Two nights after my first night out fly fishing the Millers River I take my boy out with me to enjoy what I enjoy.

I typically always check the catch and release section of Wendel to see if the fly fisherman are out fishing. The time was around 7:30pm, this night was no different, instead of just 3 cars, about 7 cars were parked in the lot on the left going over the bridge.

Could be the word is out the fishing is good.

Checked Kempfield Pool to see how many are fishing it only 2 fly fisherman this evening. A few fish here and there rising. Not sure how the 2 fly fisherman were doing. Did not see bent rods tonight.

I have my son with me tonight, his first time out to fly fish at night with me. He was a little excited. So off we went to where I fish with him to another section of the river and prepare to do a little night fishing.

A few nights ago the mosquitoes were not bad, but tonight they were so bad I had to place a net over my boys head to make it tolerable to fish.

Generally June is horrible for mosquitoes and tonight was no different.

This year my boy has a new set of hip boots, getting him trained how to wade and give him a little freedom in the water. Normally he just stands about ankle deep with his normal boots that only go below the knees.

Tonight we talk about how sound travels in water faster than air and how he must move his feet gently between steps. Each time we go out he learns a little more of the art of fly fishing, tonight was just another one of those lessons.

We start settling in, still using my 2 fly combo of stimulators on a dropper system, my boy starts his casting. At the moment he is using my 10ft 5wt rod to fish with, I just watch and coach. It is his night to catch the fish.

Its 8:59pm and a few fish start rising a few feet from where my son stands and just above him. The first fish to rise couldn’t of been more than a few feet from him. Dad, my son said, did you see that! I did, I responded but those are not the fish we are hunting, the fish we are looking for have not moved into the pool yet.

For the next 15 mins fish started rising all around him, making him a little uneasy and want to chase the rises. I kept him focused, a little hard for a 11yr old boy. What time is it Dad? It was 9:18pm, still nothing happening for those night time trout.

Tonight a few trains passed by on the tracks above the river. My Boy asks s few questions about the trains to pass the time away.

Hmm, I started doubting we would see some action, normally before 9:30pm something happens.

9:40pm not a sign of the larger fish we are hunting. Dad I am getting some snags or something hitting at the end of the line. Checked the flies a blade of grass on one of the flies. This could be the problem son, out the brace of flies go out again.

Each year I take my boy out I can see his casting improving, that 10ft rod is a little long for him, I restrict the length of the line and he uses two hands to make the cast, but the control of the line with that rod is superb. I have a hard time going back to my 9ft rods because the 10ft rod out performs them for line control.

I start reminiscing of past times with him in the exact spot we are fishing. Dad, Dad!! I’ve got one, quickly checked the time 9:45pm, the magic hour is almost over.

I looked over and the rod is bent in half, the reel starts screeching taking some line upstream. He gains some line back on the reel, this goes back and forth for a few minutes. He is not getting as excited as in the past, I think I was more excited than he was. These are times when a father and son share and never forget.

Finally I have him back up the bank so we can land the fish. The end of the leader is at the tip of the rod, I reach down and ease the fish up to where I can grab the fish. I was pleasantly surprise a very good fish.

Top dropper same yellow stimulator as the previous night.

It was around the 20in. range and had a small kype. I explained to my son the kype identifies the brown trout as a male trout. A few pictures and my son releases the trout. He rocks the brown trout back and forth till it swam off on its own.

9:59pm we Hi 5 it and made few more casts to make sure more were not lurking out there. Just as I suspected just as quick as it happens it turns off.

I explained to my son every trout is a jewel of the river and even thou we just caught one tonight the river delivered and we must count our blessings as fortunate.

Except for the mosquitoes another night on the Millers River was just gorgeous, the moon rising and lighting up the river is an awesome sight to see. Many think it is dark and you cannot see well it really is just the opposite, most of us have decent night vision and it is not that hard to see what is happening.

Tonight driving by the lot only one car is still parked there about 10:30pm I wonder how that person made out, I hope the night was good to them as well.

A quick call to home and my son reliving his experience talking to his Mom about the nice brown trout he caught all by himself. An experience not to soon to forget. 🙂

Summer is in full swing now and night fishing for those hefty brown trout is my target. I went down to the Miller’s River catch and release section of Wendel and noticed quite a few cars parked in the left parking lot just after crossing the bridge.

