The amazing muddler does it again...
Stopped by a stocked trout kettle pond on the way home tonight. Have made a few trips to this pond of late and am really enjoying it. Partly motivated by reading Roy Ls recent article about catching Brown Trout at night in the New England Edition of On The Water Magazine. I had seen his photos last fall on another forum and the article got me motivated to get out a try with the fly rod (he often uses jointed Rapalas).
First trip last week went very well with me taking 5 rainbows after dark on a #8 Flashdancer Muddler. The timing last week was ideal as the fish were extremely active. In addtion to the caught fish there were numerous hits and a couple thrown hooks. The water was alive with boils when I arrived at sunset and the fish stayed active well over an hour after dark.
I was thrilled with the results and it motivated me to go back the next night. Arriving at sunset again it wasn't quite as active with fewer rises but still a gorgous glass calm fall evening. I fished a sparrow and a woolly bugger a short time but put the flashdancer on at dusk. Hooked up with my first fish on my second cast with the flashdancer. A sweet 15-16 inch brown. Only stayed another half hour but managed a larger brown and a small rainbow making for a very nice outing overall.
Fished the same water over the weekend but the weather was wild Saturday with warm summer like gusty winds ahead of a strong cold front that dumped a good amount of rain on the region that night. Fishing was slow with only a couple of rainbows for several hours of steady fishing.
Tonight I arrived just at sunset and the lake could not have been prettier. There were several people down by the mirror like waters capturing the stunning foliage reflecting off the ponds surface. Three fly fisherman were waist deep on a point on the opposite shore and one was fast to a fish when I caught my first glimpse of them. A couple of them turned out to be the regulars who I've seen there on recent visits which I discovered when they moved over to fish nearby. Very generous guys sharing both info, flies and waters. Doesn't get any better.
One offered a me a nice #18 loop tail griffeths gnat just before dark but it might have been a bit too late as the surface action dropped off or at least that's what I blaming my lack of hookup on
. Anyway I will try that
one earlier next time as it seemed to work well for them.
The beautiful evening was rudely interupted by an agressive unleashed dog whose owner choses not keep leashed or properly monitor the animals activites. Then spent 15-20 mins with headlights shining on the lake while chasing the animal around.
Certainly enjoyed the peacefulness that much more once they finally vacated though. Meanwhile I had switched from the gnat to a flashdancer muddler. Worked that extensively around a point then down the shoreline in the glow of the moonlight. Very little in the way of surface activity. Just the occasional rise now. Decided to try my white shiner muddler to see if they liked the white better with the bright waxing moonlights glow. The fly I had was a size 6 so a bit bigger than the flies I have been having success with previously.
Worked that for sometime along a short stretch of beach trying different retrieves with no interest what so ever. Now the temperatures drop is really becoming noticable as my hands begin to cramp ever so much and I can just make out my breath upon exhahling. Times just about up. So I am in a quandry. Do I throw on a Marabou soft hackle streamer or stick it out and stay on top. Well don't you know a fish rises within casting distance at this point so my choice is made. Stay on top.
But I want to change up so I select a small standard muddler I had in my box which I think was purchased at Ocean State Job lot from lot of 3M skyomish flies they blew out last year. Well that seemed to be the ticket I needed. As I only now had time for a couple of casts and just as I was enjoying the Whoo Whoo..Whoo Whoo echoing across the pond and thinking about leaving I was snapped back to reality by the pull of the line.
I was caught so offguard I almost forgot to set the hook. Thankfully the vintage glass rods forgiving nature kept the fish from getting the upper hand and throwing the hook. The fish took near the start of the cast so I had to work it in quite a ways and it was putting a serious bend in that old glass rod! I had confidence though as I had a fresh leader with 8lb test so I knew I could horse him in without too much worry. You don't go fishing for big browns at night with 2lb test tippet
.
I was very pleasently surprised when I finally backed the fish into shore after the long fight and first cast my headlamps led glow across its beautiful markings. It took a bit for it to register as I have never caught one before but I am pretty sure it is a hybrid tiger trout and a beauty at that. If anyone feels otherwise feel free to correct me.
If you are only going to get one fish might as well be a nice 17 incher like this one-
