Stocker Trout Fishing News

Decided to scale down the fishing fly size in preparation for the next round of micro fly fishing. Yesterday’s quick trip with the the Micro Fly Rod had lots of strikes but a size 16 was too much for the little fish to handle. This evening, tied a couple of Griffith’s gnats in size 22. Will see how these work; hopefully in the next day or two!  

Made a quick trip to Celebration Park with the two piece Micro Fly Rod. Used a PMC Emerger Variant to catch a little Sunfish and then a fish we do not know about… calling it the “unknown fish” for now. Lots of fun even though it was only 30″ of fishing! PS: Dark conditions made for hazy video at times but audio remains good. Log Book Entry: 1/30/17 Location: Celebration Park – North Pond (Allen) Time: 18:00 – 18:30 Weax: Clear, “Short Sleeves”, Calm Rod: Two Piece Micro Fly Rod 00WT – 4’3″ Reel: Go Fast and Light Micro Fly Reel – Level Fly Line from 5wt running line portion   Comments: Warm day with temps in the 70s. Short on time, decided to check out Celebration Park to see how the Sunfish and Bluegill were doing. Hatch was going on and could see the little Sunfish and Bluegill feeding on them. Several on the line but only managed two fish. Need to go with smaller than a size 16 fishing fly next time.   Landed: 1 Sunfish – 3″ – PMC Emerger Variant (Griffith’s Gnat Emerger) – Sz 16 1

Cold and breezy this morning; was itching to get a round of fishing in before the work week started. Made the run to Denison but struck out at Waterloo Park Pond. Had several light strikes and one hook up but ended up losing it soon after. No worries… still good to get outside and go fishing! Can’t get them all. Struck out at #waterloo #denison this morning. Did get one #trout to stat on the line briefly #flyfishing a tandem rig. A video posted by COAF Field Team (@coaf.field.team) on Jan 29, 2017 at 12:23pm PST Log Book Entry: 1/29/17 Location: Waterloo Park Pond (Denison) Time: 08:00 – 12:00 Weax: Clear, “Multi-Layers”, Breezy Rod: Redington Classic Trout 5wt – 9′ Reel: Echo Ion 4/5 – 6wt Flyline   Comments: Cold morning with breezy conditions coming from the NNW. Did not see any risers like in other trips past. Always a tough go after the first week of stocking the pond. In this case, this was the third week which means Salmon Eggs are preferred over fishing flies. Did try a number

Did a little fly tying this evening. Last round we ran out of Griffith’s Gnat; several days ago made a variant of the PMC Emerger that combined the PMC Emerger and the Griffith’s Gnat. We called it the PMC Griffith’s Gnat Emerger or PMC GNE. This evening tied more of the PMC GNE’s and also more Griffith’s Gnats in size 16 and 18. If all goes well, next round we won’t run out of these fishing flies!

Gotta love surfin’ the Net. In this case, found fly tying instruction video for a simple pattern that has us interested! Since we are not master fly tyers, we prefer the Keep It Simple Simpleton (KISS) Principle for fishing fly patterns. The Tungsten Torpedo is one that fits the KISS Principle, so we will have to try this one out! Do check out the video from Gilbert Rowley’s YouTube Channel!

Good tip for the Lower Mountain Fork!     robert hunter: Re: Streamers help on the LMF If you go zone two when the water bottoms out after generation throw a white Zonker. Shad that go through the turbines will be in a smaller space and the fish feed heavy right when it bottoms out! They know to save their energy till the baitfish are in the least amount of water to chase them.     Retrieved from http://texasfishingforum.com/forums

White Bass at RC!     J.Money: Re: Rowlett Creek 2016-2017 Female with big tummy full of eggs. They are running. Tight Lines.     Retrieved from http://texasfishingforum.com/forums

