Stocker Trout Fishing News

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”

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 )!

Was a tough day on Lavon today with lots of winds and waves.  Put out jug lines and had a couple of strikes but no Catfish. Did land a Gaspergou to avoid a strikeout!   windy day #juglining #jugfishing on #lakelavon today. at least we did not strikeout… caught a #gaspergou #fishing A post shared by COAF Field Team (@coaf.field.team) on Sep 16, 2017 at 5:35pm PDT

Finally got it done but it’s done! Posted the article on how we made the kayak jug fishing lines and why we are switching to them. We still have our other jug lines, but for jug fishing in a kayak, these are much easier to deploy in the limited space of the kayak. Also, we like how they can be dropped in the water and left to set itself, while we move on to set the next jug line! Using the Jugger Jug Line design by Top Brass and combining it with the function of a Marker Buoy, we were able to make the Do-It-Yourself Marker Buoy Jug Lines using readily available material at our local stores. Plus with the relaxation of the white colored jug lines in Texas, any color but orange works but we are leaning toward pink/magenta… much easier to see compared to white especially when the wind is kicking up! Do check it out, and do give it a try at making your own for kayak fishing!

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: