hey, my local fly fishery is holding a compatition at night, does anyone know what flies to use in the dark ?

Hi Bud
Try a sedge and gink it up slow figure of eight retrieve, also static.
Grayling

I would be most wary of holding a night competition. This could be fraught with danger to a have many anglers traipsing about in the dark.
Night fishing is generally a lonesome pursuit & not for the faint hearted. Is an acquired art & not many day time fishers can handle it if I have to be honest. You can always tell those that are not acostomed to the hours of darkness. They stumble about, talk loudly to one another, flash torches all over the place & generally cause alarm & despondancy to not only the fish & wildlife but to studious anglers who relish the peace & quiet. In a nutshell they are often "scared of the dark"
Still the question was asked, though you have not said when & where & was fish.
For Browns in high summer as Grayling said a Sedge imitation "greased up"
works well. Colour & pattern does not matter too much, shape size & silhouette can be important though. I fish it that way but on occasion I will add a tail fly. An Invicta, Whickam or Cinnamon & Gold can be utilized. If fishing standard wets a two fly cast of Silver Butcher on the tail& the old Coachman or White Moth as a dropper. can be good fished just sub surface.
One we tip is do not change to the larger night fly too quick. Trout will feed quite happily into the night on the small evening flies. There is a distinct lull for about an hour or so on occasion before they fell safe enough to feed along the margins on Sedge & moth, so till that happens have a break, take in your surroundings get your night sight, plan your route & have a cup of tea One reason I say a lonesome pursuit. Watch for fish splashing at fly but not taking it, do not strike but continue retreiving slowly & wait till weight is felt before"lifting into" fish. strike is probably not the right word.
Old adage of Study to be Quiet & Quiet to Study holds well in this sort of fishing.
Hope the fishery know what they are doing.
Tight Lines
PS Make up a few casts before dark & check you have spare batteries & if you have to use a toch, shine it down the way & fit a red filterif possible.
The Maglite range are good for this sort of thing especially their little Solitaire model. I have it on a neck lanyard & a spare in my bag if needed.

__________________
"The Future's Bright The Future's Wet Fly"

If your into lure fishing try a black uv fritz lure worked on a night comp i was at a while back.

Yes-a light fly

Seriously though, I would use something quite large. They sure ain't gonna see it, it is simply the vibration of the passing lure they sense. I used to fish for sea trout many many dark nights on the west coast of Eire, my most sucessful fly was I think, a worm fly tandem. Yep vibration did the trick.

I have done a fair bit of night fishing, mainly with bloody great big white moths tied on size 2 or 1/0 hooks.

A few waters I have fished used to get invaded with huge hawk moths some of which had a body length 4 inches long. If you floated out a light, there was a good chance the moths hit the water as they hit the light, then the trout would go mad for them. a couple of these moths is an enormous meal for the average trout.

Bass also used to like them.

Funnily enough trout used to learn darned quick not to eat butterflies. Many species of African butterfly are poisonous! The prettier they are, the more dangerous they can be.

Here in Western Australia and asutralia for that matter most of our specimen fish are caught at night. Even that time frame just on dusk leading into the night can be very rewarding.

One rule of thumb that applies to night fishing over the world from friends that have fished in New Zealand and clients that have Fished and come from Scotland is that the blacker the night the blacker the fly.

Also in saying that moths are nocturnal and when chasing larger specimen trout we have had a lot of success wading out to the middle of the water we are fishing obviously knowing that it is safe and then casting larger dry flies like chernobyl ants , cricket patterns , freshwater surface poppers that mimic a small frog back towards the shore under overhanging cover.

We have very overgrown streams and dams here and one of the most versatile flies believe it or not is a black muddler minnow at night fished wet or dry. The other thing that you have to remember is that dragonflies hatch out only at night and the nymphs present a very tasty incentive for trout. THese black muddlers we use during the day as well and instead of a black ribbed body we use silver or gold tinsel and if we want them to sink we wind the shank of the hook with copper wire.

Hope this is of help as i can only comment about fishing conditions here in Australia and hope that they can help you there.

A local water to me (Curleys) is doing one this Friday. I've been walking up there at dusk and into the night and the place has been swarming with bats, I can't help but think a few could be caught.

I'm not interested in fishing it but it did get me thinking what flies I would use and I didn't come up with much! I suppose something with plenty of movement would be needed. Post what you find works, it'll be interesting.

I do lots of night time fly fishing for sea trout throughout the summer, you'll either love it or hate it.

Around midnight, when you're own in a quiet corner, expect a visit form the eebee jeebies, it'll either pass, and you've cracked it, or you'll run from the lake like your hairs on fire.

MWHAHAHAHAHAHA!

It doesn't bother me, and it never has, but you'd be amazed at the number of grown men I've seen go home early because of the dark.