto the rip in daylight will go with flow and reveal the main
currents.
The prime fishing spots are shown, and ranked alphabetically. ‘A’ is best,
‘B’ is next and so on.
Position ‘A’ is the prime spot. Trout tend to move and feed into the current.
So feeding or moving fish make first contact with the rip down current from the mouth.
It is also true that it is at this point that the most feed is concentrated. Current
borne nymphs, insects, and smelt are held in the highest concentrations where the current
turns.
Position ‘B’ is the next best prime spot. This is where the eddy rejoins
the main rip, and is again a place where feed is concentrated. This position can be fished
either by casting directly out into the current and retrieving straight back up-current,
or casting as the line indicates, and allowing the fly to swing across the current,
before retrieving up the edge of the current. Using this cross-current casting angle
will be determined by how many people are in the rip. Casting across others lines is
not on.
Position ‘C’ is good for a ‘fan’ casting strategy. If 12 o’clock is straight
out into the lake, then start casting at 10 o’clock and work round to 3 o’clock. Using
this method while walking along the shore can be very productive.
Positions ‘D’ is right on the edge of the main rip where the river
or stream enters the lake. If conditions and other anglers allow, cast across the rip,
wait till the fly swings out to the current edge, and then begin the retrieve.
But in the black of night, how do you find these spots? Usually you can’t,
unless you have done some reconnoitring when you can see. My practice is the wander
down the shore in daylight to identify these spots and then make a marker; a scrape in
the sand, a couple of sticks, a pile of rocks, etc. that will let me know where to wade
when dark rolls in.
Wading in, now there is a subject that can stir things up. Far too many
anglers work on the erroneous presumption that the deeper you wade the more fish you
will catch.
I have watched on many occasions fish working behind anglers who have waded
out to over waist deep, and past the fish. I have caught fish behind the line-up of anglers.
The old trout fishing adage of fishing your feet first, may well have been
invented for lake fishing at night. Very often fish will be moving and feeding in water
not much deeper than knee-deep. This is especially true if the eddy is sweeping along
the shore.
If you are fishing near the ‘lip’ where the river meets the lake, wading
to deep could get you dead. A lip is formed at many river and stream mouths by a build
up of sand being pushed out by the river into the lake. Some river mouths, and the Waimarino
is a good (or bad) example. The sand lip can be six or more metres deep. Just like any
sand dune, if you stand near the edge, the sand will run away under your feet. There
is nowhere to go but down.
Apart from the danger, standing near the lip edge is counter productive.
Fish can be holding or feeding right up to the lip edge, and moving out there to cast
will only move the fish.
Having decided where to fish, the next decision is of course how to fish
the spot.
I use two main tactics.
The first set-up is a floating line, at least a 3 metre leader, to two
flies. The first something dark on a size six hook, usually made with a big black tuft
of marabou as wing, and a fluoro yellow body and tail – but any dark fly will do. Behind
that fly I tie in a size ten hook – dressed with two or three turns of aurora luminescent
skirt, and a couple or three threads of something bright, dark blue and shiny as a tuft
of a tail. A size ten hook? Too small! No. I seem to get more hits, and more secure hook-ups.
Mike at Taupo’s Fly and Gun shop put me onto these small hooks and it has really made
a big difference.
Retrieve this rig with a steady rate, but mix in a few twitches and pulls
to add a bit of extra life. If the current is moving the fly line I will often let the
line drift around and occasionally give the fly a twitch or two.
It is important to retrieve the fly to the point where just the leader
is out from the rod. Fish can hit anytime right up to the rod. But how do you know when
to stop retrieving before you pull the leader onto the rod? Before you go out, pull the
line out through the rod and with a metre of line out from the tip, dab two or three
bumps of Twink typing corrector, or a glob of knot glue, onto the line down near the
reel. In the dark these bumps are easy to pick up as you retrieve.
The second tactic I use, is to fish a luminescent booby fly, on a fast sinking shooting head. The booby is tied on
a size ten, long-shanked hook. The boobies made from black foam – the` body three or
so turns of aurora skirt – and a black marabou tail with some sparkly stuff. Use a less
than one metre leader. I often use just half a metre.
Cast it out let it settle on the bottom, then give it a couple of pulls
– less than half a metre – let it settle again, then repeat.
These two main tactics cover most fishing situations, but when a change
is called for try these.
On flat calm nights when fish can be heard working but you cannot get a
touch using the methods above, tie on a black luminescent booby, size ten, to a long
leader, five metres or more, to a floating line. You can tie a small size ten luminescent
fly off to the bend of the hook if you must.
Before casting out make sure the booby’s marabou tail is wet.
Cast out, and let the fly settle on the surface, and if you are using a second fly, give
this fly time to sink. Then give the line a slow ten to twenty centimetre pull, and let
the fly settle again. The hits when they come using this method are savage. Be prepared
to let out line quickly to avoid a leader break, or a hook pull.
Sometimes fishing right in the rip is the place to be, especially when
fish are moving into the rivers or streams. My preference is to use a sink tip line or
an intermediate line. A fast sinking line tends to settle on the bottom and reduce lateral
movement of the flies. If the rip current is not strong try a floating line with a long
leader.
If fish are being taken way out in the rip, there is a lazy way to catch
fish. Cast out, then let out some more line to ensure that the fly sinks. Then retrieve
for 4 or 5 metres, stop retrieving and let the line drift back out in the current, and
retrieve again for 4 or 5 metres. This way your flies will spend the maximum time where
the fish are.
Night fishing is often an acquired taste. Many simply cannot handle the
general disorientation that occurs in the dark. But the more you fish at night the less
the disorientation.
Once you have experienced the sudden weight on the line somewhere out there
in the dark, that first slashing run, followed by a large splash as the fish takes to
the air, you will be as hooked as the fish.