Stocker Trout Fishing News

Fished Bethany Lakes yesterday with the intent of fishing for Bass. Ended up switching to Soft Hackles and catching little Sunfish and Bluegill. Definitely overpowered them with a five weight fly rod. Today, after work, decided to use the Micro Fly Rod  and a Foam Grasshopper in Size 14 to fish Celebration Park’s North Pond. Lost count of how many we caught and released but stayed inline with the Micro Fishing concept of catching lots of little fish! Fun stuff!

Like Cozumel, we did not fish but snorkeled instead. Lots of fun on an 11 acre private island checking out little fish! Water was not as clear as it normally would be but rain showers kept cropping up throughout the day. No worries, still lots of fun!

Stopped in Cozumel and did some snorkeling at Playa Mia. Water was murky from recent rains but did get video of little fish. Then, while heading back to the ship, one of the pretty snorkelers gave us a heads up that there were fish just off the beach at Senor Frog’s. Was able to get video of little “lookdown?” fish. Fun stuff! Beach by Senor Frog’s in Cozumel… Pretty Snorkeler tells us there are fish in the water! So, we went snorkeling, too!

So far, been having a great time out at sea. Still no fishing but it was great to have the Micro Fly Rod at ready… just in case! 😊

Slight delay in posting. Went on a cruise to the Gulf of Mexico. Have videos and pictures, but did not go fishing. Instead, tended toward doing activities like in the picture below… great stuff! Tough job but someone has to do it!

Received a question about how we used cheese cloth when fishing with bread as bait. Below is a brief summary of what how we do this: Form a bread ball with the bread, Then, place it in the middle of a 4″ x 4″ piece of cheese cloth, Next, take two opposing corners of the cheese cloth, pull them together and thread them on to a Circle Hook. Do the same with the remaining corners of the cheese cloth. With all four corners threaded on to the Circle Cook, twist the bread ball covered with cheese cloth around to tighten the cloth. Finally, pass the hook once through the bread ball, not in the middle but more on the side. This will keep it from twisting off. That’s it… Good luck!

Fished Celebration Park East Pond yesterday using bread for bait and the Daiwa Sealine Surf Casting Rod and Penn Squall 15 Reel. Made a change in how we normally fish bread; instead of forming a bread ball around a J Hook, wrapped the bread in cheese cloth and then secured it to a Circle Hook. Had a number of strikes but no hook ups until we removed the weight we were using and free-lined the bait. Good thing the surf casting rod/reel combo had no issues casting a weightless baited hook! Soon after started getting strikes and hook ups. Unfortunately, it was well past dark, so we were unable to get a video of the action and the cell phone battery was low so no pictures either. One Catfish was a Bruiser; the other Catfish went about 17″ in length. Decided to go back tonight and see if we could get another Catfish before it got too dark for filming. As it turned out, the fish were picky this time… we managed to catch only one. It went about 28″ in length but was smaller than the Bruiser c

Planned to fish Denison Dam this morning but with rain in the forecast, decided to fish Lake Lavon this morning. Action was slow but steady with several Catfish caught on Nightcrawlers and more caught using Beef Liver. For some reason, the local grocery stores were out of fresh (never frozen) Chicken Livers. Also, did see others catching Gaspergou (Freshwater Drum), Catfish, White Bass, and Bluegill. All seemed to be liking Nightcrawlers! Fun stuff! PS: Matched pair of Daiwa Sealine Surf Casting Rod and Penn Squall 15 Reels worked well!

Below is a map that shows the Group Camping Area, Equestrian Parking Area, Gate, and Brockdale Park. Since the gate is closed due to high water conditions, park in the Equestrian Parking Area, and then walk down to the Park. When you near the Group Camping Area (currently being used for a Girl Scout Camp), follow the road to the right and continue to the Equestrian Parking Area. The gate is closed to the Park due to high water conditions – the boat ramp is underwater, but you can still walk down the road to the Park.  

