Fly Fishing at Night & Not Getting Bit in the Face

“Things that go bump in the night” is hardly a frightening phrase in the context of fly fishing.

The bump is precisely what you’re looking for. A fish eating your fly, responding out of the darkness, is the whole point. It isn’t as though fishing at night is the same as, say, ophiology at night. Identifying snakes in the dark is a bad idea. For one, you can recite “red to black, friend to Jack” until you’re blue in the face… because you didn’t see it was actually a venomous coral snake the whole time, and it had been biting your face. But I digress.

So, are you scared of fly fishing at night?

(Maybe you weren’t before, but you are now, knowing that you could get bit in the face by a coral snake.)

Here are some benefits:

  • You get to go fishing.
  • Fish feed at night.
  • There are fewer people fishing at night.
  • Chances are that your children and your job don’t require your attention at night.*

*Don’t leave your children alone. That is what your spouse is for.**

**This isn’t to say that your spouse doesn’t require your attention. Bring her some ice cream.

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Last Cast of the Week, 4/21/2017

Most Fridays on Casting Across are  devoted to other people’s contributions in the fly fishing community. Articles, pictures, social media accounts, videos, podcasts, products, and more will be featured on The Last Cast of the Week.

Today, I’m sharing items from Fly Fishers International, PA Fish & Boat Commission, &  IndiFly / Sight Line Provisions.

If you’d like to be featured in the Last Cast of the Week, or have seen something that others might be interested in, use my contact form or shoot me an email (matthew[at]castingacross[dot]com). Also, be sure to subscribe to Casting Across to never miss a post.

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Fly Fishers International

Ever heard of Fly Fishers International? Sure you have: it is the new name for the International Federation of Fly Fishers (IFFF).  The name change is not simply for the sake of “rebranding.” From everything that the FFI has written, it seems like they are positioning themselves for engaging with the next generation and the culture of fly fishing in the 21st century.  If you’ve only ever thought there was one major fly fishing / conservation group, then take a moment to check out the new FFI.

PA Fish & Boat App

Have you ever tried to navigate a state conservation organization’s website on a mobile device. Miserable. Between the numerous menus, options, images, and formats – formatted in varying success for smaller resolutions – the experience can run the gamut from awful to impossible. The Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission has put their regulations, stocking schedules, and other pertinent information on an app. Although this is only one tiny part of the overall picture when it comes to what a state can/should do, these are contemporary moves that allow citizens to engage with their agencies.

IndiFly /  Sight Line Provisions

I learned about IndiFly through a bracelet (it is a really nice bracelet from a company you should definitely check out). IndiFly is a group that uses fly fishing to conserve fisheries and support indigenous peoples.  The injection of interest and financial investment can go a long way when it comes to placing a buffer between remote and imperiled environments and harmful change. Relationships, through fly fishing, are the key that gets the whole thing going. Want an interesting trip of a lifetime that accomplishes more than giving you a great weekend? Check out IndiFly.

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Lyme: Avoid Getting Ticked While Fly Fishing

Three years ago I was at work, sitting at my desk, when I realized something was off. I had gone for a run that morning, but it wasn’t a route that was particularly long or rugged.  Nevertheless, my ankles, knees, and hips felt like they’d been through a rough game of football.

By no means am I a hypochondriac. This, however, was not normal for an active man of around 30 years old. I did have a previously  scheduled doctor’s appointment that I was able to move to that afternoon.

“Have you found any ticks?” was her first question. I hadn’t.

“Well, we’ll run the test,” she said, “And take a few doses of doxycyclene, just in case.”

Again, I hadn’t found any ticks on myself. There was no bulls-eye rash. I was just exhausted and sore.

I went home that afternoon and slept until evening. Waking up, I felt a little better and decided to take a shower. Sure enough, there was a clear bulls-eye rash that had developed on my thigh. Within an hour, I got a call from the lab saying I had tested positive for Lyme disease.

On a positive note, I felt great the next day. I went back to work, did some chores in the yard, and even  was back to running. That was a blessing. Many people aren’t that fortunate, either due to a late diagnosis, a misdiagnosis, or simply their reaction to the bacteria.