Something to think about and do for this weekend!       HicoHunter: Re: Red River Rendezvous - Jan 27 - 28 The Rendezvous begins tomorrow, Friday January 27, at 12pm in the Recreation Hall at Eisenhower State Park on Lake Texoma. The Red River fly fishers will have dinner provided on Friday evening. Hope you can come join us for a weekend of tying, casting, fishing, eating and visiting. Go to www.rrff.org the Rendezvous page for more details.   Retrieved from http://texasfishingforum.com/forums    

White Bass action at Somerville…     GC2656: Re: Lake Somerville Finally made it to the Yegua yesterday morning and did pretty well. Water was still a little muddy, but ended up catching about 40 white bass and keeping 24 over 12" (7 females).     Retrieved from http://texasfishingforum.com/forums  

Good info to keep in mind for the Guadalupe…       mickfly: Re: Guad below canyon damn As a former president of GRTU who has fished the leases for 20 years, i can tell you that despite the advice given above, the Guad is not wadable at 600 cfs, especially for anyone without an intimate knowledge of the river. It might be possible to arrange a shuttle thru one of the local flyshops. Also, you should know that Saturday is the winter meeting of GRTU, so there may be extra fishers on the river.   Retrieved from http://texasfishingforum.com/forums  

Found a work around for the new StockTroutFishing.com hat. Had forgotten the Trout in the first hat courtesy of your’s truly forgetting it. So, ended up with two hats – a right one and a wrong one. Not wanting to let the wrong one sit on the shelf, decided to embroider “Trout” on the hat. End result… we have two hats now!

Yesterday while fishing Waterloo Park Pond, we mentioned in our earlier post that we ran out of the “go to” fishing fly that the trout were keying on. A hatch was in progress, there were bugs all around, and the trout wanted either a size 16 Griffith’s Gnat or a size 20 Black Midge. Not sure why other than the Griffith’s Gnat pattern mimics a cluster of things hatching. We did give the PMC Emerger a try, and managed to catch one trout and one bluegill with it although we did miss a number of strikes. But, for the most part, we were getting more strikes with the Griffith’s Gnat than the PMC Emerger. And, since we ran out of them, it took a little bit longer to limit out. Today, while doing other non-fishing related things, had an idea to try a variant of the two fishing flies, the end result is the PMC Griffith’s Gnat Emerger (aka PMC GNE). It has the bent hook shank, foam indicator, and midge lower half, and then instead of a grizzly hackle tied at the bend, we made the upper portion a

Been awhile since we updated an online article we published back in 2013. We wrote the article to let Readers know about our favorite soft plastic worm – Gary Yamamto’s 4″ Yamasenko in the Black and Red Flake. A recent post in Texas Fishing Forum’s Bank Fishing – Community Lakes thread, reminded us to update the article as the video showing how we rig a 4″ Yamasenko was removed. We have since updated the article to include a more recent video titled – Weightless Texas Rigged Yamasenko. Do check out the video! Has other tips and video of the action on Senkos at our local pond – Bethany Lakes (Allen, TX).

Fun time limiting out on trout at Waterloo Park Pond in Denison. Dry Flies were the key this round with the Griffith’s Gnat in size 16 being the “go to” fishing fly. But, as luck would have it, ran out of them. Did manage to get the trout to bite on other dry flies despite losing my mojo at one point!   Log Book Entry: 1/21/17 Time: 12:30 to 16:30 Weax: Overcast, Long-Sleeves, Breezy Rod: Redington Classic Trout 5wt – 9′ Reel: Echo Ion 4/5 – 6wt Flyline   Comments: On arrival noticed the trout were actively feeding on black midges; had several strikes and missed hook sets using the PMC Emerger in Sz 14. But, finally landed one using a Griffith’s Gnat on a Caddis Hook (aka the COAF Griffith’s Gnat). Trout seemed to prefer movement in the fishing fly; either twitches with the rod tip or a slow drag of the rod. COAF Griffith’s Gnat did well until Murphy’s Law showed up and we ran out of the pattern – lost one while opening the fly box; lost two to breakoffs; only brought three! After try

