Stocker Trout Fishing News

Making preparations for kayak fishing and juglining. Had to fix my juglines to make them legal in Texas. Rules require juglines to be at least 3″ wide and 6″ long. Good to go now! While at it, replaced the Name and Address Label with a Customer ID Label. Liking it much better than the old rules!

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!

Fun time juglining and kayak fishing Lake Lavon Saturday. Even caught a personal best Blue Catfish from a kayak… went 30 plus inches! Did catch a bigger one several years ago on Lake Lavon but that was in a jon boat and with a fishing buddy. This one was caught and landed by yours truly! Lots of fun… had to make a run to shore to land it. Lots of winds and waves and no net; did not want to risk losing it trying to land it in the kayak. Longer than normal video… includes details on the kayak jug lines used and setting up the first group of three jug lines. In keeping with the COAF Field Team’s motto… “Learn to fish by our trials and errors”

Answering the mail this round from a YouTube Viewer.  Questions on the jug lines we use and other details that may be of interest to listeners interested in Jugline Fishing for Catfish.  PS… do check back on YouTube, hope to have the video version posted in the next few days! See the podcast at iFishNews Fishing Podcast.

Was a tough start Saturday… windy and a little chilly, plus no shad at the boat ramp at Highland Park. Made the quick adjustment, and decided to head to calmer waters… Bratonia Park, and to the Branch Convenience Store for bait. No shad but they did have Nightcrawlers. Enough for us to get started setting out juglines. Luckily, did catch a few shad in the shallows as well. In short order, had our lines deployed. But, took almost two hours before the first bite… a Blue Catfish that went for Shad. After the first one was caught, bite stayed steady with several undersized caught and released; and then, we caught six Catfish – five Blue Catfish and one Channel Catfish, for the stringer for Dinner… Blackened Catfish and Shrimp Etouffee!

Cold front rolled in and temps drop and rain rolled in. Gave it a week and things warmed and rains quit. Made a run to the lake for jug lining fun. Three of us this round, took the Jon Boat and the Kayak. No Shad to catch with the cast net. Bought some at a bait shop, pricey but they do work well for Catfish! Managed three Catfish and a Gar. Did get a few strikes and misses, then things slowed more. Decided to call it a trip… fun times!

Juglining today at Lake Lavon. Learned Bratonia Park is open. Low water but able launch the jon boat. Put out jug lines. Only one Catfish. Released it, made it back home no problem… chilled with some ukulele time… The Weight.

Went kayak fishing for catfish using jug lines and shad for bait. Fishing partner along with our newest member of the Field Team – Charlie the Maltese Puppy had a great time, despite said puppy having a dunking this round. No worries… life jacket did well plus we caught five Catfish that made for a tasty dinner. Will plan a catch and cook video to show how we cooked them! For more on the “magenta” jug lines we used, see our article “ Kayak Jug Fishing “.

Still sidetracked by the day job but luckily Saturday’s are open for now for some fishing. This round more jug line fishing at Lake Lavon. Was there on the Fourth of July and only caught one on rod and reel while kayak fishing. Had video but file was corrupted while transferring to the computer. No worries… this round, able to get the video to transfer and finished editing it! Also, still working on the fishing and side trips last month to the Texas Coast and Hill Country; added a snippet to the end of this video. Do check back periodically; hope to get it posted sooner than later!  

Fished Lake Lavon at Highland Park on Saturday, June 9. Took the Jon Boat and Kayak and fished with jug lines using the Jon Boat, and rod and reel using the kayak. Windy day with lots of waves, luckily the cove around the point was calm. Caught some shad at the boat ramp before hanging up on a rock. Cleared the snag, and made repairs to the net. But, decided to get started fishing and look for shad later… at least after setting out lines. Bite was steady with a number of Gaspergou caught. Also, had Yellow Bass and one White Bass on the rod and reel. Fished for about two hours and caught four Catfish – three Blue and one Channel Catfish. Headed back to the house afterwards, and cleaned them up for a fish fry later!    

Was a tough round fishing last week. Decided to take the jon boat and put out jug lines with long time Field Team member – Zeke Rutledge. Put in a Highland Park and soon found out the shad were not in the area; knew then that the fishing would be tough. Cast the net at the boat ramp as well as the shallows north and south of the ramp without success. Did bring chicken livers as a backup. After deploy the jug lines, spent the rest of the time searching for shad and checking on the lines. Had a few bites and did manage one Channel Catfish. Was our one and only fish this round; decided to let it go to get bigger. Tough round but still lots of fun fishing! We know the Catfish are there; just got to keep at it… plus always good to recall past trips like the one where we caught a 33″ catfish jug lining (added a snippet of that trip to the video below as a reminder!) PS: Do check back for our next video… fished the Lower Illinois River in Oklahoma for trout this past Sa...

