Stocker Trout Fishing News

Lotta fun fishing Denison Dam Saturday for Striped Bass! Brought the Cabelas TLR 6wt Switch Rod with the Echo Ion 6/7 Wt Fly Reel and the OPST Skagit Head. Bite was good on small stripers hitting on the Denison Dam Dawber, Bennet’s Lunch, Bucktail and Craft Fur Clouser Minnows. Fast retrieves using short pulls and fast pulls worked, then they wanted a 10 count delay, later a 5 count delay, and then later no delay in the start of the retrieve. Also, did get better hook up rates by dipping the rod tip in the water while retrieving. And then… later had a high stick, sweep the rod style retrieve that seemed to work well. All of this before the started generating power. After they started generating, then it was cast upriver, let the fly drift downriver and swing the fly, and then twitch the fly as you retrieved in back upriver at an angle. Learned lots while there… bottomline: vary your retrieve, change fishing flies, and adjust to the fish as the pattern changes!

Was in Fort Worth Sunday, fly fishing under a bridge on the the Trinity River. It was just down the street from the Fort Worth Zoo. Used the 2wt Discount Switch Rod aka the MaxCatch Fly Rod with Orvis SL1 Fly Reel and Rio Trout Max Skagit Head. Great combo when fishing under the bridge; was able to get the fishing fly where needed with minimal false casting. Mainly caught Bluegill and Sunfish as well as some Longear, but did get a couple a Bass, too – a small fingerling and another that went about 12 inches. All went for a White Damsel Fly fished wit varying retrieves. Do check it out! MaxCatch 2wt Fly Rod: https://amzn.to/2UfM8FG Orvis Hydros Sl1 Fly Reel: https://amzn.to/2UiRCPS Rio Trout Max (200 grain): https://amzn.to/2HiT2Bs Rio SlickShooter Running Line (35lbs): https://amzn.to/2GGIVsZ

Number 5 in our “Little Red Book of Fly Fishing” series podcast where I review fly fishing tips in preparation for the upcoming Trout Stocking Season.  This week it’s fly fishing tips 17 through 20! Tip 17: Flicking the Tomato Tip 18: Tossing the Grape Tip 19: Tuck It In Tip 20: To Much Too Soon Do check it out! Book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2QczofU

As part of our Little Red Book of Fly Fishing series on our iFishNews Fishing Podcast, here is a video to expand on Tips 3 – Point Your Cast and Tip 10 – Watch Your Thumb. Point your cast suggests where you point your rod tip is also where your cast will go. Watch your thumb is a good rule of thumb… LOL, to keep you from bringing your rod to far back on the backcast. Both tips are solid… so since we are at a pond “practicing” decided to go ahead and go fishing, too!

Here is a simple but effective variant of the Mickey Finn fishing fly. It makes for fast fly tying, made with minimal material, and can be upsized to target larger fish. In our case, we opted to tie it small to pair it with the Cabelas CGR 2wt Fiberglass Fly Rod when fishing for little fingerling Bass at our local pond! Recipe is as follows: Size 12 or 14 Streamer Hook Pearl Tinsel White Dacron Tying Thread White Deer Hair Green (Chartreuse) Deer Hair Click on pictures to see more about Cabela’s CGR Rod/Reel Combo and deals they are offering!

Number 4 in our “Little Red Book of Fly Fishing” series podcast where I review fly fishing tips in preparation for the upcoming Trout Stocking Season.  This week it’s fly fishing tips 13 through 16! Tip 13: Tighten the Loop Tip 14: Anticipation… It’s Crazy Tip 15: Groove Your Swing Tip 16: See the “U” Do check it out!

DIY Jug Lines worked…! Will get a video posted of the trip. Here is a Livestream update for now:

Third in our “Little Red Book of Fly Fishing” series podcast where I review fly fishing tips in preparation for the upcoming Trout Stocking Season.  This week it’s fly fishing tips 9 through 12! Tip 9: Take a Bow Tip 10: Watch That Thumb Tip 11: Say Hello to Good Casting Tip 12: William Tell Overture Do check it out! Book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2QczofU

Another fun trip to beat the heat; this one is a TBT to Turner Falls Park in Davis, OK. The OPST Commando Head made for ease of casting by the Waterfall using an “air anchor” to avoid the metal railing along the walkway. See full video at: https://youtu.be/n-vkX-REKkc

