Q&A: DIY Wooden Trout Net...! #flyfishing

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Held a YouTube Q&A session to answer questions from Readers about the wooden trout net we are making. Intent was to build one that would be durable, did not tangle with fishing flies when landing a fish, and could be made cheaply without special tools…

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TRDW Flyfest...

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Had a great time at TRWD Flyfest yesterday. Checked out some of the fly tying demos, and joined the fishing contest on a whim. Had brought fly fishing gear out of habit but left the chest waders. Had put the waders away since the Trout Stocking Season was winding down. While walking around, stopped by the fishing contest booth and learned that an opening was available for the next heat. Decided to sign up when I remembered the hip waders were in the pick up. Kept them there as a backup set of waders, and forgot to put them away. Good thing… ended up using them for the contest. The contest worked in two-man Teams – one fisherman fished for 10″ while the other fisherman waited, then they would switch when a horn sounded. We ended up getting three on the line – one was almost landed but the other two were on the line briefly before throwing the hook or breaking off the line. For the one that was almost landed, had forgot to bring the landing net (it was put it away in the garage already).
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How Do We Clean and Cook Trout?

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Question from one of our Readers asking, “How do we clean and cook trout?” In answer to the question, we provide a summary of the different ways we clean and cook trout! Depending on the size of the trout, we clean and cook them as follows: Stocker size trout (9″-13″ in size) : We cut their heads or remove the gills (“gilling”), and then we remove the guts. Not sure why we opt to cut the head off versus “gilling” them; just seems to go one way or the other from trip to trip. When cooking the Stockers, we season them with salt and pepper (sometimes add Season Salt), and then pan fry them in oil for about 5-8 minutes each side. For larger trout in the 14″ – 18″ range: We clean them like the Stockers but will split the fish (butterfly). We then cook them on a cedar plank (see Grilled Plank Trout Recipe ). For trout going 19″+ in size: We gill them and remove the guts, leaving the head in place. Then, we stuff with lemon slices, onions, butter, and sprinkle Rosemary in the body cavity. Nex
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Over-Lining Our Fly Rods

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Not sure when we started doing this, but we tend to over-line (go up one line weight) on our 4-Wt and 5-Wt fly rods. I think we did this by accident when we used whatever fly line we had at the time we picked up a new fly reel. So far, have been good with the casting results by going up a weight. That said, was not aware of a debate about this, until I saw an article online by Field and Stream – “ Is Over-Lining Fly Rods Good or Bad? ” For the most part, would agree with Field and Stream that there are no set rules. Would go on to say, “whatever works best for you”!  
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Blue River for Switch Rod Casting Practice...! #switchrod #flyfishing

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Made it to the Blue River today to check things out. Great day to go… only one little Bass this round but did get lots of casting practice in with the Switch Rod – 6 Weight Cabelas TLR combined with the Liquid Lamson 4 and the Rio Switch Chucker line is balancing well. Getting great casts and distance with the two-handed Switch Cast now. Plus… always good to be able to fall back to the cast we use when shoulder is hurting from a past injury. For want of a name for it, calling it the “hurt shoulder cast”. Here is a video snippet of some of the casts used today.
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Ukulele and Q&A and Near Deere Give Away!

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Starting an impromptu live stream for some ukulele fun and fishing Q&A! Plus a Near Deere Give Away with a twist… This round we are giving away two White Near Deere tied on 1/80oz fly jigs and one Marilyn Monroe Tenkara Fly. The extra weight of the 1/80 oz fly jigs helps fishing deeper spots when the trout are lurking deep. And, the white color is what we had the local trout interested in last Saturday when the temps were well below freezing! To win this round… we wrote down a number from 1 to 100 on our whiteboard. First to guess the number and post in the comments either on this video or on our Facebook Page wins the number we wrote down wins! Addendum: One modification to the rules, One entry per day to guess the number. We are located in the US Central timezone. We will provide comments indicating a Win, else will give a hint to the answer at least once a day. That is first to guess the number with a US address wins! Good Luck!
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First Trout Caught at End of the Garden Creek!

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From Steve in Australia who is enjoying the good life fishing at a nearby creek – near as in his backyard, pictures of the first trout caught since moving to the new homestead, the creek at the end of the garden, and some cool looking plant life! Thanks for the pictures. We look forward to more updates from Oz! Living the Good Life!
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Denison Dam Tonight

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Always good to  get reports from the Lake Lavon Fishing Team!   They now seem to be on a regular schedule of turning on the water at 12:40 pm and turning it off at 5:00 pm on weekdays. The stripers are beginning to school some beginning around noon, but they really turn on when the siren blows signalling the start of generating. They will stay up busting the top for 20-30 minutes and you can have a lot of fun fishing from shore on the Texas side during that time period because they are schooling right next to the shore. Sometimes they will also feed on top right after they turn the water off. They will hit topwater pencil poppers with abandon while they are schooling! I think the siren causes a vibration in the water which causes the shad to start moving and the stripers are ready and waiting for them. Get up there and have some fun, guys!!   Regards, The Lake Lavon Fishing Team.   Retrieved from http://forum.lakelavonfishing.com    
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What is the Best Setup for a Beginner.... #flyfishing

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We received a question from a YouTube Viewer asking, “What is the best setup for a beginner who wants to get started in fly fishing?” Expanding on the question, we learned they would be fishing for freshwater fish like Bluegill and Largemouth Bass as well as saltwater fish like Redfish and Speckled Trout. Subsequently… Fishing both freshwater and saltwater threw us a curve. At first thought, we leaned toward two rod/reel combos – one for freshwater and one for saltwater. But, then we put our brainstorming hat on and came up with one rod/reel combo that would work for both situations. When we came up with our one rod/reel combo we biased the outcome with our personal preference in fly rods. That is, we like fast action fly rods that we overweight (also over-line) one line size… not sure why but it seems to work for us! (see more on over-lining a fly rod) Additionally, since it was tough to describe in generic terms a rod and a reel, we provided the actual rod and reel we use. Since each
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Lake Lavon This Morning

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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!
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COAF Field Team Vlog #1... Sonic Pond This Round

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Playing around with the camera and green screen. Put together Vlog #1 that shows the action at Sonic Pond using the Traditional III Fly Rod from Cabelas and a Foam Grasshopper! Had started out with a Near Deere but after took hook ups with Bass that threw the hook, decided to switch to the Foam Grasshopper! Lost count of how any Bass were caught. No Bruisers but would say it was in the double digits! Do stay tuned for more Vlogs; hope to mix things up some more once we get the hang of the camera/green screen!
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