Midnight Marabou Streamer Freshwater Hook : Size 6. Thread : Black 3/0. Tail : Tag of red wool. Body : Green/olive chenille with front third overlaid with "aurora" luminous skirt. Wings : Black marabou.
Tying Instructions 1. Lay a base of thread. 2. Tie in tag of red wool, making a short tail. 3. Tie in and wrap the green chenille to behind the hookeye. 4. Attach aurora skirt and wind strip to cover about 1/3 of the chenille body; then wind forward to create a second layer of luminous plastic and tie off. 5. Tie in a fluffy wing of the black marabou, making the wing length extend just slightly beyond the red tail. 6. Whip finish the head, and add head cement.
Fly Notes Original tier, Lee Hinkleman.
Fishing Notes The Midnight Marabou is best fished on the bottom. To do this I use either a fast sinking line with a short leader or a floating line and sinking leader with a long trace. Often I fish the Midnight Marabou in tandem. Generally the Midnight Marabou leads with a smaller dark fly behind it. Sometimes it is reversed and I have used a #10 Midnight Marabou behind a large black fly. I think, particularly on dark nights, that rainbow trout respond well to flies that have a large luminous element. On these occasions I keep the Midnight Marabou well charged with torchlight every five or 10 casts. On nights that are not quite so dark or in areas that are shallow or receiving a lot of angling pressure I don't charge the fly so often and I think the ability to catch fish even when not charged is one the strengths of the Midnight Marabou. Targeted species, Rainbow trout, I have had no success on brown trout with this fly.
Location Notes I use this fly in Lake Taupo, New Zealand fishing for rainbow trout that gather at the river mouths prior to spawning. The fly is also useful at Rotorua and I believe it has been used with some success after dark in the some larger rivers. The soft nature of the marabou means that the fly does not have a lot of "kick" so I would not use it where there was too much current. It does seem quite effective on the edge of current fished slowly right on the bottom, where it may be taken as a freshwater crayfish (koura).
Prey Notes The Midnight Marabou is really an attractor fly. However I believe it has enough representative elements to also suggest a freshwater crayfish.
Tier Paul Goodeve

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