Fishing Tips

More fishing articles published by the COAF Field Team. These articles provide fishing tips specific to fishing for Rainbow Trout, fishing tips in general, a couple of recipes, as well as suggested fishing reads. Do read on!

Rainbow Trout Fishing:

 

General Fishing Tips

 

Fishing Questions and Answers (Q&A) from Readers:

Fishing Recipes

 

Suggested Fishing Reads

 



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Popular posts from this blog

How To Switch a Martin Fly Reel's Retrieve?

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Video snippet showing how I switch the Martin Fly Reel from left to right hand retrieve. Works for similar click-pawl drag single action, fly reels. For more details, see the full video Try These Two Modifications for the Martin Fly Fishing Combo
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Why We Like Maltese Puppies #maltese

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Yesterday, was able to get a cast or two with the TFO Fly Rod. Casting the OPST Commando Head with the coated running line made for much easier line management. So far so good… will likely use this rod in place of the 5wt that has been “retired” to the closet. Have a video of the fishing yesterday; still editing it… only caught one Bass and fouled hook at that. Temps were chilly, Bass were not biting… even picked up one by hand and moved it to a more aerated area. For now, Charlie and I have been preparing for warmer weather; plan to take him kayak fishing later in the year. That said, how about a skit to provide a little humor to our viewers!
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Try Walking the Blue River Next Fishing Trip

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This round I decided to mix things up and forego the low water crossing. Instead, I walked the area north of the crossing and explored the area. Learned a few things and even limited out on Trout! Great times fishing a river! PS: Here is the map referenced in the video of the Blue River.
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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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General Observations for Locating Fish in a River

Great info from one fisherman… Lloyd5: General Observations for Locating Fish in a River I've been fishing the same stretch of the Brazos for many years. Here are some observations on where to find different species in the river. These are not hard and fast rules, but fairly general in nature, yet they hold true an awful lot of the time. Bluegills are typically close to the bank, within about 6' of the edge. Bluegills love cover, so a good place to hunt for them is where there are tree branches in the water, or tree roots. I've seen a lot of bass tearing up the water right at the edge, going for the Bluegills, they are under constant attack, probably why they like cover so much. The further you get away from the bank the larger the Bluegill is likely to be. I've caught them in the middle of the deep zones, but not all that often unless the deep zone doesn't extend to the bank. Typically the further from the bank the larger the Bluegill will be. Bass generally stay i...
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Black Near Deere Variant

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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 l...
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Fly Casting with a Three Foot Fly Rod and no Reel... Hand Hold Revisited? #orvis #practicaster #demo

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This video answers the mail – a YouTube Viewer requested we show the hand hold we used in the video One Rod, No Reel. The intent of the One Rod, No Reel was to show quality fly line was more important than the fly reel, and the suggestion was to focus more on a quality fly line, followed by the fly rod, and then the fly reel for most fishing situations. In One Rod, No Reel, we used a premium but old 5wt WF Fly line that we have since retired… keeping about 8 yards of the forward portion of the fly line, attaching it to a short section of dacron backing, and a rubber band. We then attached the rubber band to the rod handle, and then demonstrated casting without a fly reel as well as catching a trout or two at a local pond. To answer the mail, we removed the 4wt fly reel that was zip tied to an Orvis Practicaster, and used the heavy “rope like” practice line that came with it to show the hand hold used. And since, we still had the fly line used in the One Rod, No Reel vi...
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Blue River Fishing - Places to Fish #troutfishing

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Trout season is just around the corner with our neighbors to the North in Oklahoma getting a stocking of the Blue River in November. As we get lots of questions asking about fishing the Blue River, decided to post this video and provide details on an Infographic we published on our blog – Hope it helps for those interested in fishing the Blue this year! Catch and Release Playlist Blue River Playlist HubPages Article: Hughes Crossing
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Quick Trip to Bethany Lakes... #flyfishing #neardeere

Quick trip fly fishing Bethany Lakes this morning. Caught only a little Bass but was good to get out and get some fly casting practice in with the 4wt rod and the Trout Max Shooting Head. Still getting used to the slippery mono running line… still liking the extra distance though! The little Bass went for an orange Near Deere… Quick trip #flyfishing #bethanylakes …only one little #bass on a #neardeere …still good to wet a line! A post shared by COAF Field Team (@coaf.field.team) on Jan 21, 2018 at 8:23am PST
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