What is it about the darkness of night that still instils that innate primal fear? Is it just an artifact of our prehistory when we were mere prey at night? That is a valid assumption, as a lot of predators use the cover of darkness to their advantage. This fact does not only apply to the predators we see on National Geographic or Fox News, but many species of fish are also at their most effective at night.
The thought of fly fishing at night already puts off a lot of anglers, but it is an experience which isn’t as scary or hard as one would think. In some cases, it may indeed be the ticket to success.
Chucking a fly at night is nothing new. Gabon and Cameroon are largely night fisheries for their iconic aquatic residents like Tarpon and Nile Perch. Mousing at night for trophy Brown Trout has been a tactic for ages in the USA. The thing is, the clever big fish throw caution to the wind in the dark.
On a more local note, nighttime missions are underrated. The cool summer nights up in the Mpumalanga Trout Triangle have always been overlooked. The day temperatures are too hot for happy trout, and they have PhDs in fly identification. With the cooler night temperatures both Rainbow and Brown Trout will enter the shallows to feed, all of a sudden, your black wooly bugger isn’t a sign of danger but rather an innocent morsel wiggling along. Big Bass are also more on the prowl at night, whereas in the day they are buried deep in structure.
Post braai sorties on our local estuaries can change your summer holidays down at the coast from weeks of blanking to a “grip & grin” trophy photo being placed above said braai place. Johann Rademeyer, our inhouse estuary guru, proved exactly that. With the influx of visitors down to the coast over the December holidays, usually placid waters change into a washing machine of skiers, swimmers and “fly-by-nighters”. Truth be told this puts fish down, their usual peaceful lives are replaced by noise.
Johann being Johann, he knew the fish were still around, and although still having huge success in daylight hours, he knew he was missing a trick. During the summer there is an influx of prey organisms and if you have ever shone a light over the shallows, you will notice hordes of baitfish and shrimp in millimetres of water. One such food source is swimming prawns (which are also very nocturnal by the way).
After an inspirational “quick chat” with Jonathan Boulton, whom had experienced similar summer madness in Stuart, Florida, many moons ago, where the answer was that one had to fish in the stillness of night to catch the willy Snook. Johann formulated a plan and his cat (with the original name of Wit Kat) got a hair trim, not due to the summer heat, but for a vital ingredient to a winning fly. The Wit Kat Swimming Prawn was born and it didn’t take long for the fly to become legendary. On a recent trip, Johann wading the shallows in the peak of night could “sight fish” Kob by the disturbance they made in the moonlight. Fly fishing at night is a special experience as your other senses start to take over, you hearing improves and you feel the rod load on every cast. It can become such a zen moment, Johann could even “count the pearl spots” on the side of the Kob. The Wit Kat Swimming Prawn got the job done and over a dozen Kob have already been notched onto the tally board.
So next time you are at the coast and been struggling, give the night a shot. It will feel weird at first but soon you will be able to differentiate between the reflection of the stars and Kob pearls. A Step-By-Step of the Wit Kat Swimming Prawn follows, if you don’t have a Wit Kat of your own, we provide substitute materials and Johann sells 1-gram hanks of the original Wit Kat fur for R300.
WKSP Material List:
- 1/0 or #1 Fulling Mill Streamer Stripper
- 70D Fulling Mill Pro Thread Twisted
- Lead Wire
- Zap-A-Gap Super Glue
- Fishient Shrimp & Crab Eyes
- Orange Craft Fur or Fulling Mill Voodoo Streamer Dubbing
- White Bucktail
- Wit Kat fur (alternatives: Craft Fur/Coyote/Artic Fox)
- Chartreuse XL shrimp eyes
- Peacock Herl
- Angel Flash or Fishient Tinsel Flash
- Temu Shrimp shells XL
- Solarez Medium UV Resin
STEP-BY-STEP:
- Start by tying in wire onto your Fulling Mill Streamer Stripper stinger hook.
- Tie in orange Craft Fur dubbing ("under fur"). Comb it out and create the tear drop shape.
- Tie in a small clump of your longest white bucktail.
- Take a pinch of Wit Kat fur (Craft Fur/Coyote/Artic Fox), straighten it out and tie it in as long as possible.
- Take another pinch of Wit Kat fur and straighten it out. Tie this in half and fold back.
- Tie in your shrimp eyes. Big and bright is what you are looking for. Also tie them in quite long.
- Tie in two thin long pieces of Peacock herl. This will be the feelers.
- Make a dubbing loop and put it to one side to use later.
- Make another dubbing loop and this will be the one you'll use. Line up Wit Kat fur and flash, add to dubbing loop and spin.
10. Wrap the brush around as tight as possible. You want to create some bulk. Trimming will happen afterwards.
11. Repeat the process until you are all the way to the eye of the hook. Comb out the brush and try and free any trapped material. Make another dubbing loop if you didn't make it all the way to the hook eye.
12. Tie in your Shrimp Shell at the thinnest part of the tail.
13. Go get the first dubbing loop that you have put aside. Start wrapping from the head back creating 'segments'. Stop between each wrap and comb out the trapped hair.
14. Trim the belly of the prawn until you get a nice taper towards the hook bend. Coat the shell with UV resin and cure with a UV light.
15. And that is the complete Wit Kat Swimming Prawn.
