Unseen midnight stranger on a darkened river

Big browns like this come along often.

There are times when I’ve had my act together. One special night on the Sturgeon River between Indian River and Wolverine was a very good example, and it occurred after the major insect hatches had ended.

I’d waded down through a deep, slow stretch of water during daylight hours because I’d seen a big brown raise to the surface like a lazy whale broaching the surface, drifted downstream and submerged. His approximate weight at 15 yards was at least 10 pounds, possibly a little bit more.

Home for this brute was an overgrown edge of brush on both sides of the river. At its deepest point, the water was seven to eight feet deep, and a big stump was wedged on bottom in mid-stream. The current picked up some speed as it split and flowed heavily around the obstacle, and on my side of the river, the water was about four inches below the top of my waders.

The snag-filled hole was the perfect spot to find a big native brown trout.

The deep water shallowed up a bit on my side but deepened in midstream as both current flows merged like the entrance ramp to an expressway. The water flattened out, and it was here I felt the brown would feed that night.

I wanted to cast a big bushy white mouse pattern, but the brushy banks and overhanging tree limbs made fly casting a bit hazardous after sundown. If my fly hung up on the opposite side, there was little hope that I could wade across to untangle it. I settled on a No. 9 Rapala in black-silver finish and 8-pound line with a spinning rig and a smooth drag.

One thing that years of after-dark fishing has taught me is to always be prepared. When fishing for big fish, after sundown, it pays to use a large fly or lure, and line heavy enough to give the angler some semblance of equality. A light tippet in such places is just asking for a broken leader and a healthy measure of heartbreak as well.

The August evening was dark, the moon that curious yellow it gets when atmospheric conditions are just right. The evening was warm and the river flowed with a hushed sound that could barely be heard. One step into the current told the real truth: here was water that could be dangerous to an unwary wader.

I stood silently, just upstream of the submerged stump and waited for the sound of a big fish as it began feeding. The river was just a murmur, and I was content until, with some unease, I felt eyes on me in the gathering darkness.

It’s a spooky feelings one has when they feel someone looking at you.

The feeling was as subtle as a freeway crash. Someone was watching me, and they were very close. I could feel the intensity of their eyes boring into my back.

Whoever it was stood quietly nearby and was watching me. My senses are fine tuned to such things, and it’s something I’ve cultivated over many years. I had no clue whether this human presence was predatory and dangerous but after two minutes of feeling his presence, I decided to push the issue.

“What’s happening?” I asked in a conversational tone, my back turned to the stranger. “Fishing or going for a walk? Walking around here, if you don’t know the river, could lead to an unplanned swim.”

A chuckle was heard, and a voice from the darkness said: “I can walk up on 99 percent of the people who fish after dark, and they never know I’m there. How did you know I was standing behind you?”

“I felt your presence,” I said. “I felt you two or three minutes before I said anything. You fishing tonight?”

Still a conversational tone. Nothing confrontational. Just two anonymous anglers talking while waiting for a big brown trout to begin his evening feed.

“I’d planned to fish here,” he said. “You beat me to it. I’ll hit another spot down-river. What do you know about this spot? Fished it before?”

“Know it’s got at least one big brown. Saw him earlier today. Guessed him at 10 pounds or so. How about you? What’s your take on this spot? I figured this would be a key spot to stand and wait for him to start feeding.”

“He weighs 10 pounds,” the sneaky stranger said. “I’ve hooked him twice in two years. Had him close earlier this summer but he got off. It’s a big hook-jawed male with spots that look the size of dimes. He’s a river fish, not a silver one from Burt Lake.”

The unseen stranger knew about the fish and where it held in the hole.

“It makes sense to wait him out for a bit,” I said. “If he doesn’t start feeding by midnight I’ll work a Rapala through there. It’s worked for me in this spot before.”

“Good luck,” the visitor said, and was gone without making a sound. The man moved with all the stealth of a second-story cat burglar.

An hour passed, and feelings of wasting time washed over me as the mosquitoes found new spots to drill for food. A pesky skeeter was boring my ear when I heard the fish move. It wasn’t a splash, but more like a heavy ripple a fish makes as he shoulders through the water before gulping down a hapless minnow.

I waited another five minutes before he moved again, and although I couldn’t see him I knew where he was holding because my ears pinpointed him. I uncorked a 20-foot cast, and started the retrieve before the lure hit the water. That kept the line tight, prevented the hooks from catching the line, and began the lure working as it hit the water.

