[Alex C.]

I have always loved night fishing. But all my experience is on lakes from a canoe or from shore with a spinning rod. Now after getting a couple flyfishing trips under my belt I was wondering how the heck you guys fish at night on rivers? Wading in particular, seems like you could step in an area a little deeper than your waders pretty easily. Add to that it seems like you'd get a lot moe snags also. How do you know where you're casting to, as far as a particular hole of structure etc.? Do you guys wear a life jacket? There was a hole I was fishing the other day, and to get close enough for a cst you kind of had to wade out onto a "underwater penninsula" in the river. Now if I was fishing there at night it would take 10 minutes just to make sure I didn't step off of it cause I'd lose my hat. I have a headlamp but am curious if that would spook fish trying to watch an indicator, etc with it.

[Tim Smith]

I fish browns at night alot, its best to fish the water a couple times in the day light to get the feel on where stuff is, also take a wading stick with ya so you can feel around for the deep holes. I have a vest with a Co2 inflatable collar just incase i go floating down stream hehee.
avoid light sources if all possible, don't shine the light on the water at all, the fish will bolt. I fish by feel and sound and after about a hour out there you can see mostly what you are doing.
Big muddler minnows, deer hair mice, wooly boogers, etc are great flies to throw.
Get some of those fly clips for your line, its whole mess easier than trying to rety in the dark.
bring a pair of gloves too, there is a chance of catching a bat while casting.

-T

[Alex C.]

Thats what my plan is

[Sean Juan]

I do most of my fishing at night, although working the ocean is a lot different than a river there are a few pointers.

Use furled leaders - knots suck in the dark the fewer the better

Avoid light - you'll be amazed just how good your night vision will get but even a flash of light will ruin it.

Know the water - basically if you know a spot you can use your IMAGINATION to help you cast and to avoid danger - hey according to Plato thats all any of us are doing anyways so if you don't like my advice blame yourself since I'm just a figment of your IMAGINATION .

[Tim Smith]

You'll have no problem hearing a brown feeding at night, they loose all common sence and throw alot of water around so they sound like someone throwing rocks in the water. I fish top water flies until I get a hit (ive seen brownies come clean out of water and do a cartwheel), they will normally hit a couple times on the same fly, and if they loose interest i'll throw a big streamer.
Brown trout fishing at night is a completly different game than in the light.
-T

[steeldrifter]

The most important thing to fishing at night is to make sure you fish the area during the day first. Personaly I WONT fish a spot in the dark unless its a spot that I have fished many times during the day and know exactly where all the deep water, holes, logs, rocks, etc are. just like the other guys said keep the light off the water, I have found that using a LED light that casts a glow rather than a beam is the best to use, and you can get them in red so that glow is not that bright but yet will help you when tying on a fly.

Far as knowing where your fly is the best thing to do is to practice stripping out a certian amount of line during the day and making note of how many pulls it takes to get that amount of line out. Its all about being about to judge how much line you really have out without being able to see it so just practice.

SD

[Alex C.]

Is there a time of year/ water temp when night fishing really picks up? Seems like it'd be really slow in the spring and pick up as the water temps rose. Or is night time activity always more active than daylight fishing?

[steeldrifter]

Browns are pretty much nocturnal here in our state skunked so the big boys are usually on the prowl during the night. If I had to say a certian time of year that night fishing is better then I'd say summer. During the summer when the day temps are in the 80/90's the fish will become more active once the cooler darkness falls on the rivers. Plus you have the Hex&Drake hatches at night during the summer so that adds to it as well.

SD

[Joe Hard]

As stelldrifter said durring summer with the temps and hatches of large may's the browns will move alot more so being precise with you casting is not as crucial as you might think. Another thing to try and will produce strikes is skating the fly at the end of the drift . The browns will come out of nowhere as they will think that the fly is caught in the film and trying to escape and take flight. Make sure you have a good heart because it is sort of like deer hunting and seeing a huge trophy buck. Hearing violent splashes, from trophy fish kinda makes the old ticker pound.