Kayak fishing last Sunday, putting in at Highland Park (Lavon Lake). Morning was calm, easy to deploy jug lines. Later, wind kicked up and it made for some fun conditions. Used Shad for bait and caught four Catfish, fishing partner had several bites using a fishing pole, and even caught a keeper size Crappie. But, yours truly lost it while putting it on the stringer! Jug lines worked well… both the Jugger jug lines bought from Academy Sports and the homemade dual use Jug and Marker Buoy Lines (see article at Kayak Jug Fishing )!

Chilly evening and work has us sidetracked from fishing. Was hoping to finish the underwater video edits from this past Sunday, but was not able to… luckily, we can always relive past fishing trips through videos like the ones below!  

Rain had us delayed this morning but after the “cloud” passed was able to set jug lines. Today’s catch was four Catfish – one caught kayak fishing, three caught jug fishing. Smallest was 13″, then 15″, 18″ and 20″ in length. Used four different jug lines – the ones we made recently, Jugger jug lines, flagging jug lines, and Free Floating jug lines. One Catfish on each type except for the Free Floating one; no takers on them. Overall was a fun time; will like go back to the new jug lines we made that act like a marker buoy. Did add weights to several of the Jugger jug lines; should work like the new ones we made! Although white is no longer a requirement for jug line floats in Texas, we saved the link from Amazon where we purchased them in the past: Also, someone asked about the clips we use to attack our hooks to the main line. We use Trot Line Clips:

Made a quick run to Highland Park this morning on Lake Lavon. Was hoping to catch a fish or two with the new jug lines, but ended up striking out. Did get a couple of hits but was not able to hook up. Was promising in that we saw one fisherman with a number of Catfish on his stringer. But, it looks like the “early bird” gets the worm; he had caught all his prior to 9AM. No worries though, we were able to test the jug lines as well as a pvc rig we out together to mount a Versabrella Shade on one of the kayaks. Worked well! Going to play with the design more; thinking about adding a “Tee” connector to mount our a camera. Do stay tuned for an article on how we make the jug lines as well as the pvc rig for the Versabrella. PS: Had a question concerning the color of jug lines we use. White is no longer a requirement in Texas per TPWD … Tagging and Marking Requirements Must be used with a valid GEAR TAG (see Definitions) attached within 6 inches of the free-floating device; gear tag is valid...

Made it to Tickey Creek today; tested another kayak jug fishing design. Test went well; liking the ease of deployment! Just no bites. Luckily, did get some video of what was lurking below! Also, had a hard time catching shad with the cast net but did catch enough to set lines. Trolled jigs and slabs with a light strike here or there but no hook ups. Overall, had a fun time! Quick snippet of the Kayak Jug Line used today… fun time on #lakelavon #kayakfishing …tried the new #juglines …liking the ease of deployment! A post shared by COAF Field Team (@coaf.field.team) on Jul 8, 2017 at 7:57pm PDT

Made the run to Tickey Creek (Lavon) Saturday morning for more jug lining for Catfish. After dealing with a hornet and sorting out the shad from the yellow bass in our cast net, we were able to set jug lines and catch four Catfish this round. Did come back Sunday and had fun catching yellow bass on ultralight gear! Have another video to post for that trip. More to come.  

Another windy day but this time stayed on the leeward side of Tickey Creek Park (Lavon) and did some jug lining from the kayak. Got some video to edit; will post later. For now… here are pictures from today!   Another #coffee and cookies to go. This time #juglining with the #kayak and nightcrawlers for #catfish A post shared by COAF Field Team (@coaf.field.team) on Apr 9, 2017 at 6:04am PDT #juglining in the #kayak gets three #catfish …good start on the #kayakfishing tan, too! A post shared by COAF Field Team (@coaf.field.team) on Apr 9, 2017 at 11:42am PDT

Made it back to Bratonia for more jug lining. Caught six Catfish, largest went ~8 lbs!  Also, caught a little Gar on a jug line, and a Gaspergou with the cast net. Windy day with most of the morning spent trying to get Shad with the cast net.  Did get a couple of Catfish later in the morning as well as lose a couple more.  Later, near Noon the bite picked up and were able to get four more in the boat! Fun time working jug lines for Catfish!

Round of Jug Lining at Lake Lavon’s Bratonia Park this past Saturday. Fun time with five Catfish caught this round! Slow start but after catching a few shad and letting the jug lines soak, the catfish started biting. Did get a Gaspergou also but released it. Also, had on Catfish on the line but lost it while landing it. This trip was also when we tested the Kayak Fishing Stringer Prototype mentioned in earlier posts. Worked out well but going to try the Kayak Fishing Stringer Prototype 2 next time!