The big brown came to me with a hard strike in midstream.

The lure swung in the current on a tight line, and I felt a solid strike, and I pounded the hooks home. The fish ran downstream, and then back up, apparently not wanting to leave the pool. It jumped twice, took line three times, and slowly the battle began to turn in my favor.

The fish was in the heaviest current in this spot, and it took every bit of my concentration to focus on keeping him from going farther downstream without breaking the line. I began steering the fish into a quiet back eddy.

“Need a hand?” asked the stranger just as I felt his presence.

“Nope, this is between me and him. I’ve done what I set out to do, and that was to hook him. Landing him would be neat but I’d return him anyway.”

“Want a look at him?” he asked. A cloak of darkness surrounded me, the stranger and the river, and that’s the way I wanted it.

“Saw him earlier today. Know what he looks like. Got a hooked jaw sticking up like a broken little finger. Big male!

“That’s him. He’s a dandy. Go easy on him now. He likes to bore into that brush close to shore. Get ready, he’s going to…”

I didn’t want a light on the water. It was just me and the fish, and the stranger.

The fish took me into the brush about six feet away and weaved back and forth and then broke the line. I reeled in the slack line, and turned on stiff legs to climb up the bank.

I waded ashore to meet the midnight stranger. “Hey, c’mon up and shake hands. I’ll buy you a beer down at the Meadows Bar.”

“No thanks,” he said. his voice growing distant. “I know who you are, and wanted to see if you fish as well as you write. You measure up, and we’ll meet again on the river and perhaps one day I’ll introduce myself. Too bad about the fish, but that one is hard to land here. See you when the wind shifts.”

I’ve known but one man that said goodbye like that, and the voices didn’t match.

I don’t fish the Sturgeon River as often now as I once did, and I’ve never ran into the Midnight Stranger again. I’ve had that feeling once or twice over the year, and once I spoke: “C’mon down for a chat.”

A soft chuckle would be heard, but he never responded. It’s been one of life’s big mysteries about his identity, and one I’ve yet to solve. I think about it, and feel writing might bring an e-mailed “hello.” Time will tell if he’ll speak again after all these years.

Sharing a night on the river with an unseen stranger might be a bit spooky for some people. It didn’t bother me, but it would be fun to shake and howdy at least once with him. Until then, all I can do is write about the Midnight Stranger, and hope he responds with an e-mail. It would solve a longtime on-the-water mystery.

Spring is big brown-trout time

Casey Richey (left) and his son Shane, with his former state-record brown.

All things are relative. A trophy brown when I was a kid was the 11-pounder that George Yontz of Wolverine caught from the Sturgeon River in the late 1950s.

Frankly, over many years of trolling Lake Huron and Lake Michigan for brown trout, I’ve landed many that were big enough to put a hefty strain on my rod, and would tilt the scales to weights from 11 to 19 pounds.

The brown trout is a mystery fish to many anglers. A five-pound brown on the Holy Waters of the upper AuSable and Manistee rivers is a trophy fish. Fish one of those back-of-beyond jump-across creeks, and catch a brown trout measuring 12 inches, and it too is a trophy.

Brown trout numbers have dwindled somewhat in recent years around the Great Lakes. Previously, browns of 20 to 25 pounds were common catches, and the current state record fish was caught two years ago from the Manistee River below Tippy Dam. It weighed in at 41 pounds, 7.2 ounces.

Big brown trout are around but they are difficult to hook and harder to land.

Big browns are where you find them. Most harbors on Lakes Huron and Michigan produce some big fish. For many years, Thunder Bay at Alpena was home to some of the state’s biggest browns and the area continue to produce some big fish.

Some very nice fish have been caught trolling in Hammond Bay north of Rogers City, and the area near AuGres off Whitestone Point has produced some very nice fish as well.

Huron Bay at Baraga and L’Anse on Lake Superior also produce good numbers of brown trout in the past. Another Upper Peninsula hotspot for years has been along the Michigan’s shoreline from Escanaba and Little Bay de Noc south to Menominee. Ten-pound fish were common catches here, and I’ve caught some 11 and 12-pounders near Escanaba.