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Outcarped

I stood there, tenkara rod in hand, and stared at the grass carp.

In all seriousness, it had to have been nearly four feet long. It’s back and tail were out of the water, and what was exposed of this creature was bigger than most trout I catch. I could see its mouth opening and closing from time to time. It looked like I could have fit my fist into its maw.

I made a cast to it, consciously suppressing the instinctive mental process of playing out the most likely scenarios. Many of these would result in a lost fly, a lost fish, or a broken rod.

Suddenly the line went tight. Not a slamming take like a bass, just a hard pull in the opposite direction. I set the hook and the water exploded. The carp did a 180-degree turn and sent splashes up onto the bank. However, the stimuli I was taking in with my eyes betrayed what I was feeling with my hands. The throbbing and tugging didn’t match up with the violent run I saw the carp take.

As quick as I set the hook and became very confused, I saw the sunfish surface. In hooking this panfish right in front of the carp, I spooked the much larger animal.

Upon releasing the (quite nice, actually) sunfish, I allowed the suppressed cognitive simulations to remind me that I was under-gunned and outmatched. That carp would have taken my seventeen feet of line and tippet in a direct angle away from me, and the rod would have snapped at any number of places.

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Gone Fishing: Wild


This morning I had about two hours before an appointment. Since said appointment is a fly fishing appointment, it seemed fitting that I “pre game” with some time on the water.

Driving from my home into the mountains, I passed dozens of great streams. I could have fished for early season bass. There were trout streams and ponds in a number of environments.

However, I wanted to fish somewhere wild.

It took a little longer to get there. Consequently, I didn’t get to fish as long as I’d like. And to be honest, that probably reduced the amount of fish that I caught.

But where I was, it was spectacular. Rugged cliffs, clean cold water, and I was all by myself.

I am not at the place in my life and/or fishing career where I can honestly say that I am “just about the experience.” I still want to catch trout, and big ones at that. From time to time, I do get glimpses of what fishing just for the experience is all about.

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Midges: Little Purchases that help Fishing Little Flies

Earlier I wrote a post on fly fishing midges. I mentioned some preliminary matters, general fly selection, and some important distinctive techniques. Today, as a follow up, I’d like to provide some greater detail regarding the gear and accessories that can really be helpful on the water when you’re fishing the smallest of flies.

Books

While you don’t need a book to get out and fish flies size 22 or smaller, having a comprehensive resource is going to be incredibly helpful. Midge Magic is an excellent, practical book on midges. Any of Ed Koch’s books on midges are worth reading. Patterns, leader formulas, and general tactics, when laid out in front of you on the printed page, are invaluable.

Boxes

You need to put your flies somewhere, obviously. And while any old box will work, it won’t work well for midges. In my experience, tiny dry fly hooks aren’t well suited for foam or silicone slots. Thus, compartment boxes are the way to go. Risen Fly makes a great little box that can do double-duty for midges. The covered compartments give the tiny flies security, and the sloped edges allow you to slide individual midges out. On the other half, the foam gives you a short-term drying option or space for a few larger bugs.

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Midges: The Big Deal of Fishing Little Flies

When I close my eyes and think of fly fishing, one of the most immediate images that comes to mind is a long, glassy pool. Across the surface there are intermittent dimples – sure indications of feeding fish. These riseforms come quickly, and sometimes in successive clusters. Some are larger, but most are smallish. The season of this scene is inconsequential, because the trout are rising to midges.

I am not sure if there is a certain size that a fly has to be to fall into the “midge” category. Some people think that a size 20 is small, but that is hardly a legitimate midge. Certain patterns are actually called midges, but tying that fly on a size 8 hook doesn’t keep it under that classification. Furthermore, I struggle with lumping chronomids and miniscule nymphs that are essentially tiny hooks wrapped in wire in with some of the more noble midges.

Again, this isn’t a very scientific observation. Truth be told, it probably isn’t even a good taxonomical approach to fly box sorting.

But there is just something about a delicate cast, a drag-free length of 7X tippet, and a microscopic dry fly being eaten by a trout.

