8/3 - Night Time Report

[CLoyd]

I got out for a couple hours last night after dark under the dam.  The water was off early and it was a clear moonless night, but foggy.  I caught several fish early on, but it slowed down for me quite a bit as the fog got heavier.  I changed colors a few times and managed a couple more fish before I quit for the night, but it was slow going.  

I caught fish on a #8 hibernator in black/purple and brown.  I would have liked  to try a purple one, but managed to leave that fly box at home.  

Most fish were rainbows around 16” in length, no browns, and one white bass that measured 14”.  Last year I caught white bass regularly until late summer.  It looks like this year is following the same pattern.  It always amazes me how big they get.  They are almost always 14 or 15 inches.  I don’t do much white bass fishing when they run on bull shoals, but I wonder how they compare in size. 

[JestersHK]

Nice job man!  Glad to see ya back out there.  

[MickinMO]

How is that different from a wooly bugger? Caught so many fish back in my college days stripping woolies down at the dam. They look similar, but the hibernator looks thicker

[CLoyd]

11 hours ago, MickinMO said:

How is that different from a wooly bugger? Caught so many fish back in my college days stripping woolies down at the dam. They look similar, but the hibernator looks thicker

It's just a different streamer pattern.  It's called a zonker style fly, and is tied with pine squirrel or rabbit fur strips (zonkers).  I really like the action of this type of material in the water and have been tying a lot of this style of fly over the last few years.  The fur really breathes and moves a lot.  It also holds a little more of it's bulk when you strip it.  Marabou becomes needle thin.

I think the hibernator is an excellent leech imitation.  I tie most of mine unweighted so they are slow sinking and can be dead drifted, which is mostly what I do at night.  Leonard really came up with a great pattern with the hibernator.