Stocker Trout Fishing News

Received the latest from Turner Falls Park, the trout stocking has happened and fishing begins today! To mark the occasion below is the Team’s Turner Falls video playlist from YouTube! See sidebar for the email reply to our question on when the Park would be stocked. Do keep Turner Falls Park in mind if planning a trip to Oklahoma; just south of Oklahoma City near the city of Davis.

Here is the video of Saturday’s action at the Flower Mound ponds that were stocked with trout last week. Was a tough round with no bites at Rheudasil Park and one strike at Leonard Johns Park. Did luck into trout after switching from Power Bait to Super Dupers and Kastmasters. Trout wanted nothing to do with them; luckily, tried an inline spinner that was a gift from last Christmas from the Mystery Tackle Box. It was a pink inline spinner in 1/16th oz; name on the spinner blade was Min-O-Spin. Whatever the name, it worked for three of the trout. Then, the bite turned off on spinners. Min-O-Spin Did see others starting to get strikes with bait but could not tell what they were using. Also, noticed trout rising on the surface going for little black midges. Switched to a fly rod and was going to fish a dry fly but already had a Purple Near Deere Variant on the line, so went with it. Sure enough caught trout number four with it. Did have several other missed strikes but had to call i...

Field updates to expand on our latest edition of iFishNews. We added comments and video clips as well as pictures for our Readers. Also, do mark your calendars as we noticed two events that may be of interest to those in the DFW Metroplex. December 17, 2016 – Pottsboro is hosting a Trout Derby. Looks like a new pond too! March 11, 2017 – 2nd Annual TRWD Flyfest.  We went last year and had a great time! PS: Made it back to Flower Mound Saturday morning. Checked out the three ponds that were stocked with trout. No luck at Rheudasil Park, had one hit at Leonard Johns Park, and caught four at Heritage Park. Stay tuned for th e video! Note: We reference TRWD several times in the video. TRWD is the Tarrant Regional Water District Authority.  

Rain today has us delayed in fishing. No worries, let’s talking fishing! This round we thank our Subscribers for getting us to the 400 Subs mark! Provide updates on trout stockings, answer questions on a starter fly rod/reel setup and five fishing flies for stocker trout in Texas, and end with a note on how we tie our own leaders! Longer than our normal videos, but we hope it provides Readers/Viewers useful information when they go fishing hopefully once this rain stops! PS: Do check out the article linked to the picture in the sidebar. It provides additional details of two of the fishing flies we mention in today Vlog including suggestions on how we fish them.  

Did a double-take but after several years of posting on YouTube, we hit the 400 Subscriber mark today! Hooray… Thanks to our Readers and Viewers for all the support! Happy TGIF from the COAF Field Team !

As the work week winds down, we look forward to this weekend. A chance of rain may dampen things but just in case we went forward with making a few phone calls and searching the internet to help us decide where to go fishing this weekend. A cold still has yours truly struggling to get healthy to brave the cold and possible rain. No worries, below are quick updates and information that may be helpful to our Readers planning to bend a rod and hook a trout in our area – three are in Oklahoma and one is in a city near the DFW Metroplex!   Quick Updates Turner Falls Park (near Davis, OK) – We contacted the Park and learned this year’s trout stocking remains delayed, but they are targeting mid-December to stock the river. Turner Falls is a Team favorite to fish each year. We hope they release the trout below the Waterfall this year as it makes for easier access compared to the area above the Waterfall. Do check out the videos at the end of this post to see what we mean ...

Been under the weather lately but others are making a dent in the Trout stockings in Oklahoma and Texas. Hope to get out there sooner than later. That said, have received several reports from our friend Steve in Australia. Below are snippets from our Instagram clips… for more, do check out them out in the Fishing Bulletin Board’s – Pictures from OZ (Australia) section! Friend in Oz sends #flyfishing pics from #australia. First report showed this #trout A photo posted by COAF Field Team (@coaf.field.team) on Nov 30, 2016 at 8:52pm PST Second #flyfishing report from friend in Oz… #trout and a parrot! #australia A photo posted by COAF Field Team (@coaf.field.team) on Nov 30, 2016 at 8:54pm PST

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 ro...

While online checking out various forums, noted a question posed on one forum that asked about starting a blog. Decided to answer the question with a few suggestions. At the end of this post is a picture of the suggestions offered. In particular are the points noted in the recap.  Have listed the points below for Readers who may be interested in starting their own blog: Start with Blogger; it’s free and simple to use. Link Social Media to your Blog; use your Blog to provide more details/info to your Readers Be sure to set your posts so a URL is created for each post; you can use it to create links elsewhere online When the free option no longer supports your blogging requirements, upgrade to a hosted Blog and purchase your own domain Be sure to archive your original blog and make it available to Readers after upgrading PS: The online name will represent your blog for its entire “life”, pick a good one!

Cold and windy but did have fun practicing casting the switch rod. Even had a few little Bass and Bluegill jump on the line! Made a run over the Plano East Senior High School and fished their catch and release ponds. Had a number of light strikes using a Near Deere under a strike indicator. But, it was the short, quick pulls or the steady retrieve that had the fish striking… at lease the little Bluegill and Bass! Fun time getting out and bending a rod; great way to close out the long holiday weekend!