Getting Started

There is a lot more to it than that, of course. “Yeah, like finding the **** things in my fly box!” you might say. Or, “giving myself an aneurysm from squinting and trying to get the spider-web-thin line through the microscopic hook eye!” I won’t argue that there are some real challenges in simply getting to the point of being able to fish size 26 or 28 flies. The tips-n’-tricks advice I have it to invest in a threader box. I don’t use one (yet) but they work like a charm.

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Last Cast of the Week: Virginia Fly Fishing and Wine Festival

Most Fridays on Casting Across are  devoted to other people’s contributions in the fly fishing community. Articles, pictures, social media accounts, videos, podcasts, products, and more will be featured on The Last Cast of the Week.

Today, I’m sharing  information on the Virginia Fly Fishing & Wine Festival.

If you’d like to be featured in the Last Cast of the Week, or have seen something that others might be interested in, use my contact form or shoot me an email (matthew[at]castingacross[dot]com). Also, be sure to subscribe to Casting Across to never miss a post.

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Virginia Fly Fishing & Wine Festival

“Another fly fishing show?!?  It’s April – I should be fishing.”

A) If you live in the Mid-Atlantic, the past few weeks’ rain have probably brought most rivers to levels where fly fishing is going to be tricky this week.

B) This show is worth it.

Conveniently located off I95 , right outside of Richmond, this event keeps growing and growing.  The speaker list is extensive,  with names like Lefty Kreh, Bob Clouser, and  Dave Whitlock on the schedule. Seminar topics and vendors go way beyond the region; Maine, Cuba, and New Zealand are a few of the destinations that are highlighted.

A distinctive of the Virginia Fly Fishing & Wine Festival is that it is truly a family-oriented affair. The winery aspect is obvious, with a number of prominent vineyards attending. Additionally, this is probably the most “kid-friendly” show around. The local Trout Unlimited Youth Camp is holding family fly fishing classes,  Boy Scouts can earn merit badges, and kids can try their hand at fly tying.

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Fly Fishing for Coelacanth

I just want to say this up front: I don’t know if coelacanth is singular, plural, or both. For the sake of this post I’m going to assume that the obscurity of this fish is going to hide my ignorance.

Imagine catching a brook trout in an urban waterway in New York City. That would be impressive. You’d probably be shocked; maybe even think that someone played a trick on you. However, in the grand scheme of things it isn’t like char have been extirpated from Manhattan for that long. Less than four centuries ago there were big, hungry brookies swimming where skyscrapers and Starbucks abound today.

Now imagine catching something that has been thought to be gone for thousands of years. Not just gone from a stream, a region, or a continent. Extinct from the whole world. And not just for thousands of years, but for much longer.

Do that, and you might have a little bit of a notion as to how Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer felt when she found herself looking at a freshly harvested coelacanth. You know, the fish that is related to lungfishes and tetrapods. More significantly, the fish that the scientific establishment heartily believed had been extinct since the Cretaceous. You know, supposedly 66 million years ago.

I wonder if anyone lost their job or had some accolades posthumously removed after that little blunder. “By ‘extinct for 66 million years,’ what I really meant was ‘I didn’t look off the coast of South Africa… or Indonesia.’ My bad. At least I wasn’t the guy who thought that gorillas were a myth!”

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4 of the Last Places You’d Look for Fish

Never forget that fish can live virtually anywhere.

Specifically, within a lake or river environment, you can find a fish in almost any place. There are some stereotypical spots that most fly fishers concentrate on: the big plunge pools, undercut banks, deep riffles. Those are all incredibly productive areas that deserve your attention.

However, in pressured fisheries or during a period of high/low flows a lot can be gained from probing some varied sections of a stream. Here are four types of water that might deserve a few casts the next time you head out:

Skinny Riffles

By nature, moving water creates sort of an optical illusion. We almost always think it is shallower than it really is. Shallow riffles, in particular, can look like nothing more than inches of water rushing over rocks. In reality, inches are all that a fish needs to hold and feed. Think of the size of trout that can sit in six inches of water and stay completely submerged! Furthermore, just because a wide swath of the riffle is four or five-inches deep doesn’t mean that there aren’t some deeper depressions that make perfect lies for fish.

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