Stocker Trout Fishing News

Great time yesterday fishing city of Murphy’s pond – City Complex Park Pond. Limited out after figuring out the pattern… tandem rigged near deere and griffiths’ gnat! Afterwards, able to try the rod, no reel concept and caught several trout. Broke out the action in a second video… check it out at “One Rod, No Reel”.   Follow-on video to our trip to Murphy’s City Complex Park Pond where we test the concept of a quality line and a fly rod for trout fishing, and forego the reel. Used about 8 yards of line, the tandem rig that the trout were going for, and a $19 fly rod… also, fly line is quality line from Scientific Angler. Just picked up a deal when it was on clearance… only $1!

Been raining for some time now but the afternoon looked promising. Rain stopped and sun came out; hope to get a round of trout fishing in tomorrow. For today, tied a few more sample Olive Near Deere and then recapped fly tying items picked up recently – specifically, Metz Saddle Hackle that made for some really nice palmer wrapped hackles on the Near Deere Stonefly/Hopper Foam Body Cutter to make more consistent Grasshopper foam bodies Dusted off the Damsel Fly Foam Body Cutter purchased previously and made some Foam Damsel Flies   alrighty, #flytying today. quick summary of recent items picked up… #riverroadcreations #foamcutters for a #foamgrasshopper …while at it tied #foamdamselfly and then #neardeere using #metzsaddlehackle …liking the hackle, makes for tight palmer wrapped hackles! #fishingflies A post shared by COAF Field Team (@coaf.field.team) on Feb 24, 2018 at 4:58pm PST

Picked up a Stonefly/Hopper foam cutter from River Road Creations via Feather Craft. Used their Damsel Fly Cutter and Beavertail Cutter and liked them. Plan was to reverse the Stonefly/Hopper pattern to tie a Foam Grasshopper. Liked the results, much more consistent pattern then cutting them using scissors and a template. Did a review of the cutters and added two quick tie demos of Foam Grasshopper and Foam Damsel Fly being tied to the tune of Shakey Graves! Fun stuff!  

Lots of rain recently has us indoors for the time being. Luckily, others are able to get a round or two fishing in their areas. Of note, is the latest update from our friend Steven in Australia! Looks like the fish are biting. Always great to hear from Steven and how the bite is going in OZ! “Our weather is all over the place at the moment–hot, cold but not a lot of rain. It’s pretty windy outside so we might make sure nothing is in risk of blowing away. Most of the local creeks and streams are pretty low and clear. The trout are there but very skittish. I’ve fished the Badger Creek nearby and caught and released a few nice brown trout recently. I used my 8 foot tenkara rod and a Royal Humpy with a nymph on a dropper. I fished the Stevenson River at Marysville a few days ago. Again, very low and clear but I hooked and lost a few trout, a couple that were probably well over the pound mark as they pulled really hard on the 12 foot tenkara rod. Used a Black Woolly Worm–my favourite wet fl

Rainy evening but still able to do fishing related things. Quick tied another Near Deere Sample… to put in the fly box!

Rainy day, so what better way to spend a moment checking out the latest Feather Craft Catalog. Got reeled in and bought a foam ant tying kit that makes 24 foam ants like the Betts version. And then, bought the Hopper/Stone-fly Foam Cutter in size 10. Going to use them to make the Foam Grasshopper that we cut by hand. This should makes things goa little quicker. It’s a Stonefly pattern but plan to reverse the foam body so the narrow end is to the rear of the hook and the wider end is toward the front by the hook’s eye. Should make for some loud popping noises. So far, been liking the Beavertail and Damsel/Dragon Fly Cutters… this should do double duty for Grasshoppers and Stone-flies! Will post a pic of how they turnout once the package arrives!  

Be it Patreon sponsors and/or donations, we are stepping up the fund raising game to reach our fishing goal of beach Shark Fishing by Drone on the Texas Coast in 2018 and/or 2019! To get things started, we created a Patreon page with various tiers of sponsorship. However, for those who want to show their support but stray away from the Patreon commitment, we are offering a simple donation option – specifically, for a $3.00 or more  donation, will send a sample Olive Near Deere and a Thank You Note! For more details, go to our Patreon page ! Note: Offer limited to the US currently; one sample per donation and mailing address and while in stock.  

