Things work out in interesting ways sometimes, had I not gone out with Carl two days prior I might have not fished the last day of the season which would have broken a three year tradition. Being busy with work and other obligations saw me missing hours of trout fishing until I got home. I tried to get ahold of Carl but he was busy catching trout in another valley void of cell reception and not wanting to miss out I took what I learned from Carl a couple days before and decided to go it alone. I took note of the type of water we fished, racked my brain for another location that I knew and took off as soon as I got home. The drive to the creek saw the sun setting in my rearview mirror, as the light grew dim my foot grew heavy and the car flew to the stream. My goal was to arrive with enough time to hike into the remote section I wanted to fish with plenty of sun to get a handle on the situation before the lights went out. I was fortunate and my lead foot got me to the creek with more than enough sunlight to accomplish my goals. Rigged at the car I was hiking by 7pm, the first section I wanted to fish required a decent hike through a very thickly wooded section of forest. My only thought at the time was of the hike back through in the dead of night, part of me wanted the daylight to get in so I was forced to deal with the forest in the night, sort of a trial by fire, do or die, go or sit at home on your fat ass kind of deal.

I made it to my location with enough sunlight to sit and enjoy the scenery, eat a sandwich and drink a beer, things I rarely get to do while out fishing but I wasn’t fishing yet. I could have tied on a streamer and hit something near by but opted to sit and wait for the light to fade. Hunkered low with my eyes set on the first location I waited, waited and waited some more. Silent, my ears started picking up rustling in the distance as the light dimmed the noises got louder and closer yet I sat low in the tall weeds waiting until I couldn’t see my hands held in front of my face. When the time was right and I couldn’t wait any longer I made a series of casts to a smaller pool, afterwards I believe the current was too fast and my fly just couldn’t produce the wake followed by the pause to illicit a strike. I moved up and out to the next stretch, the bats were coming out in droves by this point. I could feel them running into my flyline while I was stripping my fly slowly back in. The second location turned out to be the best of the evening and I took over a dozen trout between 12-15inches in length over the course of the first hour fishing in the dark. The sky was clear and the stars were out illuminating the rock wall I was casting to, this made the casting a bit easier but thinking to what Carl had said regarding the presence of light I was pleased to see so many trout attempt to take the mouse pattern.

By the time I had fished to the head of the pool I had moved into an area where the clear sky was no match for the valley walls, it was pitch black. I made two casts to what I thought was a downed tree trying not to get my fly hung up. On the second cast, the third pause I got what I came for… an explosion. The fish didn’t stay on long but it proved that this is going to be an effective way to find the larger trout. I wasn’t dissapointed that I missed the trout, it was the heart pounding strike that I was excited to get. I’ve read that big trout don’t eat the mice straight away, rather they grab their prey and play with it under the surface before eating it, some texts and articles say you should pause and not set the hook for a bit. Try getting your brain to not signal your hands to do what they are trained to do when that big boy hits… it’s going to be damn hard to overcome that instant response.

After losing the big strike I decided it was time to make the trek back through the forest. I turned on my headlamp and looked to where I had to go, staring back at me were 8-10 sets of eyes clearly visible less than fifty yards in front of me. I had only one way I could go and that was through the forest, towards whatever it was that was out there with me. I grabbed another flashlight and made a bit of noise stumbling through the woods and never saw what was staring at me in the dark, I did however kick up a skunk who was not pleased to see me, thankfully he chose to spare me his wrath and I escaped without having to ride home to explain to Liz why I couldn’t step inside the house.

After trudging through the forest I fished two more locations that gave up a handful of trout each, by this point the airtemp was dropping quickly and I almost had to keep moving to keep the cold away. I planned the entire evening around the last section of creek, I felt it offered the best potential to produce larger fish in larger numbers. Hiking out of the woods and rounding the bluff I saw the potential for disaster. I had not anticipated a security light illuminating the creek and specifically the stretch I wanted to finish on. At 10:30pm I began fishing the last section up, it wasn’t until I was in the only spot that wasn’t directly illuminated by the light that I was able to bring trout to surface. I landed the last fish of the season at ~10:50pm and fished until the 11pm cut off. Not a bad way to end my third full season, trying something new, learning a bit about myself and a new take on fly fishing the Driftless Area.

Slide Show

I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some excellent fishermen as a result of this blog, those with similar ideals have contacted me and when things work out I get the opportunity to learn new skills and gain perspective from other anglers. A fella by the name of Carl had left me a couple notes and during my busy last week of the season his offer of a night adventure for big trout on a mouse pattern finally got to me, I had to go. We met at ~6pm, made the short drive then tackled the half hour hike into the middle of a secluded valley. I knew right away Carl and I were going to get along well as the trip to the stream yielded talk of all kinds of trouting. The sun came to rest as we hiked and was all but gone by the time we rigged our rods.

