Stocker Trout Fishing News

A quick product review of the Okuma Rockaway Surf Rod – specifically, the 12′ Medium Heavy Spinning Rod that is rated for 1-4oz weights. Check out the video, and if you are interested in one, see more at Amazon and our COAF Field Team Amazon Page! OKUMA RA-S-1202MH Rockaway Surf

Short video of a quick trip to Duck Creek Linear Park while on the daily commute. Brought the two piece micro fly rod and the Foam Spider and Scud Tandem Rig to work the section nearest the bridge. Key take aways this round: There are Bass, nice Bass in the area but water is clear and they are skittish! Lots of Sunfish and Bluegill and Longear that will readily take a scud Temps are increasing and Summer approaches, creek will start getting clobbered with the “green stuff” Rocks placed along the creek offer excellent access to the creek… weeds and high grass are cleared around them!

A tip from a YouTube Viewer on using the Orvis Practicaster Fly Rod as a Micro Fly Rod! Ordered it and Redington’s version of one… the Orvis one is still in the mail but Redington’s arrived. Liking the Rio Fly Line that came with it. Really thick line… planned to use a Micro Fly Reel but needed a larger reel. Put an old Martin Fly Reel on the rod. Works awesome. Here is a demo… hope to try it out fishing later this week! Do check back! Orvis Practicaster… https://amzn.to/2YFKvBR Redington Practice Fly Rod… https://amzn.to/3fvoKLB

Had a fun but tough time fishing Denison Dam Tuesday morning. Windy conditions and lots of waterflow from the power plant. They were releasing water, but was able to work different areas on the Oklahoma side. No striped bass but did see others catching them. Did catch as well as lose a Buffalo or two… was able to sight cast to schools that were feeding in a protected cove in the shallows. Fun stuff! PS: Fished Denison Dam Wednesday, June 10, 2020… another tough go. But, they were not generating. More video to come… here is the onsite update for now.

Another Round of Pond Fly Fishing at Bethany Lakes. Tried for more Bass and Bluegill with the Foam Spider and Scud on Monday. Caught several Bluegill and a little Fingerling Bass…. Minnow sized! PS: Made it to Denison Dam for a chance at Stripers today. Posted a live update while there. Do check back… still editing the video of the day’s action. No Striped Bass but did catch a Buffalo or two!

Fun times fishing on a TGIF! Fished Stoney Hollow Park working the Foam Spider and Scud for Bluegill! Was a hot day but able to catch a Bluegill or two. Did work the whole pond’s bank; no Bass but did see a couple lurking in the shallows! Click on pictures to see more about Cabela’s CGR Rod/Reel Combo and deals they are offering!

Tough round this go… a little Bass and a Bluegill after spending most of the time trying to get Bass protecting their bed to strike. Had one strike but missed it; else, the Bass were definitely wary! Overall, have been pleasantly surprised at the convenience of Tenkara and its simplicity. Definitely makes it easier for quick trips to fish local ponds while out and about and/or on a whim!

Lotta fun catching these Sunfish on the MaxCatch Fly Rod and Orvis Hydros Reel. 2wt makes for a fun fight of these feisty fish! Tried the size 8 Foam Grasshopper and caught several. Upsized to the size 4 and had some strike but only managed one on the larger pattern. Great way to start a TGIF and roll into the Memorial Day Weekend!

Finally got a much needed haircut after two months! Feel much better now, what to do to celebrate… GO FISHING. Since the Tenkara Iwana Rod from Tenkara USA is at the ready in the little pickup truck, hit the closest pond from the barber… Kroger Park. Water was clear and the Bass and Bluegill were there. Caught a few, missed a few, had a great time! Fished a “beat up Foam Grasshopper” where the tail was missing, the Beavertail Variant, and then another variant that uses a different foam cutter… cannot recall the name – stonefly, damsel fly… regardless, fish were biting!

Wind was minimal on Mother’s Day, finally able to try out the OPST Commando Head sitting in a kayak placed in a grassy area. Wanted to play around with the one-handed spey fly line and compare it with the weight forward fly line… fun time, do like the OPST Commando Head because it makes a for ease of casting when the back cast is limited. Main item is to use a coated running line instead of mono running line, tangle less and unravels while still able to shoot line when needed. All for now, and Good Luck and Good Fishing!

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!

A follow-on video and podcast of our recent trip Tenkara Fishing a creek. In this fishing podcast, we talk about lessons learned tenkara fishing in close quarters where brush and overhead branches limit the use of fly fishing gear and have clobbered our back cast. Easily remedied with a fly rod and switch and roll casts, we wanted to try fishing with a tenkara rod… a 12′ tenkara rod lined with 12′ of fly line and 3′ of leader and tippet. We learned that the tenkara rod worked well fishing the creek especially the use of the “bow and arrow” cast. We also learned that shortening the fly line to 6′ would help in working the fly under the overhang branches in the creek. Do check out the podcast – be it the video or listen in at iFishNews.com to the podcast version of it!

