Wooly Buggers and the Night Train

The first fly i regularly caught fish with was the Wooly Bugger. It can be used as a streamer, nymph, terrestrial or a leach or just about anything else you can think of. It all depends on how you fish it... you can swing down and across, or slap it just above the tail of a pool, hit the far side of the river, why you can even drag it behind your sorry butt as you wade out of the water and the fish will basically nail this fly often hooking them selves. All in all this is the fly to fish before you get discouraged and quit fishing, but once you get good at this game some how it seems too easy, it is kind of like using bait. I am not against bait per say, but i like a little more challenge in my fun (typical NYer) i can't just enjoy my fun unless i need to work for it. Also i really get pissed off seeing your blue bait Tupperware containers all along rivers.

I mostly quit fishing Buggers about 3 years ago and now only fish them when the need arises, like when it has been raining for 3 days in a row and the river is so swollen that you need to put your waders on before you exit the truck. Or when i come across a really deep pool and nothing else works or when you've gone a day with out even a bump.

There is one time they are a good go to fly on warmer water when you hit a section of small mouths i guess they are fun to pound into the weeds or when the small mouths are taking crayfish off the bottom and you drag one along back words. Ok so I guess they are good files that work and I should fish them more than I do.

There was this one time on a local river that has a very deep hole in a regular deep pool, i had fished it many times but never had a bite. One night i stayed on the water long after dark and fished from the odd side (the one no one ever fished from) i weighted and sunk a large bugger down across and into the hole. I thought my fly was hung up at first, perhaps I was hooked on an underwater stump and my line dragged. I figured i had lost the fly at least when it suddenly pulled diagonally back and across (confirming the tree branch theory). In any case this was not a fish as there was no jump or panic or side to side pull it was just hard and away. Since the fly was lost i flexed the rod to one side and tried to turn the tree (it was dark and no one could see me making a fool of my self). the branch yielded although the pull was still all that my 4x could take.

In fact i had just hooked a south bound train that was pulling out of the station. Although i had read about them I really did not believe in, nor had never felt the Night Train before. Basically it is a Bass which has the weight and strength to say "NO" i will not move, i will not fight, you can not real me in with that wispy little fly rod.

After several minutes of this the hook seemed to pull free and the line came in easy, it then pulled right, a quick left and up and out of the water came my fish. It was a 4 or 5lb Bass, a beast which scared the hell out of me. At first in the dim moon light i could not tell it was a bass and thought it might be a pickerel or some other snaggletooth demon of the deep (plus i am just generally scared of the dark) and this was before head lights so i flicked my Bic and beheld a good bass thumbed his lower lip and held up a decent football sized fish.

I guess it is true what they say "they only come out at night".  If you can, it is a good time to be out but be careful your family wants you to come home.