Quick trip to the local pond yesterday for some fun with little Bluegill. Caught five that went for a PMC Emerger! No Bruisers but still lots of fun! Pictures at the end of the video are blurry; gotta work on the photography skills but the video action tells the story! PS: Really liking the new hat! Log Book Entry: 1/19/17 Time: 17:20 to 18:00 Weax: Clear, “Hoodie Jacket”, Calm Rod: Redington Classic Trout 5wt – 9′ Reel: Echo Ion 4/5 – 6wt Flyline Comments: Fished the Main Pond without success using a Purple Near Deere, and then switched to a PMC Emerger without a strike as well. Noticed the “black midges” on the water and an ongoing hatch. Remembered past seasons where the Bass and Bluegill were actively feeding on them. Used a Griffith’s Gnat on a caddis hook then; hoped the PMC Emerger would work this round. Moved on to the Back Pond, and observed little swirls in the water. Something was actively feeding on the hatching midges. Soon after, started catching Bluegill! Did not see any

Fun time fishing Bethany Lakes yesterday morning. Caught four Catfish using bread for bait. Below is the video of the action; added some details on how we rigged our fishing rod, chummed the area, and baited our hooks. Gotta love a simple grocery store bait like bread… even better, if the fish aren’t biting and you get hungry, just have a slice or two! Log Book Entry: 1/16/17 Location: Bethany Lakes – Main Pond (Allen) Time: 10:30 – 12:00 Weax: Clear, “Hoodie Jacket”, Calm Rod: Berkley Lightning Rod Medium Light – 6’6″ Reel: Pinnacle Tiny Dead Bolt DUL20 – 4lbs Test Trout Magnet SOS Mono (later added shock leader)   Comments: Catfish were readily biting at first but bite slowed down after about 30″. Had chummed the area near the “pavilion tree” with bread. Used 7/0 Mustad circle hooks – same one used for jug-lining last year on Lake Lavon. Free-lined the bread with an open bale and allowed the fish to pick-up and run with the bait, closing the bale and setting the hook after the brief

After correcting the logo on our new hat – forgot the Trout in our website’s url StockerTroutFishing.com, it was time to retire the old hat from our archived blog – CityOfAllenFishing.Blogspot.com . All is well now… really liking the raised lettering on the new hat; should see us wearing the new hat in future videos!

Quick Trip to Bethany for Catfish this Morning. Caught four before we had to leave. People feed ducks bread. catfish eat the bread, we catch the catfish with bread… then let them go. Catch and release only at Bethany Lakes. Video still needs to be edited; will post later in the week.

Here is a variant of the Near Deere tied using the same material as the Olive Near Deere but uses one black marabou plume and no chenille. Instead, the marabou plume is used in place of the chenille. We still prefer using chenille when tying a Near Deere, but in making do with what we have, this approach allows us to skip a trip to Cabelas just for one item – black chenille. The pattern works for stocker trout in our area, and skipping the chenille makes for a quicker tie. Do check out the steps below on how we tie the Black Near Deere Variant.   Tying the Black Near Deere Variant Picture 1 First step is to build the thread base like normal, ending just slightly past the point where a perpendicular line from the hook point to the hook shank would intersect. Then, build a slight “hump” with the tying thread as shown in Picture 1. The hump helps lift and spread the feathers of the marabou tail from the hook shank.     Picture 2 Next, measure a hook shank length of the marabou plume and s

Rain or shine, cold or hot… even if we cannot go fishing, we can still be doing things related to fishing. In this case, taking a look at our calendars to see what derbies are scheduled in our area. Looks like there are some double and even tripled booked days, so we will need to deal with them accordingly.