Lake Michigan’s Grand Traverse Bay, including both arms of the bay, have produced some huge browns. My son David hooked a huge fish on a Rapala years ago, played it with a gentle hand, and lost it when the lure broke apart. Three of us saw that fish, and our closest estimate to its weight was 25 pounds. In higher waters of yesteryear, the Acme Reel along US-31 was a real hotspot.

Harbors at Frankfort, Onekama, Manistee and Ludington also produce big brown trout on occasion. Even some of the southerly ports such as Saugatuck and South Haven have delivered good numbers of browns.

Some key fishing methods for Great Lakes brown trout.

It’s possible to cast spoons off breakwalls or piers at these harbors, and a blue-silver, green-silver, orange-silver, all silver, copper, brass, pearl or other color 1/4 or 1/3-oz. Devle Dog spoons work well. Experiment with sinking time, retrieval speeds and vary between casting straight out off the pier or casting parallel to the pier if no one is in the way.

Trolling produces very well, and the trick is to work in and out of shallow water during the spring months. Years ago, Jack Duffy pioneered this offshore fishery, brought me in on it, and between us, we pounded the big browns for many years. The methods that follow worked for us, and they continue to produce.

We always used 6-pound line, and trolled two types of lures: wobbling plugs (X-4, X-5 and U-20 FlatFish to be exact) or minnow-imitating plugs like the Rapala, Rebel, Long-A Bomber or FasTrac. Hot colors were silver, silver-black, chartreuse-orange and gold-black in the latter category. FlatFish colors were silver, silver with red spots or pearl.

FlatFish required a very slow trolling speed, and we’d test lures next to the boat to see if they tracked straight. If so, slowly release line until the lures at least 100 yards behind the boat, and put them into rodholders. Some anglers prefer trolling off in-line planer boards.

Minnow-imitating lures can be trolled faster than FlatFish, but tie a loop knot to the lure’s line tie to open up its wiggle. Again, let two lures out at the same time and speed for about 100 yards, and put the rods in rod holders. Adjust reel drags so a brown can take line on the strike.

Big browns almost always rip off an additional 50-75 yards of line on the strike. Reel the other line in to get them out of the way, and play the fish gently. Often, browns will strike and run toward the boat. Reel fast and hard, and you may be pleasantly surprised when you catch up to the fish when it is about 25 yards behind the boat.

Great Lakes browns grow to be the largest but some big ones come from rivers.

Browns occasionally jump, and most often will roll on the surface. Once they get close to the boat, be prepared for one or more last-ditch efforts by the fish. Watch its head, and if the head cocks to one side or the other, he is planning another run. Let the fish go, and don’t try to pressure them on 6-pound line. A big fish will break the line like sewing thread.

Try trolling near the edges and tips of piers, along the mud line where river water meets lake water, and off a river mouth. Gravel or rocky bars in six to 15 feet of water can be good spots, and the key to good brown trout fishing is an abundance of alewives or smelt.

Catching big browns these days is not easy but my nephew, Casey Richey of Frankfort, set a new state record a few years ago. His record was broken last year with a massive fish from the Manistee River. The big fish are around, but scoring means putting in a lot of time.

Fish smart, play big fish with a soft hand and good luck!

Rain can produce good fishing

Many people who live around Traverse City know that when it rains hard, and the water level in the Little Betsie River rises, it washes worms into Green Lake.

The author (left above) plays a jumping brown trout,.

There have been times in the spring when the worms washed out of the banks of the swamp, and when they are swept under the little bridge on Diamond Park Road in Interlochen, there would be basketball-sized wads of worms drifting down to the waiting fish.

I’d wade down the tiny creek, reach down into the water for my bait, and hook the worm lightly through the nose. I’d cast it out on 4-pound line without weight, and as it washed over the steep dropoff into Green Lake’s deep water, a brown trout would nail the worm.

I seemed to have had that secret spot to myself until more people moved into the Interlochen Arts Academy, and soon I’d have others fishing there beside we. We treated each other with respect, and if the browns were biting, we’d catch a bunch of fish.

I can write about that little spot now because browns are no longer being planted in Green Lake although some lake trout have been. I suspect it would still pay off with other game fish now, and a few years ago I caught a 5 1/2-pound smallmouth bass there along with several others of lesser size.

The West Branch of the Sturgeon River was somewhat similar in its downstream reaches, and it was a veritable gold mine for trout. I could catch brookies, browns and rainbows there during a soft rain. If it rained too hard, the shallow stream would be pelted hard and most of the trout headed back under the river banks to wait out the storm.