Good sign, with the recent cool nights after the recent heat wave, maybe the fly fishing is good.

I positioned myself just downstream of the Kempfield pool and saw 3 fly fisherman upstream from where I was standing. I noticed a fair amount of rising fish and insect activity floating on the currents of the river.

Since I was too early to start fishing only 8pm, I sat and watched the 3 fly fisherman have a good time catching and releasing trout. Not really sure what was hatching all that mattered the fish were cooperating for these 3 guys.

With 8:30pm approaching it was time for me to go to my night fishing location in another section of the Millers River. As I arrived a few fish were bulging the surface now and then. Not really sure what they were feeding on, good thing was the water was comfortable enough for them to feed before dark.

Those rising fish were not my target for the evening. I fish a floating line with a 12 leader with 2 droppers. Each dropper has a different colored Stimulator, one yellow and one orange. I fish Stimulators because when fished wet they push water and have an excellent silhouette at night the Brown Trout just love.

8:50 pm I ease into the water and start casting and using a wet fly drift, quartering downstream letting the flies swing directly below me. Some times I will inch the flies back or just pickup the line and start a new wet fly drift again. I very rarely fish more line than what I can pickup, generally 12 ft leader and about 20 feet of fly line or shorter.

For night time fishing the fish almost always feed very close to shore. 9:08 pm still nothing. The magic hour between 9 pm and 10 pm is getting heated up with anticipation. What will this year bring for the first night out. Nothing is moving in the pool I checked the time again, 9:13 pm a small bulge shows into the pool. Could it be the predator brown trout have moved into my favorite pool. More waiting.

More cast, more wet fly swings, then that all too familiar strike, a solid take from the first fish of the night season. The fish rolls and moves water that only a larger fish can do. I use a fairly heavy tippet of about 5lbs or better to bring these night fish in quickly with the least amount of stress related to the fight.

Nice fish over 18 in. 9:18 pm for this fish. He took the yellow stimulator on the upper dropper. Great start to a beautiful evening. While trying to release this trout my fingers reached inside to grab the fly and a mouthful of needle sharp teeth grabbed my finger. It always amazes me how many sharp teeth these night brown trout have. You might not be able to see them immediately but you sure can feel them when they bite down.

Quick picture and off he goes. A quick cast and I blundered the cast, I thought , a quick pickup of the line and another brown trout. This boy has a little more weight behind him a few minutes back and forth, a few short runs of the reel, a heart racing with excitement and the fish is landed.

A little bigger than the prior fish maybe 20 in. plus, this brown trout had large spots all over and more of a silver background than the typical sandy yellow color. Off he goes after taking the same yellow stimulator out of his mouth.

A few more cast and again another trout. This trout was very active, after hooking him, he quickly ran upstream putting some slack into my line. I had everything I could do to try and keep a tight line. With barbless hooks slack line can sometimes help barbless hooks fall out of a trouts mouth. I regained my tension and my 10ft 5weight rod bowed in half, this trout started jumping out of the water a few times. Ran line off the reel giving me the indication of a much larger fish than previous.

Finally got him to shore, I have to admit I thought he was much larger for the tussle he gave me. Similar in size to the first brown trout I caught around 18 in., this fish fought quite well. Maybe it has to do with the water temps not being so warm with the cold snap we recently received. Check my watch again 9:36 pm.

Still a few minutes to go before the magic hour ends. I continued fishing till about 9:59pm nothing moving, nothing happening. Just as quickly as I have gotten into a few fish it turns off.

Over the past few years fishing the Millers River at night I have come to accept this river is most productive for this one hour. I don’t know why. I have fished this many times through the night beyond 10 pm. and always ended empty handed for more fish caught after 10 pm.

Most other rivers turn on and off at different times through the night but not the Millers River it appears. Maybe it is the areas I fish, I don’t know. No complaints from me. I count my blessings, a quick ride to the river from where I live. A quick hour of enjoyment and I am home at a very reasonable time to get a good nights sleep with the satisfaction of knowing the Millers River is a great place to fish.

By the way as I was driving out that lot with the parked cars are still there and the fisherman comparing notes, I hope they had as good of time as I did 🙂