Stocker Trout Fishing News

No words, just video and music to demo how we tie the Craft Fur Clouser Minnow. Minimal material that uses… – Gamakatsu Hook size 1/0 – Red 7/0 Tying Thread – White and Chartreuse Craft Fur – Small, Red Dumbbell Eyes – Super Glue and UV Glue We use it for Stripers on Texoma as well as for fly fishing on the coast. Do give it a try!  

Decided to get a round of Switch Rod casting practice at Bethany Lakes this morning. Missed two Bass but did get two Bass. Lots of fun especially getting distance casts using the one-handed style we like. One Bass went for a Clouser Minnow; the other Bass went for an Olive Near Deere. The two Bass we missed went for the Clouser Minnow. For more on our setup, see below links: Cabelas TLR 6wt Switch Rod Echo Ion 8/10wt Fly Reel Rio Skagit Shooting Max Short – 400gr  shooting head Rio GripShooter 100′ 25lbs shooting line   #switchrod casting practice today. managed two #bass #flyfishing with #clouserminnow #neardeere A post shared by COAF Field Team (@coaf.field.team) on May 27, 2017 at 3:21pm PDT

One Keeper…. This round we went back to Denison Dam Saturday morning for another go at Striped Bass. The generation schedule showed no planned generations until around 12:45PM. So, by the time we started fishing, we had at least three solid hours to fish the pools and runs! InTouch Switch Chucker Last week we picked up a Lamson Waterworks Liquid 4 reel from Cabelas. After a little research on which fly line to use, we went with Rio’s InTouch Switch Chucker line in a 5wt per Rio’s line selection app! Had to order online and wait about a week. While we waited for the fly line to arrive, we fished the 8wt Switch Rod on local ponds to practice casting. Even better, we caught a few fish while practicing… then, Friday the new fly line arrived, and in no time, we had it spooled on to the fly reel. The bite was steady but the Striped Bass were little. Also, we did catch a few Longear when we changed from a Clouser Minnow to a Near Deere. We had caught one little Stripe...

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...

Still not sure what the weekend plans are for fishing, but just in case, tied more Clouser Minnows like the one we used last Sunday at Denison Dam. Will plan to post an update regardless where we go. Good luck and good fishing to our Readers; hope you get a Bruiser or two! Clouser Minnows were tied with Chartreuse Craft Fur, White Craft Fur, and Pearl Flashabou, Size 2/0 Gamakatsu Wide Gap Saltwater Hook, and Small Red Dumbbell Eyes using Red Dacron 70 Thread. Craft Fur Clouser Minnows

Planned to fish the Blue River for Rainbow Trout today but heard the recent rains muddied the river. Was still wavering yesterday on where to fish, so just in case decided to tie some Clouser Minnows to go along with the Near Deere, GRHENs, and Rainbow Warriors. Good thing we had the Clouser Minnows! Ended up catching several Largemouth Bass, Striped Bass, and even a Catfish. Had some “technical difficulties” with the camera but did manage to get video of the action to include a 29″ and 22.5″ Striped Bass. Ended the day with four Striped Bass on the stringer! Would have kept going for a limit but ran out of Clouser Minnows. Had tied five last night. Lost one to a Bruiser that struck the fishing fly and ran for the rocks. Could not turn it with the 5 Weight… lost another Clouser after fouling with someone’s old fishing line; remainder were lost to rocks. Luckily, did pick up some “new tackle” from the rocks, too! Overall, had a great time o...

Made a round at Bethany this evening. Caught Bass, Bluegill, and Sunfish. Started fishing with a Clouser Minnow variant… Purple Marabou instead of Deer Hair. Worked well until we lost it to a tree. Switch to a Blue/White Clouser and caught one Bass, then to a Foam Grasshopper and caught another Bass. Then, finished things with an Elk Hair Caddis and a Y2K to catch Bluegill!

Put in at Brockdale Park Saturday afternoon and went kayak fishing. Was a late start but almost immediately after launching noticed lots of fish activity on the surface. Used Sabiki Rigged Tube Fishing Flies and a Slab initially; had no takers, so removed the Slab and switched to Tube Fishing Flies and Crappie Jigs. Soon after, hooked up with a fish! As it was a hot day, decided to take a water break. While doing so, set the rod down and let the lures bob up and down in the water as we drifted. Have done this often in the past. And, on occasion will get a fish to bite. Turned out, one did this time. So, just in case, tried it again and got another strike. Did this several more times with similar results – basically we were vertically jigging! Switched back to trolling and caught more undersized fish. Also, did some sight casting to boils that were happening frequently as well as more vertical jigging. Lost count of the number of fish caught and released. Did have one breakoff that felt...