Join the all-night party

Having been there and done it, JOE BRADLEY shares his wealth of knowledge with the enthusiastic, if unsure, night sea trouter

So you want to go night fishing for sea trout? As they say here in Lancashire, "owt can appen" when you go night fishing, so you had better do some forward planning if you want to sample the unique charm and thrills of this branch of fly fishing. Preparation is the key factor for success and enjoyment. Go without it at your peril.

If sea trout fishermen had a party Manifesto, it would read something like this:
Preparation: Mind, body, and tackle.
Familiarity: Awareness of surroundings.
Simplicity: Of tackle and casting.
Function: Even with your eyes shut.
Perseverance: Applied intelligently.
Confidence: Belief through understanding.
Concentration: Minimise all distractions.

And the greatest of these is - of course - concentration.
Essential reading for all would-be members of the Sea Trout Party has to be Hugh Falkus' Sea Trout Fishing (Witherby). My own original version has the inscription 'purchased July14, 1967', and I promise you, I have read it more than once every year since. The sections entitled 'Night Fly Fishing Strategy' and 'Night Fly Fishing Tactics' are the Holy Grail of sea trout fishing, and having visited Cragg Cottage myself, I can vouch for their authenticity.

Night shift
Let's look at the Manifesto then, and the policy of preparation. If you have ever worked night shifts you will recognise what I'm going to say. The first part of preparation is your mind-set. Your body clock needs to tune into night work. Fishing hotels please note: your guests may wish to sleep all day, having breakfasted early and downed a pint; they will also need a key to gain entry at ungodly hours. Guests please note: a shower after a night's sea trouting helps you to sleep, keeps the fishy smells and insect repellent off the beds and removes any creatures that may have invaded your chest waders.

If you have a non-fishing wife or partner and wish to carry out this sport from home, the same rules apply, but - and this is a serious Health Warning - you will need to have accrued a huge quantity of brownie points to go night fishing, and for goodness sake, don't carry your double-figure fish to the bedside and switch on the light at three in the morning to show her. Believe me. I know!
If you are lucky enough to spend several consecutive nights fishing, you will learn the true meaning of the word 'soporific'. You will sleep as never before. You will look like you haven't slept. Stress will leave your being. Your metabolism will slow down and you will become methodical - a vital ingredient for night fishing.

Familiarity
Crossing fields, fences and ditches at night is not a jolly stroll for your morning paper, not that you will want to read one, so a certain level of physical fitness is required. So how do you tackle the first night, when you haven't tuned in? Easy. You are going to do without sleep! You needn't stay till dawn, of course, and it is something you are choosing to do.
Now this bit is really important, so much so that I shall keep repeating bits of it. Know your tackle - especially your rod and your line. There is a strong case to be made for only using one rod for all your fishing. Certainly this is true for night fishing. Game shooters don't keep changing their guns throgh the season, unless something is wrong. Practise in the garden, in the park; close your eyes and cast at targets. Say 'stop' on the back-cast if you like, which works wonders. I'm sorry, Mr Arden, sexy loops are out. Please don't try double-hauling in the dark. Some will tell you it never really gets dark. Oh yes it does! The loop you want is big and wide and slow. The leader you want is stiff, strong and not very long. The rod you want is the one you can cast with. Perhaps we would invent one which says 'stop' on the back-cast. Familiarity, in this case, breeds content.

I recently took a most esteemed fly caster sea trouting, who couldn't stop double-hauling. The results were not nice. It has even been suggested to me that Spey casting can be carried out in the dark. What?! John McEnroe has the reply. Occasionally, very occasionally, you may attempt a roll-cast, and it may work. Sea trout will not tolerate heavy-handed casts. You are going to pick up the line and put it down like thistledown, as light as a dry fly on the Itchen. Sometimes you may have to shoot line, or steeple-cast.

So, you have some trusted gear with which are you very familiar. Try casting in the garden with your eyes shut. Practise walking familiar routes (inside) with your eyes shut. Notice how other senses are heightened when you do this. This is what happens at night. There is an argument that favours double taper lines for night fishing. They are supposed to swing round better in the current. I don't know about that, but when you are retrieving the level bit of a weight forward and you suddenly run into the taper, it feels like you have missed a quiet take.

Forecast
No sensible night fisherman sets out without checking the weather forecast. Tap your barometer all you want - it won't change it; but it will warn you of impending rain or thunderstorms. Mind you, so will the fish. Sea trout are very sensitive to changes in the weather. If they keep plucking at your fly, it's a sure sign of impending rain. The trouble is if the rain falls much higher up the river, you may find a spate on its way. Always be wary of this. If in doubt, get out. Use your torch to check. It won't frighten the fish unless you wave it about like a police helicopter. In fact, I have shone my torch on several large fish to land them. Far from frightening them it had a calming effect. I once shone my torch on a shoal of fish to prove to a guest there were there. Within fifteen minutes they were taking again. Now that's what I call contentious!

