8/11 - Night time trip report

[CLoyd]

I fished Friday and Saturday night this weekend and covered most of the area from outlet 1 down to outlet 3.  The bite was pretty good both nights and I was catching fish pretty much the whole time.  This surprised me a little bit because the moon was out.  Leonard joined me Saturday night and we both had quite a few fish.  

Most fish were rainbows in the 16-18 inch range, occasionally up to 20 inches.  My biggest fish of the weekend was 20 inches, ironically caught on Leonard’s new 4-weight that I was test casting while he was putting on his waders.  As others have reported, the fish seem very healthy and have some meat on their bones.  I also caught several white bass and Leonard had a nice Kentucky.  

I used a Hibernator both nights.  Color didn’t seem to matter.  I used black most of the time.  Leonard was using red.  I tried olive at one point.  They were all working.  

Here are some typical fish caught both nights.  The first one measured 17 inches.  By the way, I use a full sized landing net with a deep basket so I can handle bigger fish easier by myself and keep them in the water.  I try not to over handle fish.  It does make for some underwhelming photos though.  

[JestersHK]

Nice!  I bet that bow was fun on a 4wt.  Some nice ones there, I get and understand the bet thing lol.  No brownies?  

[trythisonemv]

Ill be down soon so hope the bite stays good.... like october lol

[trythisonemv]

Also how do you fish that hibernator? 

[CLoyd]

11 hours ago, JestersHK said:

Nice!  I bet that bow was fun on a 4wt.  Some nice ones there, I get and understand the bet thing lol.  No brownies?  

Yeah it was a fun one!  While doable, I wouldn't necessarily recommend a rod that light for night fishing.  

No browns yet, at least for me.  I talked to some other fisherman out there and didn't find anyone that was catching any.  It's a little early though.      

 

56 minutes ago, trythisonemv said:

Also how do you fish that hibernator? 

A dead drift seems to work best.  I'll usually give it a few quick short strips every 6 seconds or so, mostly to manage slack and help feel bites.  I think one of the more challenging aspects of night fishing is you can't see your line, so it's more difficult to manage a belly in it when dead drifting and get a good hook set.  The strip set is key.  I usually cast slightly downstream rather than directly across to help minimize the belly and immediately take in line to make sure there's no slack.  You also get bites when the line is directly downstream from you and you're stripping it back, sometimes right at your feet.