Only one White Bass this round at Brockdale Park. Caught it using the Daiwa Sealine Surf Casting Rod and Penn Squall 15 Reel. It struck a multi-rigged Marabou Fishing Fly that simulated a school of bait fish (at least a school of three that is). Did have some fun sight casting to two schools of White Bass that passed but only had the one hookup. Then, switched to a 2oz lead weight to practice casting. Had fun doing that, and then decided to put the Tennis Ball Fishing Float on the line. Once the Tennis Ball was wet, was able to cast as far (possibly) further than the lead weight! Fun stuff! Multi-Rig Fishing Fly Tennis Ball Fishing Float

Headed to Brockdale Park after work this evening. More casting practice with the Daiwa Sealine Surf Casting Rod and Penn Squall 15 Reel. No bites for a while and then caught two White Bass using a White Tube Fly. Wind was up, so it was difficult to see rising schools. Mainly blind casted. Next step… spool up the other Penn Squall 15 Reel, mount it on to the other Daiwa Sealine Surf Casting Rod, and then make a run to Denison Dam. Hopefully, this weekend! Point at Brockdale Park at normal lake level!

Been happy with the Penn Squall 15 Reel and the Daiwa Sealine Surf Casting Rod. So, ordered another reel to go with the other rod (ordered two rods earlier). Now we have a matched pair of Daiwa Sealine Surf Casting Rods and Penn Squal 15 Reels. NucLaroche and Fshng84 should have a good old time casting for distance with this setup. We still have our American Rodsmiths Triton and Abu Garcie 6500 C3s, so we have tried and true back up rods to go with the new ones! More reason now to go fishing! Liking this setup… now we have two!

Fished the point at Brockdale Park this evening. Last time we caught one White Bass. This time we doubled our catch and caught two White Bass. Used the same rig as last time – a Float and Jig Rig with a Purple Marabou Crappie Jig for the jig. Casted for a while and then finally started seeing surface activity as a school of White Bass passed by. Good thing the Daiwa Sealine Surf Casting Rod and Penn Squall 15 Reel was able to cast for distance as some schools were past the 100+ yard mark. Was doing good with minimal backlash, and then had three in a row. After a quick check of the reel, noticed the Launcher Float lost its lead weight, explaining the backlashes. Made an adjustment to the magnetic brake; no more backlashes. Overall, was a slow day but had lots of fun sight casting to passing schools even though it lasted about 30″. No worries… still lots of fun! Surf Casting Without the Surf!  

Checked out Brockdale Park (Lake Lavon). Has been closed for a while. With water levels up, hoped it would be open. Turned out the gate is locked. Now there is too much water. Boat ramp is underwater and half the parking lot, too. No problem. Parked the car in the equestrian parking area and walked to where we normally fished – that is, as close to the point as we could. Action was slow but something kept stealing the Nightcrawlers we were using for bait. Really nice evening on the lake; mainly practiced casting with the Penn Squall 15 and Daiwa Sealine Surf Casting Rod. Made some really good casts that went far; even managed to get a White Bass to strike on a Float and Jig Rig. Jig used was a Purple Marabou Jig. Fun stuff!  

Been meaning to re-publish our Squidoo article, “Surfcasting Without the Surf” . We completed it and it is now available on HubPages. Do check it out when you get a chance! Given the water being released at Denison Dam this article and combined with our “Fishing Denison Dam’s Tailrace” may be of interest to Readers!  

Busy day working but did finally break away in the afternoon to go fishing. This round went to Lake Lavon’s Tailrace. With all the rain we had, lake levels were up enough to release water! Heard others did well on White Bass earlier in the week. As it goes, only saw one White Bass caught; however, did see a couple of Gaspergou (Freshwater Drum) were caught by others. Also, saw two Catfish caught on bait. One went for a Shad; other went for cut bait. Of the two, one was a Bruiser. Not sure how much it weighed but did get video of it; even helped land it as no net was available. Fun stuff!