# Night Fly Fishing



## GG34 (May 2, 2014)

Traveling for work to the panhandle and will only be able to fish at night. Anybody fish dock lights with a fly rod? Wondering if there are any tips to be offered up? Never thrown a fly rod at night. Thanks.


----------



## 994 (Apr 14, 2008)

For me fly fishing dock lights is almost as fun as stalking redfish on the flats. I'm not sure about the panhandle, but here on the east coast there are some monster snook that can be caught on dock lights. Plus tons of trout, jacks, etc. Bring a good headlamp and practice your sidearm and even roll cast. The biggest snook I've pulled out of a dock came on a glass minnow pattern about an inch long. If (when) they wrap you around a piling, just stop and let them sit there. Your chances of landing them are much higher than putting the pressure on and breaking your leader. A man named Dr. Youngman showed me that technique. I've seen him sit still with a 15# snook for about 3 minutes until the snook unwound himself and subsequently was landed. Fun stuff. 

Now that I'm talking about it I might have to go out tonight.


----------



## GullsGoneWild (Dec 16, 2014)

Ive done it here in TX. I've found that a faster and more erratic strip seems to get better eats for trout.


----------



## GG34 (May 2, 2014)

Great. Thanks. It will be mostly trout. Do you guys use floating l Iines and baitfish patterns? I'm guessing the depth will be 3-6 ft.


----------



## 60hertz (Oct 31, 2008)

What time of year will you be here?

During the warmer months, dock light fishing can be epic. 

Shoot me a PM and I would be glad to help you out!


----------



## Backwater (Dec 14, 2014)

GG34 said:


> Great. Thanks. It will be mostly trout. Do you guys use floating l Iines and baitfish patterns? I'm guessing the depth will be 3-6 ft.


Use your lighter, softer rods to help you "feel" it loading, since it's hard to see what your flyline is doing. Your new 6wt you just picked up and your 8wt will work best for that, with floating lines or floaters with clear intermediate sink tips. 

Up in the pandhandle, big spotted sea trout and an occasional redfish and some ladyfish are what eats good up there at night. I wouldn't be worried about trying to throw the fly under the docks. The trout will hold out along the outside ring of the light silhouette on the water.

Like m.laGOON stated, small glass minnow patterns and also white or white pearl shminnow s will on a #6-#2 hook will work best for ya. There are a number of guides who work the dock lights up there that are reasonable for a short 4hr night trip. Worth every penny.

Ted


----------



## Outearly (Oct 20, 2015)

No Florida experience here, but Crazy Charlies in gold or pink, and redfish crack in pink work here in Texas. I've had better luck with smaller and more sparsely tied flies.


----------



## GG34 (May 2, 2014)

Are yall using weighted flies.


----------



## Outearly (Oct 20, 2015)

For mine, the crazy charlie has bead chain eyes, the redfish crack has plastic or mono eyes. No added weight. I sort of strip fast after the fly lands, although there's an earlier post about running weighted flies deeper.


----------



## texasag07 (Nov 11, 2014)

For most Dock light scenario's I like to start with a small white or tan gurgler variants (about as wide a pencil)with sparse materials. If that's not getting the love, then i go to small white/pink/flashy small baitfish or shrimp patterns.


----------



## duppyzafari (Jul 9, 2015)

Obviously, every area is going to be different, BUT...

In SWFL I use almost exclusively tiny minnow patterns on the lights. Craft Fur tail (Pseudo or Polar, preferably) and a sparse Foxy Brush collar with small black bead chain eyes on a #6 Gama SL11-3H. All white, white thread, nose tipped with red or pink.


----------



## Daz (Jul 14, 2015)

My (also SWFL) go to dock lights fly is a schminnow variant. Real basic: a bit of white maribou and some palmered cactus chenille medium pearl on a SC-15 (or 11-3H if I need it heavier). White thread, no eyes, no weight, and no other colors. 

My second is a #6 gotcha, light color with bead chain eyes and a little white flash.


----------



## KnotHome (Jul 21, 2009)

I like the BSF in pearl around the Pensacola/ Alabama area.


----------



## ADLNitRam (Feb 16, 2017)

I use a small white bait fish pattern or a shrimp pattern in pink and white.. I also use a tan for redfish and strip slow and steady letting the fly sink before I strip..fish the outer edge of the light work your way in.. The fish are very skittish so I use a florocarbon, with a16" tip pit.. I like long leaders say 9-12'.. If you have a short strike. Try a couple more cast then switch patterns..it is possible to catch more than one from the light but rare for me so I move on..


----------



## Mdees88 (Jun 23, 2021)

Did you get the fish the lights? How did it go?

A little late to help but if anyone else searches this thread I like to use a very small surf candy that imitates glass minnows.

I fish in AL and I've thrown my net on the lights and the specs are feeding on very small pilchards and glass minnows. I tie my own surf candies to imitate the glass minnows.....










I've also caught them on small clouser minnows and I'm sure the gummy minnows would work excellent. *It all depends on what the fish are feeding on.* If there are larger baits at the lights you should be able to use larger flies. All our bait was small and once I scaled down to around 1.5" I started getting more consistant bites....

