Ok, so a buddy and I went out on Friday night at the San Juan River and threw some mice patterns.....caught a few Brown's and one Rainbow...the Rainbow wasn't big but interesting enough was that it had a small trout in its mouth already and still hit the mouse fly....it was a blast.

Who else does this and what patterns are good.....I might be hooked into this now....them big fish slam them mice fly patterns....

I'll try to post a few pics....

Wish I could help, but no nocturnal angling for game fish up here.

The one time I fished a mouse pattern at night was years ago in the pool in which Joe Humphries had caught the (then) Pennsylvania state record Brown a couple years previously. I worked out the line lengths and casting directions in daylight, and went back that night and stood in the same spot at the head of the pool. It was so dark I couldn't see my hand in front of my face (which put a whole new meaning to the word "fear" when wading waist deep out to that flat rock)- no lights, I didn't want to risk spooking a fish. I started gradually quartering the mouse across and down- and how I managed to avoid snagging a tree limb I'll never know. About five minutes into it something big hit that mouse and went screaming downstream with it. I kept as much pressure on the tippet as I dared by palming the Hardy fly reel as it literally screamed its way quickly into the backing. Then "bink" it was done. (I didn't dare try to follow the fish on foot like I would've were it daylight. And there weren't any carp or catfish in there either in case you're wondering.) By far the most exciting moment of night fishing for trout in my life- and I never got close to landing that fish. One can only imagine how big it was- it felt like a runaway train.

Have caught Brown's at night with gurgler patterns, (used for striped bass) , any deer hair mouse pattern and bass poppers.

I thought bass poppers with rubber legs worked the best for me.


Like top water bass fishing. Cast out lure and splat top of water when it lands. Let it sit for at least 15 seconds. Twitch, let sit.


Can also experiment and fish top water more aggressively.

Fun way to catch Browns on moonlit nights!

I would be afraid to cast any big pattern on the San Juan for fear of hooking another fisherman...

Years ago real live mice were laced to a #2 trout hook, placed on a shingle and launched into a pool. At the appropriate minute they abandoned ship!:-) Few made it back for a 2nd. attempt!

An old Montana tradition!

One of the biggest Browns I've hooked came from the Big Hole River and took a waking fly swung across a flat after dark. There may have been a little inside info from the latest electrofishing survey involved in the planning of that particular adventure.

Fred Arbogast used to make flyrod size, single hook, Hula-Popper that worked good for night fishing browns, rainbows, and smallmouth on the White River in Vermont. Black was hard to see in the dark, but were the most effective.

Every opener here on the Copper a couple of friends come down and we start mouseing at midnite June 8. We have the best luck on patterns that ride in the surface making a big wake.

That's a toad there.....wow.....

I'm still trying to get pics up....

Never used a mouse fly for targeting trout but I had a 46 inch Northern Pike hammer one last fall. It's one of my fav patterns for Pike. Catching Pike on a fly rod is an absolute blast and you don't need to worry about a dainty presentation. In fact, the bigger the splash the better. A mouse fly with a "toothy critters" leader on a #9 or #10 rod/line set up in pike water is heaven to me. Second best to the mouse would be a baby duck pattern.

If you can find it, check out Jim Bashline's book Night Fishing For Trout. It relates how much of the night fishing in this part of the country got started and is still happening. Mostly done with oversized wet flies. Moon phase is important. I have spent a fair amount of time on many streams here in Pennsylvania after dark. Lots of good times.

When I worked for a lodge on the Naknek, we had huge bows that lived off of our dock. They would hang there because we cleaned Salmon and threw the eggs and carcasses into the water. When we caught mice, we would drop them into the water. Big explosion every time and then no mouse. If I had the time and energy, I would try this in Arkansas for big Browns at night. Have caught some on streamers at night but never a mouse pattern. I am sure someone has done it in Arkansas. There are some scary big Browns there that are basically totally nocturnal.

Under the bridge at Gasville?

I fished the San Juan last week for the first time. That river sure has some large trout in it. I have to agree with Shrapnel in that thowing a streamer in that river would be a problem. I have fished in many famous rivers in the US and that is the most crowded river by far.

I would assume at night the crowd would not be there, but I would not be surprised to hear someone scream on a backcast.

That's the only reach I've ever fished where one can expect to hear 5 or 6 different languages in 20 minutes.

Never did catch a fish there that actually had lips.

Everyone had already exited the water when we started mousing that first night. We were standing on a sand bar by ourselves.

The second night there were a couple of fellows on the far left of us, but as soon as my buddy landed that first fish and they got a look at it they exited pretty quickly.
The San Juan River is a great place and does tend to get crowded, but it seems that most fisherman have their own favorite spots and usually stay close to them.

Black shows well against the night sky from a fish's view.

Mouse or other large patterns fished downstream to big browns. I love big wet flies with lots of black and a bit of white. Night bug hatches are fun too. The "Hex" hatch in the midwest comes to mind.