Covering up
Some things may be stalking you as well. Midges can drive you back to the car a gibbering wreck. Don't just put repellent on your wrists and exposed skin. Put it on your clothes and especially your cap. Allegedly midges can't fly in wind speeds of more than four miles an hour. On the subject of caps, get one with a brim. In my wild, wild youth I used to stand astride a fish pass when the sea trout were running at night. The fish would run through, brushing your legs as they passed, just so long as you faced upstream. When you turned and faced downstream, even with a cap on, they would stop running. Why do you think pigeon shooters wear balaclavas? Let your clothing be sombre. Get something close-fitting around your wrists and neck. All manner of gizmos are out. I don't even use a zinger at night, though I admit to using my necklace in the dark (nobody knows, so I'm spared the comments).

Simplicity of tackle? How about a green fly box, or better still, a black one? Try finding that on the bank at midnight. At least the insides are usually white. Don't put them on the bank in the first place, or use a lightly coloured one.
Can you tie on a fly with your eyes shut? You can, you know, with a little practice and a sensible hook and some stiff leader.

Disposable flies
And now to flies. I stopped using droppers years ago. I know, but it's a personal thing. I put it to you, at the risk of never being published in this magazine again: all flies are disposable items. There. I've said it. Of course I have beautiful creations which I take salmon fishing. I even have flies, which are my personal friends. I don't take them sea trout fishing.

Sea trout flies should be slim, simple, and easy to tie, cheap and abundant. They should look like clones in your fly box and should be spaced out so you can get at them. They should be in about three sizes of singles, two sizes of wee doubles, some State of the Arse CdC Elk Hair Caddis surface lures and some dirty great long braid flies (without Mylar - orange backing braid is the best). Two fly boxes are plenty. Make sure you know what is in what.

One evening, on my way to the river, I passed by an artist at his easel who asked to see inside my fly box, as you do. He looked at my row of flies and screamed, "It's black, it's all black".

"Yeah, but there's some silver", I replied.

Too late - he destroyed his painting and smashed his easel. Well, how was I to know he was part of a Paul Whitehouse sketch?

Fish have got rods as well, you know, and cones in their eyes. Rods are used to pick up silhouettes. Sea trout hit your fly at night - though not as hard as they used to, when you held your rod at 45 degrees to absorb the take. Or they chase your fly, and sometimes they play silly beggars with your black bits, the little pluckers, and sometimes a monster can suck in a three-inch Snake Fly on a sunk line and you don't feel a thing. How do they do that? And sometimes they just sit there and stink. In which cast put on a surface lure and stir them up. It doesn't have to be pitch dark. If they just chase you, don't worry; go back down with your standard fly.

Anyway, you choose your own flies. The fly you believe in is the one that will catch fish. Make it slim and big and disposable. Don't have a relationship with it; chances are you are going to lose it. I once watched a friend catch fish after fish on a fly he'd made from a black and white polythene bag. Mind you, he had a jet black cocker spaniel called Magic and it was one of those black magic nights which make you think you are an expert.

Have you noticed on your river how bankside vegetation has been eating Triffid juice lately? Actually, it's probably nitrates. I know I can't use my tiny three-weight rod anymore when the river is low. I don't go fishing to study botany in the dark. Match your tackle to the situation. If you use a rod without feedback, you'll feel numb in the dark and that's exactly what you'll be.

Travel light. Travel very light. Some people look like their wading vest has inflated before they fall in. Take a bag if you are a tackle freak. At least you can put it down on the bank. Keep your reel out of the sand and make sure it functions. Make sure you have some proper backing because if one of those big babies gets hold of you, no disk drag on earth will stop it. Tackle up before it gets dark.
I use baling twine to carry my fish, but cats and mink can eat your catch.

Sea trout, like salmon, have definite taking places. If you don't know them, put a surface lure on and you'll soon find out. A night's fishing is like a football match, with a first half, half time and a second half. Often, there is lots of action in the first half. Many people have their coffee at half time and then go home. The second half can be a bit of a goalless draw, but if you get a goal on the sunk line fishing deep and slow, it will be a Beckham special. I nearly always use a Snake Fly in the second half.

And that's where concentration, concentration, concentration comes in (it is a Manifesto).

If you are Welsh and you must sing, then do it, by all means, if you are alone. Talking is one of the great distractors, but here are some more:

A large percentage of what I have written should be saved on a file entitled ' Subconscious'.
Go fish. Be positive. Be very positive about sea trouting in the dark. Tight lines.

Excerpt of article taken from September 2002 issue, the first of series of articles written by sea trout fishing experts.

In the magazine Joe Bradley goes on to explain how to find taking places; how to see better at night; coping with micro-climates, bats dogs, ducks, ghosts and ghoulies;divulges the Three Public Enemies of the night-time sea -trouter; tips on nets; tackle in the dark; and finishes with his story about the donkey.

September is available as a Back Issue - click on 'Subscribe'

State of the Arse Wake fly
Hook: Size 6-8 hook, longshank.
Slip a treble CS8 16 around the bend, then twist it to lock it onto (eye in line with shank) then use thread to figure-eight and lock it into line with hook shank.
Tail: Twinkle to mask treble.
Body: CdC tied in and wound up the shank as for an F Fly, leaving straggly bits at front.
Wing: Tie in whole feathers in a bunch to make a wing shape, stacking them on top and to sides Half a dozen feathers in total to make a bushy, bulky fly.
Over wing: Elk hair over the top of the CdC. Stubs cut at 45 degrees to help cause wake.