This hotspot was lost to homes & road improvement.

The upper part of the West Branch of the Sturgeon River, several miles south and west of Wolverine, was a hotspot for brookies. One would fish between their feet in the little jump-across creek. The small brook trout would hold among the root wads, and the water was gin clear and very cold. A rain upstream seemed to put the fish on the prod, and it produced some spectacular fishing.

That area is now all built up with homes and no trespassing signs, and although it may still hold a few brook trout, it’s not worth the hassle of trying to stay in the creek and not trespass on someone’s land.

There have been countless other days when a good rain put the trout on the feed. I remember one evening right at dark when I waded slowly down the upper Rifle River near Selkirk, and was fishing a four-inch Rapala on a tight line as the stream grew dark and closed in around me.

The Rapala was flipped up tight to the far bank and rain drops trickled down my back, and I closed my open-face spinning reel. I took two or three turns on the reel handle, and a brown trout of great length and girth inhaled the lure and the hooks were buried.

This was a fish around which legends are made and fishing dreams are made. It was well over 10-pounds, and even though I was using 8-pound line, it didn’t seem strong enough. That fish rolled on the surface, and headed downstream.
Losing a big brown trout.
I’d been down through this stretch many times and knew where to wade. I stayed close to the fish, jacked him around whenever it seemed possible to gain some leverage, and we were still at it when we passed under a bridge in the darkness. Fortunately, I was able to steer him away from the bridge pilings.

We made it another 200 yards downstream, and by now the after-dark fight had covered nearly a half-mile of river, and the stream was barely lit by a quarter-moon. The wheels fell off this brown trout parade when he hung the line on a wood stob protruding just out of the water.

I eased out slowly. and had just reached the line on the wood, when the big fish made a thunderous splash near a shoreline brush pile. I knew he had woven my line around the drowned branches, and the line popped with a crack like a .22 rifle going off.

Me and rain have always been buddies on the trout streams. I knew that when the rain fell, worms and other critters would wash into the river, and it turns the stream into a smorgasbord of food for large fish. When it begins raining about dark, forget about watching sleep-robbers on television.

Grab a rod, some bait or lures, and head for the closest river. You might be surprised at what you might catch.

Remembering George …

Thinking of George is always a pleasure. We shared so much as twins, and our mutual love of fishing and my thoughts of him, keeps his memory alive and fresh in my mind. Some favorite memories include:

*A day many years ago when we were fishing the Sturgeon River. I hooked a nice steelhead, and followed the fish downstream to the upstream lip of a deep hole. I tip-toed out as far as I could, and battled that fish to a standstill.

There I went, downstream in the heavy current, as George raced ahead to catch me.

Suddenly I could feel the sand washing out around my wader-clad feet, and knew I was going for a swim. I tried to back up but the current was too strong, and there I went, trying to swim with my rod hand. I hollered at George as I washed through the hole, telling him to grab me at the next shallow riffle.

He ran ahead while I foundered, and I hit the shallow gravel upside-down, and he grabbed my wader straps and hauled me upright. I was thoroughly soaked on a very cold day, and five minutes later I landed the fish and headed for the car for dry clothes and a warm towel. If any one cares, the steelhead weighed 5 1/2 pounds.

*Another time he was wading a soft place on the Platte River. I’d warned against it because of the soft marl bottom, but he got out and into the current, and then both feet got stuck. He was in waist-deep water, and if he fell over, he’d drown because the current would hold him under.

I dropped my rod, grabbed a long and limber tag alder limb, and waded out toward him. He wasn’t panicking, but knew the consequences if he lost his footing. I was right on the edge of firm footing and soft, and still 10 feet from him. My branch was about nine feet long. I knew I could stretch out two more feet, and his arms would reach two feet without having to move his body, but I wanted him to get a firm grip.

One good turn deserves another as I pulled George from boot-sucking mud.

“All I can do is pull,” I told him. “No sense in both of us being stuck in midstream. Grab hold tight, and I’ll push slightly, and hopefully it will give you enough leverage so you can keep your balance while pulling one foot clear of the muck. Take off your wader belt and shoulder straps, because if you lose your balance I’ll try to pull you out of your waders.”

