Stocker Trout Fishing News

Short snippet of a ukulele time to prepare for the upcoming weekend – non-Labor Day Weekend, for those who have the 3-Day weekend off! A salute with a sip of wine, thoughts of kayak fishing, and stand up longboarding! Cannot wait till the weekend starts!  

Made the run to Oklahoma to the Lower Ilinois River for Rainbow Trout and Striped Bass. Fished the spillway area initially but then moved downriver when they started generating power. While at the spillay, caught small striped bass, gaspergou, and our fishing buddy caught a nice size Buffalo but did not get video. Put up a nice fight on the Ugly Stik Rod Combo, he picked up the day before at Bass Pro Shops. Also, able to catch one Striped Bass and a Rainbow Trout that we kept for a catch and cook video… do stay tuned for it! Casted a few jig and fluke rigs at the Spillway for Striped Bass once the current was flowing nicely from the turbines… no strikes, so moved further downriver and fished a couple of spots – caught another Rainbow Trout for the catch and cook video, lost a Rainbow Trout that threwt the fishing fly, and sight casted to Carp that ignored our fishing fly. Fishing fly used was the Olive Near Deere and we continue to use our favorite fly fishing combo – the OPST Commando

Had a fun weekend making the run across the border from Texas to Oklahoma to have a little non-work time… Minor League Baseball, good food and drinks, fishing a river for trout and striped bass, and even a little catch and cook time! Had a great time… here is a quick recap of the fun. Do stay tuned… will post video of the fishing action later this week! PS: Added a little ukulele time and a glass of wine to close out the weekend!

Was out and about the other day; short on time but not short on fishing fun! Decided to take the 4wt fly rod that had the Rio Trout Max shooting head and Rio GripShooter running line and a conveniently tied Foam Grasshopper already on the leader to Bethany Lakes. Bite was slow but always good for some casting practice. Did get two fish – a Bass and a Bluegill. Fun stuff fishing with the Rio Trout Max!       Bream Getter Cabela's Fiberglass CGR Fly Rod Rooster Tail Inline Spinners Mepps Trout Kit

Did a little fly tying this evening in preparation for fly fishing this upcoming weekend. Not sure where we are headed but for now five near deere will likely be out to good use!   #flytying this evening. learned #twofingers of #brandy served neat equates to a five #neardeere tying pace! good thing only tied five this round… hope to be #flyfishing sooner than later! #mylifeisgood❤️ still! A post shared by COAF Field Team (@coaf.field.team) on Aug 13, 2018 at 7:25pm PDT

Request from a Reader asking about bottom bouncing jigs when we go kayak fishing. Put a presentation together with video snippets included to detail this technique!  

While on the way home from the day job, had the fishing bug strike. Luckily we keep a Micro Fly Rod in our backpack at the ready for these instances. This round fished Crowley Park in Richardson; caught a Bass and a Bluegill on a Foam Grasshopper. Had others short strike but not able to hook them. Video shows the Micro Fly Rod variant that we made that collapses and has larger rod guides than the original ones that came from the manufacturer. Micro Fly Rod casts 30′ without an issue; only need to adjust the timing of the forward and backcast and we tend to use a sidecast more often than not. Do give it a try and make one… for ideas on how to make one, see our article COAF Micro Fly Rod The company we ordered the original rod and reel have since gone out of business. However, this one is similar on Amazon: Pen Rod on Amazon PS: Gotta have some Shakey Graves for background music!    

  Had a great time fishing the main lake today. In the morning I hit the points in W. Park and caught many white bass. They were all small and Similar size to the one JMoe is holding above. Caught a bunch of small largemouths and a couple sunnies.There were no signs of schooling fish. Around noon I started fishing lakeside of the dam. I was pleasantly surprised that there was a very good sunfish bite. I lost count of the numbers. I could have caught a bunch more but the heat later was unbearable and I quit for the day. While fishing the dam a first happened for me. I came upon a good spot and the sunnies were tearing up my grub. As I was reeling one in a nice sized fish exploded on it as I was about to lift it out of the water. It happened so fast I couldn't ID it. The fish started stripping line so I thought it was a hybrid then thought it was a catfish by the way it was fighting. It drug me down the dam aways but eventually tired. Pulling

I went out to the lakeside of the dam last week to see if there were any white bass surfacing. Just before dark there were a bunch surfacing but they were all small. I suspect they were the crop from the spawn earlier this year. Looks like we had another good spawn as there were lots of them surfacing. I sure hope we get some good rains before December as the lake is over a foot low and I suspect the COE will have to flow some more water this summer.     Retrieved from http://texasfishingforum.com/forums

Been out of pocket lately but have been able to wet a line or two and post about it as well as post a video on our YiuTube Channel on pond hopping with the OPST Commando Head on our mojo rod – the 9′-5wt Fly Rod. Followed up with a second video to demo the Over the Shoulder Cast and how we do so using the same rod and shooting head. Also, made it out several time to the local lake for kayak fishing. Action has not been as good in year’s past but no worries… always good to get some exercise in even when the fish are not biting. We are still working on the Bottom Bouncing Jig video to show how we use this method when kayak fishing. Do stay tuned; will keep editing and preparing it for release… hopefully sooner than later! Here are some quick updates on “happenings” from the Team… After many years of great service, had to retire the old Columbia sandals we like to use for kayaking. Luckily, we had a backup pair at the ready… which was needed, as we also learned how to load three kayaks in

More fun fishing local ponds. This round we go to Angel Parkway Pond in Allen, TX with the OPST Commando Head and 9′-5wt Redington Fly Rod and Echo Ion Reel. Great combo for fishing and matches well with the OPST Commando Head. This round, we demo how we cast the Over The Shoulder Cast The situation calls for casting at time over our off-shoulder side due to trees and lots of brush lining the banks. We start to setup for a cast, but a Bluegill takes the fly. Once we release it, we demo using a Perry Poke to setup the Over The Shoulder Cast. Then, we show a cast where the line lays behind us on grass, followed by a cast where the line lays in front on the water. Finally, we show the Over The Shoulder Cast where a traditional Overhead Cast is used but is basically in reverse casting the line to the spot we want to fish by releasing the line on the back cast. We stand sideways to the target area and basically are casting backwards. Do give it a try some time, and with the OPST Commando He

The latest edition of iFishNews is out; it’s a new and improved version that expands fishing news and fishing items of interest to other areas other than Texas and Oklahoma. Do check it out when you get a chance. And do, check it out often, as the info updates more often than the monthly old format.  

Quick update and introduction to the newest Field Team Member – Charlie! Has a little more growing to do before we take him kayak fishing. But, do check back as he is excited to get out in the field with us and do some fishing!