Made it to Waterloo in Denison Saturday afternoon. Fished the late afternoon/early evening bite and managed to limit out after getting a fishing tip from one of our Readers and good friend – Merovingian! Started with a Tandem Rigged Olive Near Deere and trailing GRHEN. Had some light strikes and misses, and then changed to a Black Near Deere when Merovingian gave us the heads up that the trout were going for Black Wooley Buggers. In short order, had a trout on the line using a 6-12 count to sink the fishing fly, and then a 6 count retrieve using long pulls. Bite was light and setting the hook at any movement or hesitation in the line was the key to hook ups… good practice for Beavers Bend and the Lower Mountain Fork! Did lose the one Black Near Deere in the fly box but luckily, they were hitting a Purple Near Deere as well. Also, the trout seemed to be more active as the afternoon edged into the early evening with hook ups happening at the pull of the line. Overall, a great time despit

Looks like there is a Trout Derby tomorrow in Denison at Waterloo. Trout were stocked yesterday, and the derby is tomorrow. If you can brave the cold temps, they might be biting today! [Correction: Trout Derby was held Saturday, January 7. Trout are still there and biting. Fished Saturday afternoon and managed to limit of fly fishing! Video to be posted. Do stay tuned!]

Fished below where to upper foot bridge used to be, down to a place we called the Christmas Pool ( that was a long time ago and I don't think it's called that anymore- certainly not after the flood). The river is just littered with fish. There are a lot of fast, shallow runs now that I like to fish with a wooly bugger. I like to skip it on or just below the surface in the fast water and watch the trout smash the fly. You miss a lot more than you catch but it's fun to just watch the strike. I landed twenty and probably missed three or four times that many. It's just crazy right now and the weather is ridiculously nice ( ran the air conditioning in the camper last night).   __ Retrieved from http://texasfishingforum.com/forums  

Here is one from today about Lavon and the Crappie bite…   Pressure really effected the fish and they were just not comfortable. With water temps getting cooler them shad will be balling up in deeper water and migrating the creeks in the afternoon when the water temps rise. On those days when the fish be skittish, fishing deeper can produce better results. Just have to adapt and try sumpin else. Its a rare occasion we get skunked on the Lady....but it is not so rare for us to have to change tactics from when we started to chase ole Pepe LePew away. The only thing that will help is TOW. Been fishing the Lady since 1978 so have learned a thing or two.   Retrieved from http://forum.lakelavonfishing.com  

Liking this update! Last weekend had different results all 3 days,   Foggy day 1 and 2, temp was 48 to 52, wind was not consistent. Bait was shad Day 1, deep water, fish some humps but they were not there, started drifting and was able to pick off 15, Here is a pick of a triple 30,26,25. Day 2, mid depth, fished creek channels and timber, landed 7 biggest were 23, 33. Day 3, started deep on humps caught 20,18, move to mid depth and stopped catching.    We need a lot colder temps to get these cats to stack up.     Retrieved from http://forum.lakelavonfishing.com    

Fished RC this morning and crazy enough there are a other people who braved the winter chill. Managed to land a handful of small crappie and missed a lot of thump, can't even feel my fingers. Met Jimmy along the way and I too managed to land a sand bass. I totally did not expect that but the only keeper of the day, a thick 12 incher. If you dare brave the winter chill tomorrow wear a lot layers, the bottled water I brought with me was chilled. Be safe everyone and tight lines!   Retrieved from http://texasfishingforum.com/forums

Saw a question on the Texas Fishing Forum about leaders. Liked the question so much, decided to provide an answer.  Here is our answer: Been using this for Trout… 30lbs mono for a 36″ butt section, 17lbs mono for an 18″ mid section, 12lbs and 4lbs mono of 18″ each to make a 36″ tippet section. Makes a 7-1/2′ leader. If I want it longer will increase each length proportionally to get the overall length wanted. For Striped Bass on Clousers, 30lbs mono for a 60″ butt section and then 17lbs mono for a 48″ tippet section…, then tie the Clouser directly to the 17lbs mono. Comes to 9′ and works with a 11′ Switch Rod as well as a 9′ 5wt Fly Rod. Knots used – Perfection Loop for the butt end, then Uniknots for the rest… easier to tie than blood knots. Will use knot-less tapered leaders bought on sale; but, only use them in the Spring when the Cottonwood start clobbering the local ponds with “cotton” which gravitate to any knot on a leader. Do give it a try and possibly save a few dollars on lea

