Stocker Trout Fishing News

Snowed yesterday but go figure... just a few months ago kicked off the Vintage Lure Series with this nice one!  Fun stuff... time to shift to cold weather fishing and start targeting the trout stocking in our area. Do stay tuned as we are out about this Season!

While surfing the Internet the other day, I found several sites and videos about Micro Fly Rods. The rods were either Pen Fishing Rods with little fly reels or expensive ones that looked really nice. Even more, it looked like both would catch fish. Not wanting to spend a lot of money to "test" this concept, I planned to purchase a Pen Fishing Rod and Fly Reel. I had the Spincasting model but no fly reel. A check of their website indicated orders were not being taken until March. No rush... I could wait until March. Besides the Kiyotaki 18 was working really well for little fish and Stocker Trout which made waiting for March a non-issue. However, while at Academy yesterday, I noticed several Crappie Jigging Reels that looked like miniature Fly Reels. So, I bought one! With a few modifications to the Pen Fishing Rod, fly line, and a leader, I had a prototype to "test"! Below is a video of the field "test" conducted today and pictures of  Mic...

Happy Sunday Readers! It was a lot of fun fishing the Blue yesterday. Today, I had to work the early morning. Luckily, I was able to break away afterwards for a quick trip to Bethany Lakes. Cold and windy conditions put a chill in the air... decided to go with a light weight jacket to stay comfortable. Glad that I did not need the layered clothing like yesterday morning! Using the same Near Deere under a Strike Indicator setup from yesterday, managed to catch five Bass. No Bruisers but was good practice (or more an excuse to go fishing). The Bass were holding in a deeper hole in the Main Pond and were just barely striking the Near Deere. It was almost like they were bumping it instead of striking the fishing fly. Also, every so often would twitch the rod to add a little action, else letting the wind/waves "bob" the Near Deere up and down was enough to trigger a strike. Short trip but lots of fun!

Saturday planned to fish the Trinity River in Fort Worth but late last night decided to head to the Blue River in Oklahoma instead. Got on the road early and arrived at the Blue River - specifically, Hughes Crossing by 7AM. It was a cold morning with frost on the ground and eventually ice on the rod guides. Things started out slow with no strikes by the pool above the Crossing. Headed downriver to the Island and struck out as well. After heading further downriver, caught one Trout on a Near Deere in of the pools. Then, after several more casts without a strike, moved back to the Island. The action picked up there with Trout going for the Near Deere on almost every cast. The action stayed steady for about 45", and then the bite turned off around 9AM. Luckily, had five trout in the creel by that time! After fishing different spots and changing fishing flies often, caught the last Trout to make a limit around 1PM. It also went for the Near Deere; was not as big as th...

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:

Weekend is approaching. No solid plans but I am sure the Team is game for another round of fishing. On another note, I received a tracking number from TenkaraBum for the Micro Fishing Rod I ordered. It looks like it may arrive this weekend! Also, I found a cool tip from TenkaraBum's website for taking pictures of little fish - a Micro Fishing Photo Tank. It comes from the Container Store and is used for storing cotton swabs.... Cool stuff! Micro Fishing Photo Tank

Welcome Readers to Stocker Trout Fishing - a website started in partnership with the COAF Field Team!  The COAF Field Team (aka Field Team) is a group of avid fishermen located in the city of Allen, Texas. They kicked off their effort by starting the City Of Allen Fishing Weblog to document online fishing trips to area community lakes and ponds. The fishing trips later expanded to other lakes (including larger lakes), rivers in Oklahoma and Texas, and the Texas Gulf Coast. For this effort, the Field Team intends to collate information about fishing for stocked Rainbow Trout – specifically, in North Texas with emphasis on local ponds stocked in Collin County. In addition, the Field Team will include fishing reports for trips across the border to Oklahoma's Blue River, Lower Mountain Fork River, and Honey Creek (in Turner Falls Park) as well as fishing trips to the Guadalupe River in New Braunfels, Texas. Moreover, the Field Team plans to post information found online that may be use...

