I just returned from visiting relatives in Michigan and squeezed in a guided fishing trip on the Upper Manistee River at night, looking for Mr. Brown Trout.
The stars looked like softballs in pitch dark. I never saw stars that big. It was so dark that we nearly hit a wading fisherman while moving at a snails pace through timbered waters.
I caught a 14.5 inch Brown and a small Brook trout. It took me a while to get away from setting the hook like I was fishing salt water freshwater bass. My casting was complemented by the guide, but mending needed work and the said hook setting.
What did it, was concentrating on my breath, then on the fly I could not see in the dark.
I felt a subtle hit, raised the tip and stripped the line simultaneously.
I handled the landing pretty well. I played the fish a little between short stripping of the line, keeping the line taunt to take some energy out of him.
It seemed like forever before the guide used his landing net. He tried to say it was eighteen inches, but I'm not one to stretch a measurement. I prefer the truth.
I accomplished my goal with that catch, having never fished for a Brown Trout. From that point on, I enjoyed nature at night.
My guide used a clinch knot. I was surprised. On a dry fly I expected the Turtle Knot. Lefty Krech does a good job of describing it in his book on Fishing Knots. It is the best choice for bent eye hook common for dry flies -- doesn't tilt the fly in the water. Good thing it was dark for the fish too.
Basically, you lead the tippet through the eye of the bent eye hook, then turn the fly with the hook so the hook is pointing down underneath your palm in its natural floating position.
Pinch the top and bottom of the leader together with the fly dangling under your palm.
Be sure to Keep the tag end slightly towards you, rather than perfectly parallel underneath the standing part of the leader you just inserted into the eye of the hook.
Grasping the end of the leader, form a circle above the standing part of the leader by twisting your wrist inward and placing the formed circle towards the fly. Pinching it to the line Do it again to form two circles pinched to the top (standing) line.
Continue building the turtle knot by passing the dangling tag end twice though the double circles.
Now, all you have to do is tighten the knot. Pull the standing line to tighten it -- if both circles don't flip over the eye, something is wrong. If done right, there will be a knot behind the eye, grasping the shank in a position that will cause your fly to float without a tilt or other unnatural position.
If you decide to do a clinch knot, there is a fast way to tie it.
Thread the eye with the tippet and run it parallel to the standing line about four inches. Pinch it to hold it. Now pull out your hemostats, slide in the bight and twist the line six times, grasp the tag end with your hemostats and pull them out of the loop with a hand on the standing line. That's it.
I asked my guide if he ever used the Orvis Knot. He said, "Forget it, too complicated."
Orvis has an illustrator on its website. Easy to follow.
I'm going to experiment with the Palomar Knot for dry flies. It grips the shank of the hook like the Turtle Knot. It may not hold the fly in place as well at the Turtle Knot.