Fly Casting without Rod or Reel… or better yet, “look ma no hands, no rod, no reel? Actually, we do use our hands and a rod but no reel in this demo. This one was fun to make…. it came about when someone asked us about the hardest thing to learn about fly casting while fishing Frisco Commons yesterday. After mulling over the question, we came up with the back cast. With a proper back cast, a good forward cast is more likely. Done wrong, then a good forward cast will not happen. Unfortunately, there is a tendency to forget about the back cast and focus on other things like timing, the 10-2 position, or the 11-1 position, as well as which rod or reel to buy. After a while, you have to force yourself to watch your back cast… subsequently, we decided the hardest thing to learn about fly casting is the back cast – easily forgotten but critical to the basic fly cast – the overhead cast. Also, in the demo we expand on the our answer noting the number one item when learning to fly cast is the

Had planned to fish Towne Lake in Mckinney but the stocking was postponed due to weather. Things cleared up and made the run to Frisco Commons and fished for trout. Like in years past, something was hatching. Managed to land four and miss several others using a Griffith’s Gnat and a PMC Emerger. See how to tie one at  PMC Emerger  

Set a goal to do some shark fishing from a Texas Beach using a drone to deploy baits. Put a logo together and kicked of the funding effort. So far, no sponsors but able to stash $50 to the effort. Hope to do this in 2018 and/or 2019. Do stay tuned as we strive to achieve this goal… Beach Shark Fishing by Drone (BSFBD)!

Originally planned to “test” the RIO Trout Max shooting head using a short 5′ 3″ 4wt Fly Rod. But, grabbed the wrong reel and ended up using the OPST Commando Head Skajit line instead. Works well on a 9′ 5wt, looks like it works well on the short 4wt Fly Rod, too!  

Made the DIY Green LED Fishing Light several years ago. Since then made some improvements! This video provides an update on the latest version we use. For more on the circuit, check out https://hubpages.com/sports/GreenLEDFishingLightPart1  

Did a quick tie demo of the Olive Near Deere. Was fun to do; decided to make a demo of the Foam Grasshopper variant that is much simpler than the original pattern. This one uses a size 12 Streamer and no Chenille. Works well on Bluegill and Bass on local ponds. And, they are quick to make especially using the UV Glue that dries quickly with the LED curing light!

We started a Patreon page to help feed the Fishing Addiction…. There is no cure for this addiction other than to do more fishing! There are several rewards tiers for sponsors. For more details, see our Patreon page at – COAF Field Team on Patreon. Also, here is a video introduction…

Well, yours truly was not spared by whatever “bug” is going around. Not able to go fishing; hope to get well soon. Painful for this Fishing Addict to be indoors… even though there is a slight drizzle (“just a cloud”) this morning, would be headed to Frisco Commons for a go at the trout. Frisco’s Trick-A-Trout Derby will be happening and so will the fishing! For now, can relive past fishing trips through video… playlist shows trips in 2013, 2015, and 2017!

Always liked videos from a fisherman we follow up in Oklahoma. Latest one provides a good idea on the trout action at Medicine Park! Really like the resort town’s restaurants as well as the trout fishing! Fun stuff….

Been able to fish with the Rio Trout Max Shooting Head one several trips to local ponds as well as the Blue River in Oklahoma. So far, really liking the one-handed spey casting concept. Started with several traditional Switch Rods, fishing them both one and two-handed. And then tried OPST’s Commando Shooting Head for one-handed casting on a 9′ 5wt fly rod. Now, tried the Rio Trout Max Shooting Head on an 8′ 4wt fly rod. Really fun having a compact rod that does not require room for a back cast and no false casting to get the needed distance when required. Been using a Switch Cast, Roll Cast, and the traditional Overhead Cast with great results. However, starting to settle on a variant of the “Perry Poke Cast” one-handed style for most instances. Here is a short video demo of the Rio Trout Max below… Shooting Head – Rio Trout Max #2 in 200 grain Running Line – Rio SlickShooter 35lbs test

Several years ago we modified a Pen Fishing Rod and made our first micro fly rod. It was a prototype where we used a crappie reel as the fly reel and electrical tape to mount it to the Pen Rod. Later, we made more modifications and published an article online detailing the modifications – COAF Micro Fly Rod . Since then, we have made others using the same Pen Fishing Rod but removed the rod guides and replaced them with larger rod guides. The original rod guides will work but we find the larger rod guides make for better casting. Also, when we broke a four piece 8wt fly rod accidentally, we salvaged the top two sections to make a two piece Micro Fly Rod. This one is fun to fish with and casts well but it does not collapse like the modified Pen Fishing Rod which we keep in our backpack… meaning the backpack we take to work everyday. Gotta be ready for any opportunity to fish! Last but not least in the our Micro Fly Rod arsenal is the Kiyotaki 18 Tenkara Rod. This one is compact and fits

Made it to the Blue River in Oklahoma for the first time this year. Been tough to breakaway and make the run across the border but finally had the opportunity Saturday. Bite was steady for our fishing partner using ultralight gear an Power Bait Trout Worms in Chartreuse. The showed no interested in Pink or Natural… all they wanted was Chartreuse. Yours truly fished with the 4wt fly rod and used the Rio Trout Max shooting head. Tried several fishing flies without success… then got one to take an Olive Near Deere. Did get a few more strikes but my mojo was off and missed the hook set. Got the hint, and switched to Trout Worms. After missing one and losing another, caught one! This round one of us limited out; the other caught two… no worries though, did stop by Blake Shelton’s Ole Red Restaurant in Tishomingo for live music and dinner!