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 Brown Trout: A Magical Night On The Midnight Express
Posted by BigBear on December 24, 2005
I had heard of others tying mice for fishing leopard bows in Alaska or pike but I had never tried them for myself. The rivers in my area were all high and dirty and there were no major hatches going on at the time. We were amidst the summer doldrums. Quite a bit of rain had fallen in the last week and even the spring creeks were high but not too of colored.
After work one day I was talking with a buddy and he said he had seen some nice browns in the creek below his house but he said they wouldn’t bit anything he had to offer refusing even the smallest dry flies. So I told him I should tie him some deer hair mice to try. I had a whole deer hide from the mule deer buck I shot the fall before so material was not a problem. I did some experimenting with different hooks and I settled on a wide gap hook with a long curved shank. I cut foam ears out and put moose mane whiskers on and even an elastic band tail. There I had
perfected the meadow vole that frequent the willow choked banks of our local spring creek. At work the next day I handed these mice to my buddy and he laughed when he saw how big they were and said “I might as well tie a dead chicken on the end of the line" Then asked how to fish them. I told him he should wait until it is real dark flip these mice out on to the water of a deep hole or beaver dam and start a slow noisy retrieve. Well the next morning he was so excited to tell me he had some major hits and landed about a 18 incher just before 11:30 pm. That night we returned to the creek and sat in the cold heavy dew of a June night watching the fire flies light the grass at our feet. I slipped down to the first piece of major structure at the top of a long beaver dam. I began to false cast and it felt like I have a live mouse on the end of the line. I finally got up enough line speed and laid my Mickey 20 feet below me in the slow current. Stripping line out another 10 feet put me in range. As the line tightened I could hear the mouse pull and gurgle against the current. The anticipation of the strike was killing me as my offering drew close to the shore below me, in the moonlight on the water I could see a wake approaching my fly. In a splash it was gone. The fish was on and 5 minutes later I blindly brought the fish close to shore. My buddy went down a beaver run to net it and he came out hollering well it is a "hawg". From that moment on we coined the phrase "welcome to the midnight express" as it was 1 minute to midnight and what an adrenaline rush. After we gather our thoughts and snapped a few pictures in the dark we headed downstream. I could make out a long sweeping corner on the dam from the reflection of the moon on the water. Stripping of a bunch of line, a lob cast was made and my fly found the edge of the grass on the opposite bank. The mouse road the current 10 then 20 then 30 feet downstream. At the corner I started a slow retrieve. About 10 feet into the retrieve a huge splash engulfed speedy Gonzales’s wake. Fish on! Another hard fight and the fish neared the shore as my headlamp shone in the water to see the beast that had devoured my offering. There he was head shaking on the bottom finally he gave up and came to hand. Yet another fine brown trout of 24 plus inches lay in net with a deer hair mouse in his yap. What a magical night on the "midnight express". I will be sure to pull this out of my fly box more often and take a ride.
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A Magical Night On The Midnight Express
by jeremy on December 24, 2005 http://www.ineedasimplesolution.com | | very sweet - i have never caught a fish on a mouse pattern. there are certainly lots of waters here in Maine that would be ideal for mouse patterns. especially at night. I have heard the mighty kennebec river is known to have some leviathan browns that spend the majority of their feeding time under the light of the moon. maybe this summer i will give it a shot ---- thanks for all the good info on how to fish it that pattern. |
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Re: Brown Trout: A Magical Night On The Midnight Express
by waterwhippa on December 24, 2005 http://salmonriverspecialists.com | | That sounds like quite the adrenaline rush. Nice read and beautiful fish |
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Re: Brown Trout: A Magical Night On The Midnight Express
by jeremy on December 24, 2005 http://www.ineedasimplesolution.com | big bear,
do you live in alaska? if so, this probably sounds kinda dumb - but i did not know that brown trout opportunities existed in alaska.... - let me know - thanks - welcome to fliesandfins.com. |
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Re: Brown Trout: A Magical Night On The Midnight Express
by MarshallD on December 24, 2005 http://www.flyanglersguide.com | BigBear,
Very good report. I enjoyed your narrative about top water mice attracting Browns. I know night fishing can be fun, depending where you are and when. Without devulging specific locales, I'd like to know the general area where you were fishing. Jeeze, it could have been anywhere inthe Northern U.S. or Canada or Yukon or Canada. Thanks for sharing.
marshalld |
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Re: Brown Trout: A Magical Night On The Midnight Express
by greg on December 25, 2005 http://www.fliesandfinsnorth.com | | I,ve seen the mose patterns in many flie shops but have never bought one as I had little or no idea how to fish it. I had never seen a Brown or anything I fish for caught on one, so never tried. Again someone on this site has made me aware of another flie to try. Thanks |
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Re: Brown Trout: A Magical Night On The Midnight Express
by Shaq on December 26, 2005 http://www.theanglersnet.com | Great read!!! NIce Fish and exciting report. Good job
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Re: Brown Trout: A Magical Night On The Midnight Express
by patm on December 26, 2005 | intereting article. I fish in maine and have never tried a mouse pattern. However, have friends that fished for atlantics in labrador and found both the salmon and brookies took a liking to the mouse imatation.
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Re: Brown Trout: A Magical Night On The Midnight Express
by RickW on December 28, 2005 | | good story BigBear, I enjoyed reading it. |
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