Decided to fish a little feeder creek with the Cabelas CGR Fiberglass Fly Rod. It’s a 2wt with an Echo Ion 2/3wt Fly Reel. Handy fly rod that makes for fun fishing for little bluegill, sunfish, and fingerling bass! Been using the Cabelas CGR off and on over the years, and have not had any issues… do need to make a slight adjustment in timing the cast as the fiberglass rod has a slow action. Liking the rod and the ability to take advantage of rod’s slow action to get a fishing fly to where the fish are lurking… of course in this case, a little feeder creek required minimal casting distance. PS: Lots of rain that morning caused another pond upstream from where we fished to overflow. Able to catch a Bass being washed down the feeder creek. See it at… Cabelas CGR Fiberglass Rod 2wt Echo Ion 2/3 Fly Reel: https://amzn.to/2JvGgjZ Click on pictures to see more about Cabela’s CGR Rod/Reel Combo and deals they are offering!

Another fun trip and a good one to remind us cool weather is coming soon and so is trout stocking season! See video at https://youtu.be/rO1GSkrhwPo

Beat the heat with a Throw Back Time to the Blue River last year. See video at: “How We Fished the Blue River, Oklahoma Saturday… Limited Out!”

Second in our “Little Red Book of Fly Fishing” series where I review fly fishing tips in preparation for the upcoming Trout Stocking Season.  This week I touch on tips 5 through 8! Tip 5: Don’t Get Cocky Tip 6: Stop! In the name of love (and a good cast) Tip 7: Hitting the Wall Tip 8: Throw a drink in my face Do check it out! Book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2QczofU

Another pond fishing round with Spincasting gear… Zebco Authentic 11 and Roostertails keep working. This time at the pond behind In-N-Out Burger. Bass were bigger than the fingerling Bass caugth the day prior at a different pond. No Bruisers but still lots of fun catching them on ultralight gear. Fish preferred the Firetail Roostertail in 1/16oz. Did try a White Roostertail but only a few short strikes. Did see a number of fish trail the inline spinners… at times, had to use the stop and go retrieve to get them to take! Gear Used: Zebco 11 Micro Reel: https://amzn.to/2Y8dK0H Berkley Lightning Rod 4-1/2ft (discontinued) Shakespeare Microcast Combo

Made adjustments with the GoFish Cam and rigging it for underwater video action shots when scouting local ponds for fish. Liking it but do need to make more adjustments to keep it level and floating upright. With a little more tweaking, should be able to get it where we like it. Do check out the video – left the underwater footage as is other than clipping out the reeling in and out of the camera. Fun stuff!

In preparation for the upcoming trout stocking season, decided to dust-off the “Little Red Book of Fly Fishing” and review the tips. This week I touch on tips 1 through 4! Tip 1: Dare to be different Tip 2: The Grip Tip 3: Point your cast Tip 4: 10 and 2, too little Do check it out!

Caught a nice size Catfish while fishing our local lake – Lake Lavon. Caught it on juglines fished in 10 feet of water. Caught other smaller Catfish; the largest went 32 inches! Was fishing from a kayak. Decided it was better to and it at the boat ramp.  For this podcast, we summarize the trip and point out some key lessons learned to take with us on the next trip! See our Podcast Page at iFishNews Fishing Podcast. Do check it out when you get a chance!

Took the GoFish Cam camera yesterday for another round of scouting the local pond for what is lurking below. Had some catfish strike a doughbait but forgot to turn the GoFish Cam recording on. Lesson learned… went back this morning to scout the same spots plus a drainage channel that we know holds fish. Still have some adjustments to make with the GoFish Cam and its setup but did manage to capture the underwater action to include a bass that had a Panther Martin inline spinner in its mouth! Do stay tuned for more as we seek out other areas to go scouting with the GoFish Cam!

This round we talk about cast nets and catching bait… shad in particular.  Recently, we learned we could freeze shad for use at other lakes. That said, it’s has been hit or miss catching them. But, we do have a few bags ready to go for our next fishing trip. Do check out this week’s podcast where we talk about where, how, and why we cast net for bait!

For a change of pace, decided to checkout the Waterfall Pool at the local pond. Normally catch little Sunfish, Bluegill, and the occasional Bass. Brought the two-piece Micro Fly Rod and started fishing a Near Deere with the Corq Strike Indicator, but switched back to the Line Strike Indicator… fish seemed to be distracted from the fishing fly and wanting to strike the Corq. Also, tied a Scud on as the Near Deere was just too big for the little fish in the pool. Fun time catching and releasing the scrappy fish… but of course, had trouble with determining which cast would be the last cast for this trip… aka “one more cast” for your’s truly!