Stocker Trout Fishing News

We decided to head back to Waterloo today for another go at the Rainbow Trout. When we arrived, we noted others hooking up. In short order, our fishing buddy was getting strikes on PowerBait. And, after several missed hook sets, he found his mojo and hooked and landed five trout. Rough night before, he opted for a little "nap" after limiting out rather than watch me miss setting the hook and not catching fish. I was getting strikes using a 4 Weight Fly Rod and a Near Deere under a strike indicator. And, I did have an issue with setting the hook. But, after making adjustments to the strike indicator, I started getting more strikes and eventually hooked and landed two trout. Next, I switched to the Micro Fishing Rod (Kiyotaki 18) that I used to catch little Bass and Bluegill yesterday. I understood the rod could handle little Stocker Trout in the 13" size range. Since Waterloo's stocking largely consisted of 9"-12' Trout, it sounded like a good pl...

Went back out to try the Kiyotaki 18 Rod again. Smaller sized fishing fly made a difference. Caught and released a number of little fish this time. But, I still think smaller hooks are needed to get the smallest fish that struck at the fly. Also, for the fishing fly, used a Red Midge with Antron Wing instead of a Tenkara Fly. The fish were lurking below the undercut bank and waited until the fishing fly was near the bottom. The Red Midge seemed to sink faster than the Tenkara Fly. Fun stuff... posted a picture of one of the little Bluegill and a video clip of the action.

Alrighty, I was able to try the new rod out - Kiyotaki 18. Set it up with 6' fly line, 6' leader, and a Tenkara Fishing Fly. Fished Celebration Park's North Pond briefly but the cold and wind drove me away. Moved on to the feeder creek at Bethany Lakes and was able to catch a little Bass and a little Bluegill. Rod worked out well; next time may try straight monofilament instead of a fly line. Also, may need to go with a smaller hook; had a number of little fish strike but the size 20 hook was too big! Liking the Micro Fishing concept of catching the littlest fish and then taking pictures of different ones. Here is a video clip of this morning's action and two pictures of the little fish caught this round!

A package arrived from TenkaraBum today! It's was the Kiyotaki 18 Rod I ordered. Only two days to deliver; like the fast shipping! Now, gotta try it out! Now I am ready to give Micro Fishing a try; if I could only break away from the "salt mines"! Jump to August 2015... fishing video of the Kiyotaki 18:

Several years ago we modified a Pen Fishing Rod and made our first micro fly rod. It was a prototype where we used a crappie reel as the fly reel and electrical tape to mount it to the Pen Rod. Later, we made more modifications and published an article online detailing the modifications – COAF Micro Fly Rod . Since then, we have made others using the same Pen Fishing Rod but removed the rod guides and replaced them with larger rod guides. The original rod guides will work but we find the larger rod guides make for better casting. Also, when we broke a four piece 8wt fly rod accidentally, we salvaged the top two sections to make a two piece Micro Fly Rod. This one is fun to fish with and casts well but it does not collapse like the modified Pen Fishing Rod which we keep in our backpack… meaning the backpack we take to work everyday. Gotta be ready for any opportunity to fish! Last but not least in the our Micro Fly Rod arsenal is the Kiyotaki 18 Tenkara Rod. This one is compact and ...

Early start this morning had us fishing Bethany Lakes with the Foam Grasshopper in size 14. Caught several fish – little Bass and Bluegill. Then, had brunch in Dallas at the Katy Trail Ice House, followed by a little hiking on the Katy Trail. While out and about checked out Turtle Creek and saw lots of Bass, Bluegill, and Sunfish. Good thing we like to keep the Kiyotaki 18 Tenkara Rod handy when hiking. In short order, caught several fish including a few Longear Perch using the Marilyn Monroe Tenkara Fly! Always good to wet a line when anywhere near fish holding waters! PS: For more info about the rod, check out TenkaraBum’s site – http://www.tenkarabum.com/shimotsuke-kiyotaki.html

From the Field Team to our Readers, we would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! It has been a great year for the Team, we hope our Readers have enjoyed the same in 2015! As today is the day before Christmas, what better way to celebrate the Holidays then to go fishing! That said, we went fishing! NucLaroche arrived yesterday from Oklahoma. And, Fshng84 is always ready to go fishing. So, after work, the Team headed to Waterloo in Denison. We are still working on the video and will post it later… till then here is a picture of today’s catch and a brief message from the Field Team posted in the embedded player below! Update 12/25/25: Merry Christmas everyone! Here is the video of the action at Waterloo. We used a Five Weight Fly Rod and a Kiyotaki 18 Tanago Rod. Lots of fun catching them on the fly! Although most of the fish were caught with the Five Weight Fly Rod, we did get one Trout and two Bluegill using the Kiyotaki 18!    

Made it to the local pond and fished Tenkara style with a Kiyotaki 18 Rod; caught little Sunfish and Bluegill as well as two Bass! Used a GRHEN, a Black Midge, and then a Guadalupana. Tried more aerial video with the drone; not much… need to practice more and get extra batteries! Still lots of fun! Bream Getter Cabela's Fiberglass CGR Fly Rod Rooster Tail Inline Spinners Mepps Trout Kit

Short on time; still busy at work. But, did take a break for a quick trip to the Feeder Creek at Bethany. Tried some aerial drone shots; still gotta work on the flying skills. Then, caught a few fish with the Kiyotaki 18 Rod. Fun stuff Micro Fishing with the light rod!

Headed out to Plano Saturday morning and fished the Davis Library Pond using the Kiyotaki 18 Rod and a Size 14 Gold Ribbed Hares Ear Nymph. Had a mix of little Bluegill/Sunfish with a several larger ones that took the fishing fly as well. Been a while since we fished with the light Tenkara-style rod. Almost forgot how simple it was to fish with minimal gear. Had a fun time… later went back out in the afternoon and had more fun Micro Fly Fishing. Still working on the video; will post soon as it’s done. Stay tuned, hoping the underwater video shots can be used! Bream Getter Cabela's Fiberglass CGR Fly Rod Rooster Tail Inline Spinners Mepps Trout Kit