Taking a trout on a mouse pattern was high on my list of things to tackle in the Driftless Area and with Carl’s advice it became a reality at ~8pm. The sun was gone and I couldn’t see a thing, nothing. This is a totally different kind of fly fishing and Carl has it down to a science. Within minutes of casting I had a couple heart pounding strikes on my fly, the first couple I missed likely a result of setting the hook to early. I heard Carl’s voice just a bit away from me, he had hooked something… a freakin bat. Turning my head lamp on I could see dozens of bats skittering very close to the waters surface, apparently Carl has had this happen before. Shortly after the bat was removed I managed my first Brown on a mouse pattern. At ~12inches I could have gone home right then and there and been very pleased. A goal I’ve had for a couple years had just been completed but there was plenty of time left before the 11pm curfew and we had water to fish. For the next couple hours we would proceed to stumble through the night hearing the random rise from trout after trout.

Not knowing this water made it a bit more difficult, I didn’t have a daytime visual to referance in my brain and that made casting a bit more challenging. I got hung up a couple times and I lost a couple flies simply because I overestimated the distance I needed to cover with my cast resulting in a handful of mouse flies landed right in trees on the opposite bank. Carl put me on each spot and gave me clues as to how far I needed to cast and what obstructions were in the creek, valuable information when you can’t see a thing and turning the headlamp on would negate the opportunities we were after.

The sounds… sounds from all directions, animals, bats, the creek and rising trout. Carl had been out doing this for a while and was accustomed to tromping around in the middle of the night, this takes…balls, plain and simple. Frankly I was glad to have someone else around to get me accustomed to the idea of night fishing for trout in a secluded valley.  Each section we fished gave up trout, they just crushed the Morrish Mouse pattern I tied long ago for this exact moment. Many fish were missed, I’m convinced some of them were simply too small to get the #4 hook in their mouths, amazing the size of trout that would attempt to eat this fat offering. After each spot we would turn on the headlamps to get a better idea of where we were and what we had just fished, your depth perception goes with the light. As the night wore on and our time grew short Carl put me on a hole that had a spring feeding it from one side, shortly after I made my first cast I landed a gutty looking 14inch Brown, each cast after that produced a trout between 14 and 17inches all sporting fat bellies. I landed close to a dozen trout on a mouse pattern the first time I gave it a shot, this was primarily due to Carl’s instruction and allowing me to be the first one to fish each spot. At the stroke of 11pm we promptly made the thirty minute hike out of the valley in the pitch black. Carl, thanks for pushing me to get out this last week of the season, I can honestly say this was one of the best times I’ve had all season, heart pounding, adrenaline rushing adventure into the night. Thanks for that. For the rest of you, below are a couple general observations I gained from fishing with Carl. The potential for taking some of the largest trout in Southeast Minnesota exists with this style of fly fishing, if you can… try it, you won’t be disappointed.

General Observations:

• Cut your leader back to ~2-3ft long ending with 0x or a larger diameter mono.
• Attempt to make the loudest splash you can with your mouse pattern when you cast it.
• Pull ~3ft of line in over 3-4seconds (creating a small wake behind the pattern) then allow a pause lasting 2-3 seconds. The trout tend to hit on the pause.
• Target slower wider areas of creek that you know to hold trout, this will allow the presentation above to be more affective.
• Bring a headlamp with a Red light function, do not fish with the headlamp on under any circumstances.
• Remember that the stream in the evening is the same as during the daylight hours, there is just more activity from everything out there.

Slide Show

To take a trout with one of these. I picture it going down something like this… After a good long day of fishing the Driftless Area during spring/summer I will migrate towards home, along the way I will make a mental note of any and all areas I know to hold larger trout. I’ll pull up right as the sun is setting behind the bluffs, rig up and head to the spot. I’ll get there earlier than needed but that’s the kind of guy I am. I’ll scope the situation out, put myself in the right spot and wait until the light fades.  When the time is right I’ll plop one of these guys near the head of a pool, throw in a big upstream mend to counter the pull of the strong current. I’ll let it drift a bit maybe half way through the pool, then I’ll twitch one of these furry beasts to my feet hoping for the opportunity to take a Driftless Area trout on a mouse. This should pose a decent challenge, I’m sure I’ll let you know how it goes but first it’s got to warm up a bit around here.