He got a death grip on the limb, as did I, and I pushed slightly to help him maintain his balance. He worked feverishly on the foot closest to me, and got it free and took a two-foot step. That foot went a foot down in the muck but landed on a submerged limb. He worked on freeing the other foot, and even though it took a half-hour, we got him up onto firm footing and to safety.

*One night we were fishing Manistee Lake at Manistee in August for big walleyes. Back then some big freighters would move up the lake, and throw a huge wake. I hooked a big walleye, and got it close to the boat, and this was bigger than any of the 12 and 13-pounders we had landed.

“He’s huge,” George said in an understatement. “I’ll put the flashlight in my mouth, and try to net him.” He did, and just as the net went under the fish, the wake from a passing freighter hit us. The lure hooks tangled in the net, and the fish lay delicately balanced across the net.

We missed a huge walleye of 15-16 pounds on Manistee Lake.

He did the only thing he could, and tried to keep the walleye balanced on the net frame. He got the net and fish over the gunwale before the walleye flipped once, tore the hooks free, bounced once off the gunwale, and I grabbed for the fish. It slid through my hands like a greased pig, and got away. We estimated his weight at 15-16 pounds.

*George loved fly fishing and tying flies, and I remember one of the last brown trout he caught was with the late  Frank Love of Frederic. They were fishing the upper Manistee River near the 612 bridge from Frank’s riverboat, and George hooked the fish just after dark.

It jumped and splashed, and George was making the woods ring with his whoops and hollers. He fought that fish well, giving line when needed and taking line when he could, and several minutes later George landed a 22-inch brown.

He admired it briefly, leaned over the edge of the longboat, held the noble brown trout into the current until it pulled away and swam back to his home under a log jam.

That was George Richey. He loved life, loved trout fishing, detested crowds of people, and thought kindly of many people. He loved trout and trout fishing enough to release the larger fish, and many people should emulate his actions. He fished for fun, not for food, and that makes me miss him even more.

Voices on a darkened river

I’d waded down through a deep, slow stretch during daylight hours because I’d seen a big brown raise to the surface like a lazy whale broaching the surface, drifted downstream and submerged. His approximate weight was at least 10 pounds, possibly a little bit more.

On another night, before a heavy fog, my late brother George caught a nice brown.

Home for this brute was an overgrown edge of brush on both sides  of the river. At its deepest point, the water was seven to eight feet, and a big stump was wedged on bottom in mid-stream. The current picked up some speed as it split and flowed heavily around the obstacle, and on my side, the water was four inches below the top of my waders.

The deep water grew slightly shallower but deepened in midstream as both current flows merged like the entrance ramp to an Interstate highway. The water then flattened out, and it was here I felt the brown would feed that night.

I wanted to cast a big bushy white mouse pattern, but the brushy banks and overhanging tree limbs made fly casting hazardous after the sun went down. If my fly hung up on the opposite side, there was little hope that I could wade across to untangle it, which I’d never do to avoid spooking the fish. I settled on a No. 9 Rapala in black-silver finish and 8-pound line with a spinning reel boasting a smooth drag.

One thing that years of after-dark fishing has taught me is to be prepared. When fishing for big fish, after sundown, it pays to use a large fly or lure, and line heavy enough to give the angler some semblance of equality. A light tippet is asking for a broken leader and a healthy measure of heartbreak.

The late July evening was dark, the moon that curious yellow it gets when atmospheric conditions are just right. The evening was warm and the river flowed with a hushed sound that could barely be heard. One step into the current told the real truth: here was water that could be dangerous to an unwary wader.

I stood silently just upstream of the submerged stump and waited for the sound of a big fish as it began feeding. The river was just a murmur, and I was content until with some unease, I felt eyes on me in the gathering darkness.

Suddenly, I could feel someone watching me in the dark.

The feeling was as subtle as an overturned 18-wheeler. Someone was watching me, and they were close. I could feel the intensity of eyes boring into my back. Now, I’m not scared of the dark but have learned to respect my instincts.

Whoever it was stood quietly nearby, watching me. My senses are fine tuned to such things, and it’s something I’ve cultivated over many years. I had no clue whether this human presence was dangerous but after two minutes decided to push the issue.

“What’s happening?” I asked in a conversational tone, my back turned to the stranger. “Fishing or going for a walk? Walking around here, if you don’t know the river, could lead to an unplanned swim.”