I agree with the post above. I use a pretty light leader for the specs (12lb fluoro, 16 if I expect redfish). I have had my best results with a slow and continuous two handed retrieve and the bigger fish usually hold at the edge of the light. Depending on conditions, there are times when you only get one or 2 fish off a light before the bigger fish scatter. I can still catch white trout but I'll need to wait 5-10 minutes for the specs to come back or I'll go to a different light. Sometimes I've sat at one light and caught a limit back to back though....


----------



## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

Night fishing around bridges and docklights was the very first thing I learned out of a skiff (almost fifty years ago now...) down here in paradise - south Florida.... For us it's snook and tarpon - with the emphasis on the tarpon. Once I began guiding full time (1996), night trips, both in winter and summer have been a part of what I offer to anyone coming my way. These days I divide my time between Biscayne Bay (the urban area between Miami and Miami Beach) and Jupiter when we're working night charters... 

All of the advice that's been given is very valid -but remember that different parts of the country mean very different flies... The pattern we use the most in my area is a simple white tarpon fly on a 1/0 or 2/0 hook.... I call it the Night Fly and can't remember how many of them I tied for one shop or other during the years I was tying commercially... Anglers over on the Gulf side of Florida would want something smaller since their fish are working glass minnows. Where we are it's mostly shrimp at night... Here's a pic or two of that Night Fly...








this one is done up on an old Mustad 7766 1/0 hook









these are on 2/0 hooks (most of the ones I did for shops over the years were on Owner Aki hooks instead...) 

Here's what I do whenever I have a learning or first time saltwater fly angler at night... We're using mostly 8 or 9wt rods ( our tarpon are babies in the 20 to 40lb range, mostly...) and I simply over line each rod with a 9wt line on that 8wt and a 10wt line on the 9wt... Most of our tarpon come up under bridges and we're fishing very close to them (sightfishing every one...). For docklights I won't overline any rod since we'll be needing much longer casts (you can't get close to fish in a docklight unless you're on foot - and you'd better be tiptoeing as you approach, fish in a docklight can feel everything that happens on any wooden dock....).

By the way, for us... the Miami area has more tarpon... the Jupiter scene is mostly snook (but lots of them... in docklights...).

Anyone wanting a brochure --- just ask... and you'll have one by e-mail - usually same day...


----------



## HTXshallowwater (Jul 27, 2020)

Here is a pretty good podcast episode about wade fishing at night on the Texas coast. I highly recommend this podcast. Learned a lot from it recently. https://www.audacy.com/sportsradio6...-podcast-night-wade-fishing-tactics-346575914


----------



## Mdees88 (Jun 23, 2021)

Fished the lights a few times this week. Caught a bunch of specs and white trout on my glass minnow imitations and a couple on a gurgler but they prefered the glass minnow fly.

Well I got to one light and the specs were dialed in on the smallest glass minnows I've ever seen. I threw my GM fly a ton and they weren't interested. They would look at it and follow for a second but wouldn't bite. I did shorten it up and cut out 2/3rd of the material and got one or two to bite.
Here's a quick clip of them busting on the tiny glass minnows......







There were small pilchards there too but the specs were gorging on the tiny GMs and I never saw them eat the pilchards. I threw my net to see exactly what they were eating. Here's a rather small glass minnow next to one of the tiny ones they were eating. Look how small these guys are (the one on the right)......





















Going to tie up some gummy minnows on #10 or maybe #12 hooks. Will be using clear sili skin with a white eye and that's it..... curious to see if they'll eat them. Probably going to scale down from 10lb fluoro to 8lb also....


----------



## Redtail (May 25, 2021)

Neat! Let us know if your new fly works, and if it does a photo.


----------



## Miles813 (Jul 1, 2021)

Might also check out Chicone's Midnight Special.


----------



## lemaymiami (Feb 9, 2007)

If it were me.. I'd be looking at maribou patterns when needing something very small and nearly translucent... Here's my version of Norm's Crystal Schminnow pattern on a size #4 hook... I've tied them down to a #6 but never found the need to go smaller. I'm working in the Everglades so most of my patterns will have a weedguard (something to get it back when you toss a fly into the mangroves...). I wouldn't bother with the weedguard for dock fishing...


----------



## Mdees88 (Jun 23, 2021)

Redtail said:


> Neat! Let us know if your new fly works, and if it does a photo.


Got a few test candidates tied up. On top is a very well used surf candy for a size comparison. Looking forward to trying them out but it's probably going to be 2 or 3 more weeks until I get a day off unfortunately....


----------



## Clamfoot (Jun 21, 2021)

Yup, tons of fun.

Remember to cast well into the dark, past the shadow line.
Strip into the edge of the light.

Don't forget to cast deep under hanging boats and in into boat slips especially if there is a spot out of any current.

It's a ball and yes there are some bigguns holding there.


----------



## rks36 (Mar 6, 2021)

Keep your fly selection small


----------



## rks36 (Mar 6, 2021)

A hook with just a little SF fiber and some eyes makes for a great dock light fly


----------