Been fighting a cold and have been indoors these past few days. However, just could not let the day pass without wetting a line. Decided to check out South Lakes Park Pond in Denton this afternoon in hopes of Rainbow Trout. The pond was recently stocked on Wednesday. Not sure how the trip would go; been some time since we last fished the pond. Brought a 5WT flyrod and fished a Near Deere as well as a Tandem Rigged Near Deere and GRHEN. Had one strike while walking the bank, so stayed there and ended up catching two little Crappie and a Bluegill. Continued to work the pond and had several strikes fishing the Tandem Rig under a strike indicator but failed to set the hook in time. Kept at it for another hour and managed to catch one more undersized Crappie. Overall, had a fun time getting out on a chilly but nice day.    

The Field Team would like to wish our Readers a Happy Thanksgiving! Although we have not fished since this past weekend, we are enjoying the time off from work. We even found time to learn a few things with OpenOffice Base and Calc – the open source equivalent to Microsoft Office Access and Excel. Last year, we used Microsoft’s applications to modify the Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Winter Trout Stocking Schedule. This year, we used OpenOffice’s applications. We purchased a new computer and opted not to purchase Office 365. Taking the Winter Trout Stocking Schedule posted on 11/21/2016, we collated the Stocking Dates, added a Total per Stocking, and added a Number of Stockings for a given location, and then we sorted the dates in ascending order. By doing so, it gives us a better idea of the next planned trout stocking.  Although the dates change as the season progresses, some Readers have taken screen shots, printed them, and then made pen and ink updates… P...

Wanted 100% wool fingerless gloves for fly fishing this winter. But, did not want to pay too much for them. Since the week is stuck indoors and not fishing… work schedule has us fishing the weekend for now, decided to knit my own gloves! After one do over, was able to get this one done. Works well with the 6-Wt Switch Rod! Now gotta go fishing with them!

On the road this weekend. Hope to hit the Lower Illinois River for Trout Saturday! Never been, so it’s a new adventure. Wish us luck!   #flyfishing road trip! A photo posted by COAF Field Team (@coaf.field.team) on Oct 28, 2016 at 4:05pm PDT

Made it back to Lake Lewisville Ecological Learning Area. Used the 6wt Switch Rod and fished downriver from the tailrace. Caught a Bass and several Longear (we think they were Longear). A Bass and one Longear went for a Clouser Minnow. Other Longear went for the Near Deere and GRHEN Tandem Rig that we used in the Red Zone on the Lower Mountain Fork several weeks ago. Lost a number of fish while reeling them in. They were able to throw the hook as soon as any slack in the line happened. Forgot the rig we were using was barbless per the Red Zone requirement. Overall, had a great time… at times had a section of the river to myself. Also, met another fly fisherman and a some good fishing things to talk about as well as a Bald Eagle flew by us! Cool stuff especially in the middle of the DFW Metroplex!  

Yesterday, we finally hosted a YouTube Live Stream Session. We had tried hosting one several times in the past but had to end the sessions unexpectedly when we lost internet connection. This round we used an ethernet cable instead of a WiFi connection; we believe that made the difference! Going forward, we plan to host more Live Stream Sessions as Q&A forum for Readers to join and chat with us on YouTube! Embedded is the edited version of yesterday’s session. For best viewing, we suggest watching the video on a PC instead of a tablet or mobile device. We added links and comments using YouTube’s annotations feature which only works on PCs. Do check it out and if you have additional questions, let us know via the comments function of this post, or email us at COAF.Weblog@Live.com!

Question from one of our Readers: What was the fly line we used with our Cabelas TLR Switch Rod in a 6 weight? Answer: We used Rio’s InTouch Switch Chucker Fly Line in the 5 weight. This was the rating that Rio’s line selector app recommended specifically for our Switch Rod. It is a line weight less that the Switch Rod’s weight rating but our understanding is for 5 and 6 weight rated rods the rating can vary by manufacturer. At first we were hesitant in going with the 5 weight line but after using it in the field, we were glad to have gone with Rio’s recommendation. For ease of reference, here is a link to the fly line on Amazon:

Back to the daily grind at work plus had to get some lawn work done. It’s that time of year when the lawn needs to be mowed more than once a week. So, no fishing… bummer! That said, we did cook Striped Bass steaks from Saturday’s fishing trip to Denison Dam… add a glass of wine and all is good despite not being able to fish today!   Lawn is done, glass of #wine while cooking #stripedbass steaks from Saturday’s #denisondam #flyfishing trip at #texoma A photo posted by COAF Field Team (@coaf.field.team) on Aug 29, 2016 at 6:55pm PDT

Road is open again! This round we do a quick recap of the local ponds fished this past week – Bethany Lakes, Sonic Pond, Eagles Nest aka “Pond Behind In-N-Out Burger”.  And then, we go into Saturday’s trip to Denison Dam. Was a tough go but did catch and release a couple of Carp as well as hook into two nice Striped Bass! Bethany Lakes was a quick trip where we fished  a Foam Grasshopper and caught Bluegill and one Bass. Sonic Pond had us missing strikes but did land a little Bass on a Neare Deere. Eagles Nest was interesting as we had not fished it a while; no Bruiser Bass but did get a nice Bruiser Bluegill! Saturday’s Pattern! As for the fishing trip to Denison Dam, on a whim decided to make the run to the Tailrace as we noted the Realtime Release and Generation Schedule showed no water flow and no scheduled generation, respectively. With those conditions, the pools and runs would be ideal for wet wading and fly fishing! (see our archived post for more o...

El Pollo Loco opened in Allen today. Last time we ate at one was in Reno, NV back in 2010 or 2011. That streak has ended with today’s opening! Sidetracked from #fishing … #elpolloloco opened nearby! A photo posted by COAF Field Team (@coaf.field.team) on Aug 24, 2016 at 12:09pm PDT