Burning the midnight oil this evening, the day job is quickly becoming the all day and night job. Regardless, I am done and have shifted over to more important things... FISHING! And, what better way to shift focus from work to fishing then to mindlessly surf the web for fishing information. Normally, I check out the Texas Fishing Forum, several fishing blogs, and YouTube fishing videos. This time, not sure how but I landed on a website called Micro Fishing. It's a website that is all about catching small minnow-sized fish using "micro-gear". Sounds interesting, so, on a whim, I decided to give it a try. First step, or more an excuse to get another fishing rod, I ordered a Micro Fishing Rod from TenkaraBum's web store. The model I ordered was a Kiyotaki 18. I was not sure about the details of the rod other than it is 6 feet long and can be fished Tenkara style in some instances. Below is a linked picture of the Kiyotaki 18 from TenkaraBum's website.... Ordered, re...

The morning started with rain and cold temperatures. So, we decided to hold on fishing today. And, knowing the work week will be a busy one, it looks like the next chance to go fishing will be next weekend. Until then, I plan to make some time for fly tying - specifically, more Soft Hackle Wet Flies in the traditional and Tenkara patterns. In preparation for this, I broke away from the Cowboys and Packers Football Game to pick up a Partridge Cape/Skin at Cabela's. It looks like I have a enough feathers to make more than a few fishing flies. Afterwards, I made it back in time to watch the remainder of the game; I should have stayed at Cabela's longer... wished the Call Reversal did not happen. Oh well, here is to next Season

Hi Readers! I was working on day job related things - specifically, a spreadsheet deliverable. Knocked it out fairly quickly, and then went back to more important things... like fishing! While looking over the Texas Parks and Wildlife Departments Trout Stocking Schedule dated 1/10/2015, I thought it would be nice to sort the schedule using the Stocking Date as the primary sort. After some data manipulation and a few "workarounds", I was able to come up with something usable. I also was able to save it as a pdf file. So, hopefully Readers can readily access the document. Here is the link to the attachment page below; there is an embedded link on the page that should open the pdf file. Note: TPWD Trout Stocking Schedule - Sorted by Date is no longer available.  Do look for a post in November of the current year and stocking season!

Howdy from Glenn! The Team has opted to use the StockerTroutFishing.com's Weblog to post updates from the field. CityOfAllenFishing.Blogspot.com remains available to Readers; do feel free to navigate the website and its archive! Additionally, I plan to assume the role as Weblog Admin. Kudos to our former Weblog Admin! She volunteered to help us start this website. Outstanding job, and we wish you all the best in Austin as you continue your education at the "other school down the road"! Sincerely, Glenn and the Field Team

Picked up a new fly reel. It's a Ross Flystart 2. Looking really nice with the 8' Redington Fly Rod picked up late last year. Too bad the cold temps has delayed fishing for the next few days. Oh well, this Blogger is staying bundled up indoors and is happy to receive reports from diehards braving the below freezing temperatures!

YouTube Shorts video of a TBT to Beavers Bend State Park before the big flood or was it floods that changed the entire river. Lots of brush and greenery with a few Rainbow and Brown Trout caught and released. See the full video at https://youtu.be/8KePd_ZH-ic In the past, designated Blue and Red zones were used to separate sections of the river. The Blue zone allowed bait fishing, non-barbless hooks, and more liberal daily limits compared to the Red Zone. As of 2021, the rules have changed. Strongly suggest checking out Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation’s eRegulations for the latest update before fishing the area. See the Lower Mountain Fork section of the eRegulations for more info. ( Trou t Area Information ).

Another fun trip to beat the heat; this one is a TBT to Turner Falls Park in Davis, OK. The OPST Commando Head made for ease of casting by the Waterfall using an “air anchor” to avoid the metal railing along the walkway. See full video at: https://youtu.be/n-vkX-REKkc

Another fun trip and a good one to remind us cool weather is coming soon and so is trout stocking season! See video at https://youtu.be/rO1GSkrhwPo

More beat the heat with TBT to Denison. See full video at Denison Dam Fly Fishing on YouTube! Got lucky… plan was to fish the Blue River but recent rain diverted us to the Red River – specifically, the tailrace to Lake Texoma at Denison Dam! Fun time fly fishing at Denison Dam! Echo Ion Fly Reel 4/5 wt: http://amzn.to/2ql1EhN Redington Classic Trout Fly Rod (9′-4pc-5wt): http://amzn.to/2rENFHu OPST Commando Head (200 grain): http://amzn.to/2zftMuC OPST Lazarline Running Line: http://amzn.to/2gTrjOU

Beat the heat with a Throw Back Time to the Blue River last year. See video at: “How We Fished the Blue River, Oklahoma Saturday… Limited Out!”