Found a work around for the new StockTroutFishing.com hat. Had forgotten the Trout in the first hat courtesy of your’s truly forgetting it. So, ended up with two hats – a right one and a wrong one. Not wanting to let the wrong one sit on the shelf, decided to embroider “Trout” on the hat. End result… we have two hats now!

PBRG in Size 14 Made it to Heritage Park – one of the three ponds in Flower Mound that were stocked with trout. Rain let up, so had to make the run down the Tollway for a go at Rainbow Trout. New place… so new that Google Maps does not show the pond. It looks like it is still being built. Regardless, there is a pond, and it was stocked with trout. It’s a small pond that may be the same size as the pond at Waterloo in Denison. Water was murky, and there was a hatch going on. Even saw a few risers go for them. For us, no luck with fishing flies. Had to resort to a PBRG in Size 14 to make a limit today. “PBRG” is Power Bait Rainbow Glitter molded on a size 14 hook. We usually keep a jar in our fishing vest for times like today when the trout wanted bait instead of fishing flies. Overall, the bite was steady with lots of folks getting bit. Power Bait and Corn seemed to be working; did see several taken with fishing flies but could not tell if anyone had strikes...

Shifting our focus to warm water fishing. Start things off with Bethany Lakes yesterday for a quick trip. Wanted to see a Bass Fishing Fly we made would get the Bass to take. As it turned out, only had a few light strikes with it. Likely need to scale it down some as the Bass were wanting a small bait fish imitation. In a festive move, decided to tie on the Mardis Gras Near Deere. Started get strikes and landing them soon after. Fishing fly worked well but ended up losing it to a sang, a tree, and a break off… think it was a nice one! Luckily, the Bass were liking the Pink Near Deere, too. Managed more Bass and a nice Bluegill on the pink one. Fun stuff… Daylight Savings Time rocks!  

Fished Murphy City Complex Pond after their trout derby yesterday. McKinney hosted their trout derby yesterday as well at Towne Lake. For Sunday, opted to fish Towne Lake in the morning. Bite was good with a limit being taken in short order, and then switched to catch and release fishing while trying different fishing flies. What worked: Olive Near Deere (most strikes) Pink and White Near Deere Mardi Gras Near Deere Patriot and Prince Nymph Tandem Rig (50/50 between the two) What did not work: Griffith’s Gnat (strikes but missed hook sets attributed to “user error”) Orange and White Near Deere Fun time, below is a picture of the Near Deere used today  and a video that gives an idea how the action went!

Pink and White Near Deere Quick trip to Bethany for some Switch Rod casting practice this evening. Managed three Bass that went for a White Near Deere this round. Similar to the “swing the rod slowly retrieve” that worked on the trout at Waterloo in Denison and at Frisco Commons, it worked on the Bass at Bethany as well! Need to keep this in mind for the Saturday’s Trout Derbies. Although there are two scheduled, will likely give Murphy’s Trout Roundup a try! Fun stuff!  

Fished Frisco Commons Sunday for another chance at Rainbow Trout. Was able to limit out using the same Tandem Rigged Olive Near Deere and trailing Gold Ribbed Hares Ear Nymph (GRHEN) that we used at Waterloo on Saturday. Steady action with strikes typically happening as we switched from a short pull and retrieve to a slow swing of the rod. Did get several to take the Olive Near Deere later in the early evening using a fast retrieve. Then, as the evening hatch started was able to get one to take a Size 22 Griffith’s Gnat! Fun stuff!

We continue to chip away at our Stocker Trout Fishing Magazine and are about halfway done. But, we feel a “sneak peek”is warranted. Do check out the latest “work in progress” of Stocker Trout Fishing Magazine. It has information about Medicine Park, Bethany Lakes, items “Of Interest”, and other things fishing related! Stay tuned as we keep at the editing process; we hope to have more updates and a final version at some point in time! Till then, Good Luck and Good Fishing!  

Stopped by Bethany Lakes yesterday to check out things. Water level is up from the recent rains. Looked like the trout bite was slow; did see some folks fishing but no hook ups while we were there. Tried different spots to see if anything would take our fishing fly. Been liking the Two Weight Fly Rod we picked up from Cabelas the other day but only been able to fish with it once since getting it. As it turned out, this round the fly rod worked out well on the little Bluegill lurking near a culvert. Water was crystal clear! Ended up catching 10 or so Bluegill and one little Bass this round. Fun stuff!