2017 has the Team back at their day jobs. That said, if you can’t go fishing, you can still do fishing related things. In our case, opted to respool the Echo Ion 8/10 reel with a Rio’s Skagit Max Short spey line and Gripshooter shooting line. Add a floating and a sinking Versileader, and we are ready to try it out next chance we get. Afterwards, did a little paracord handiwork and made a cord lanyard for the headset/microphone that we use with our digital recorder (Zume H1). Looks good and does not tangle with fly line like before! All for now, have a happy mid-week “Hump Day” and hope to be out again this weekend!   No #fishing today. But, new #rio line came in for the 6wt #switchrod from #cabelas …now just gotta put it on the #echo ion reel. A photo posted by COAF Field Team (@coaf.field.team) on Jan 3, 2017 at 5:48pm PST   Fixed the tangled cord issue with #paracord …works well with the headset and #zume H1 recorder! Hope to field test while #fishing A photo posted by COAF Field Tea

Short on time today but was able to make a quick trip to Bethany Lakes. Caught a trout on a Griffith’s Gnat, missed a couple more, and then decided that my mojo was off and went for a couple of casts in the Main Pond with the Switch Rod and a Near Deere. Mojo came back with a Bass caught on the fly! PS: Great meeting TFF’s zenmic this evening! #flyfishing with the #switchrod at #bethanylakes this evening. Caught a #trout and a #bass with a #griffithsgnat and a #neardeere A video posted by COAF Field Team (@coaf.field.team) on Jan 2, 2017 at 4:45pm PST Log Book Entry: 1/2/17 Bethany Lakes – Pond C, Main Pond (Allen) Time: 17:30 – 19:00 Weax: Clear, Short Sleeves, Calm Rod: Cabelas TLR Switch Rod 6wt – 11′ Reel: Lamson Liquid 4 – 5wt RIO Switch Chucker Spey Line   Comments: More sight casting to passing schools of trout. Schools were roaming the pond but tending to the NW side of Pond C where someone was chumming with bread. Hatch was in progress but schools were not staying in the area

Had a couple of Readers ask about the fishing fly we have been using to catch the trout feeding on and/or near the water’s surface. We have been using two patterns – the Griffith’s Gnat tied on a caddis hook and the PMC Emerger. Since we could not find instructions online on how to tie a PMC Emerger – short for Plain Mayfly Crooked Emerger, we decided to post an article and video on how we tie one. Do check it out – “Fly Tying – The PMC Emerger” , when you get a chance, and do give this pattern a try!

Short on time today but was able to make a quick trip to Bethany Lakes this evening for about 45″. Managed to catch one Rainbow Trout and missed several others. Used the 5wt fly rod and the PMC Emerger and sight cast to passing schools of trout! Fun time… and a great way to start 2017! 1st fish of the year is a #trout caught #flyfishing a #pmcemerger on the 5wt flyrod at #bethanylakes this evening! A photo posted by COAF Field Team (@coaf.field.team) on Jan 1, 2017 at 4:19pm PST Log Book Entry: 1/1/17 Bethany Lakes – Pond C (Allen) Time: 17:30 – 18:15 Weax: Clear, Short-Sleeve, Calm Rod: Redington Classic Trout 5wt – 9′ Reel: Echo Ion 4/5 – 6wt Flyline   Comments: Sight casting to passing schools of trout that were actively feeding on/near the surface. Tiny bugs were hatching. Observed black midges and cream midges. Estimated Sz 18 in size. Trout were striking at fishing flies that were sitting still on the surface. Trout were also striking/chasing fishing flies that were moving fast w