A chuckle was heard, and a voice from the darkness said: “I can sneak up on 99 percent of the people who fish after dark, and they never know I’m there. How did you know I was standing behind you?”

“I felt your presence,” I said. “I felt you two or three minutes before I said anything. You fishing tonight?”

Still a conversational tone. Nothing confrontational. Just two anonymous anglers talking while waiting for a big brown trout to begin feeding.

“I’d planned to fish here,” he said. “You beat me to it. I’ll hit another spot down-river. What do you know about this spot? Fished it before?”

“Know it’s got at least one big brown. Saw him earlier today. Guessed him at 10 pounds or so. How about you? What’s your take on this spot? I figured this would be a key spot to stand and wait for him to start feeding.”

“He weighs 10 pounds,” mt sneaky visitor said. “I’ve hooked him twice in two years. Had him close earlier this summer but he got off. It’s a big hook-jawed male with spots the size of dimes. He’s a native river fish, not a silvery brown from Burt Lake.”

“It makes sense to wait him out for a bit,” I said. “If he doesn’t start feeding by midnight I’ll work a Rapala through there. It’s worked for me in this spot in the past.”

“Good luck,” the visitor said, and was gone without a sound. The man moved with all the stealth of a second-story cat burglar.

We shared a brief chat without me seeing him.

An hour passed, and feelings of wasting time washed over me as the mosquitoes found new spots to drill for food. A pesky skeeter was boring my ear when I heard the fish move. It wasn’t a splash, but more like a heavy ripple a fish makes as he shoulders through the water before gulping down a hapless minnow.

I waited another five minutes before he moved again, and although I couldn’t see him I knew where he was holding because my ears pinpointed him. I uncorked a 20-foot cast, and started the retrieve before the lure hit the water. That kept the line tight, prevented the hooks from catching the line, and began the lure working when it hit the water.

The lure swung in the current on a tight line, and I felt a solid strike, and I pounded the hooks home. The fish ran downstream with a heaviness that was easy to feel, and then back up, apparently not wanting to leave the pool. It jumped twice, took line three times, and slowly the battle began to turn in my favor.

The fish was in the heaviest current in this spot, and it took every bit of my concentration to focus on keeping him from heading farther downstream without breaking the line. I began steering the fish into a quiet back eddy near shore.

The Midnight Stranger was back, as silent as a hunting owl.

“Need a hand?” asked the stranger just as I felt his presence.

“Nope, this is between me and him. I’ve done what I set out to do, and that was to hook him. Landing him would be a bonus but I’d return him anyway.”

“Want a look at him?” he asked. “Want me to light him up.”
A cloak of darkness surrounded me, the stranger and the river, and that’s the way I wanted it.

“Saw him earlier today. Know what he looks like. Got a hooked jaw sticking up like a broken little finger. Big old male!

“That’s him. He’s a dandy. Go easy now. He likes to bore into that brush close to shore. Get ready, he’s going to …”

The fish took me into the brush about six feet away and weaved back and forth and then broke the line. I reeled in the slack line, and turned on stiff water-numbed legs to climb the bank.

I waded ashore to meet the midnight stranger. “Hey, c’mon up and shake hands. I’ll buy you a beer down at the Meadows Bar.”

“No thanks,” he said. his voice growing distant. “I know who you are, and wanted to see if you can fish as well as you write. You measure up, and we’ll meet again on the river and perhaps one day I’ll introduce myself. Too bad about the fish, but that one is hard to land here. See you when the wind shifts.”

“See you when the wind shifts!”

I’ve known only one man who used that phrase to say goodbye, and the voice didn’t match that of the person who does use it.

I don’t fish the Sturgeon River as often these days as I once did, and I’ve never ran into the Midnight Stranger again. I’ve had that feeling a time or two, and once I spoke: “C’mon down for a chat.”

A soft chuckle would be heard, but we’ve never shook and howdied. It’s been one of my life’s big mysteries about his identity, and I’ve yet to solve it. I think about it at times like this, and feel that writing might bring an e-mailed response. Time will tell if he’ll speak again after all these years.

Sharing a night on a dark river with an unseen stranger might be a bit spooky for some folks. It didn’t bother me, but it would be fun to chat at least once with the guy. Until then, all I can do is write about the Midnight Stranger, and hope he responds with an e-mail. It would be fun to solve this longtime mystery.