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Night Fishing For Browns


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Posted

I thought about the same thing the other day. Would be interesting to try. Certainly challenging if not risky. You would really have to focus your attention on a couple good spots that you knew very well and felt comfortable wading in the dark.

Posted
I thought about the same thing the other day. Would be interesting to try. Certainly challenging if not risky. You would really have to focus your attention on a couple good spots that you knew very well and felt comfortable wading in the dark.

Good advice for this river. Also, be wary of cottonmouths in summer, especially near the mouth of Ashley Creek. The creek is warmer and known to have a populations of these snakes. Night can be awesome though for browns. A friend of mine caught what was then a state record brown of 14 plus pounds at night around 1970.

Posted

A friend of mine caught what was then a state record brown of 14 plus pounds at night around 1970.

Any details?Tell us the story,please.........of a record brown at night. :P

Posted

Night fishing is definatly on my list of musts for this year, but it's not something I would do solo.

...be wary of cottonmouths in summer, especially near the mouth of Ashley Creek.

Snake haven down there, and it's hard to ID them at night. Heck, I used to not be able to tell one from another in the day time - unless they rattle. And I did happen across my first rattler last summer while clearing some rocks. Almost peed my pants. :o Had to spend some time learning what is what. See Copperheads routinely up away from the river, and see many Northern Watersnakes, which can fool many people.

Posted
A friend of mine caught what was then a state record brown of 14 plus pounds at night around 1970.

Any details?Tell us the story,please.........of a record brown at night. :P

A remarkable story. I wasn't there but I'm a friend of the family and have heard the story many times, and this is how I recall it:

Mike Whitaker was fishing with his father "Squeak" at night with minnows (legal until sometime in the 90s). On the last minnow they had Mike cast it out and felt a bite. Setting the hook, he thought he was hung up. Then his line started to move and a loud splash was heard. They thought that Mike had likely hooked a beaver as it sounded as if one had tail slapped the water (shocking to those of you who nightfish and have heard this). Purposely breaking off was considered, but they decided to confirm what was on the line before breaking it. After an extended struggle a light was shone into the water revealing a giant fish, subsequently landed. It was weighed and verified the next day at Montauk State Park where pictures were taken of Mike with the fish. They were informed that the evening before someone had caught and brought in a brown trout over 11 pounds, verified as a state record! The poor fellow's (don't know who this was) record lasted less than a day! Mike's fish was somewhere north of 14 pounds, but I can't recall the exact weight. Mike was around 10 or 11 at the time of the catch and I'm not sure how long his record stood. The tragedy of the story is that the fish was destroyed in a fire at the taxidermy shop (along with many other unfortunate sportmen's trophies). All Mike has from the event are some photos the family took and one or two of him with the fish at Montauk, memories of fishing with his dad, and a darn fine story! A final note is the family also has a magazine, Outdoor Life or Field & Stream, touting a story of two new state records from Missouri — One being Mike and his trout and the other Jeff Brunk's giant typical whitetail that scored over 199 B&C.

Posted
Night fishing is definatly on my list of musts for this year, but it's not something I would do solo.

Snake haven down there, and it's hard to ID them at night. Heck, I used to not be able to tell one from another in the day time - unless they rattle. And I did happen across my first rattler last summer while clearing some rocks. Almost peed my pants. :o Had to spend some time learning what is what. See Copperheads routinely up away from the river, and see many Northern Watersnakes, which can fool many people.

The water snakes are common on the river. Harmless, so give them no harm. Cottonmouths are not too often encountered — but present. A quick way to tell them apart visually: Water snakes swim with their bodies under water and only their head at the surface, with cottonmouths the body rides high on the surface. Cottonmouths can swim under water however. Most water snakes are slender when compared to the chunky cottonmouths and copperheads. That said, identifying any snake can be dicey at night.

Posted

Night fishing for browns in the upper Current River would definitely be a chore. Unlike the artifically backlit tailwaters that normally get fished on this forum, the Current would be a dark stream with lots of overhanging trees throughout the most part of the Brown trout stocked Blue ribbon area. If you are comfortable in the woods at night and know the area and stream well, the browns would be a good target as most are nocturnal except for breeding season. I would say that it is not a common practice on the Current River, so the tactic may pay off.

"Life has become immeasurably better since I have been forced to stop taking it seriously."

Hunter S. Thompson

Posted
AHHH great story, Jeff.......and i remember that Brunk buck too. :P

Glad you enjoyed it Shawcat. Next time I visit the Whittakers I'll try to get a copy of one of the photos of the fish and post it on here somewhere. Sounds like you're an afficionado of whitetails as well...

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