Stocker Trout Fishing News

Been itching to get more underwater camera actions shots. Wanted to try a camera setup that uses the Wi-Fi connection to a mobile phone to get live action shots of what is happening underwater. Understood the Wi-Fi connection is lost soon as the Hero 5 goes underwater. The Go Pro will keep recording but you can no longer control the Go Pro with your phone. Found a workaround that uses cable like in Cable TV cable to maintain connectivity when the Go Pro is underwater. Made a rig and planned to field test is soon as the hand heals but while testing the rig my sinking the camera in a bucket, learned the Wi-Fi connection stayed connected. I did not lose connection until I was 20+ feet away from the bucket. Will have to test this in a pond. But, this is promising! Do check back, plan to try testing the connection with and without the rig to see if the Hero 5 stays connected!

Decided to try getting an underwater video of a Catfish taking our bait yesterday. Headed to Bethany Lakes, rigged up the GoPro for the shot, baited a hook with Bread, and set the rig out. Shortly after setting the rig in the water, had Bluegill in view despite the murky conditions. Soon after,they (or maybe something bigger) took the bait. Re-baited and had more Bluegill pecking at the bread but in the murkiness did see a Catfish come by several times and eventually it took the bait. Reeled in a skinny 17″-18″ Catfish! Later, lost a bigger one that broke the hook; was not able to get the underwater shot of it though. Oh well… Fun stuff still!

Been itching to get more underwater action shots while fishing. Since losing the Waterwolf Camera last year, it has been a bust. But, putting on the thinking cap, came up with a mount for the GoPro… since it’s still in the works, we called this one prototype 1. Water was murky from recent rains, did get a glimpse of little bluegill looking at the fishing fly we added to attract them. Learned a few things on the setup. Next round should be better. This video is the field test of prototype 1, have already made adjustments and prototype 2 is ready to go. Just got to find time to test it out in the field. Do check back, will get it tested and hopefully show some underwater fishing action! If prototype 2 work well, will post a how to video!

Was able to limit out yesterday at Waterloo in Denison. Caught them on Ultralight Gear and Corn. Did get some underwater video using the Water Wolf Camera as well as practice with the 4wt 8′ fly rod using Rio’s Trout Max single spey shooting head. Still working on the underwater video. For now, below is a snippet of the action and a short clip on the Trout Max! Really liking the distance it provides!   went #fishing yesterday, have some video to edit of uw shots. here is a snippet of one #trout that went for corn at #waterloopark #denison A post shared by COAF Field Team (@coaf.field.team) on Jan 15, 2018 at 7:20am PST    

Made adjustments with the GoFish Cam and rigging it for underwater video action shots when scouting local ponds for fish. Liking it but do need to make more adjustments to keep it level and floating upright. With a little more tweaking, should be able to get it where we like it. Do check out the video – left the underwater footage as is other than clipping out the reeling in and out of the camera. Fun stuff!

Been wanting to try Gulp Marinade as a teaser scent to our lures. But, not certain if fish would like it. It has a garlic scent similar to the Berkley Power Bait we like to use when trout fishing. Decided to test the Gulp Marinade by applying it to a fishing fly and observe how fish react to it compared to the same fishing fly but without the scent applied. Rigged two scuds to the underwater video rig we put together for filming underwater action shots of fish. Key take aways this round: Results were inconclusive given only one test. But, it does look promising. Do need to continue testing before we make a suggestion. It does appear that fish like the Gulp Marinade, tending to prefer the scud with scent over the scud without scent after the initial application. Once the scent washed out, it was not certain if there was a preference for one over the other. Do need to re-apply the scent as it does wash out. Bait still is preferred over artificials. Next round, plan to: Use a smaller hook...

Made the run up to Waterloo in Denison for trout fishing fun. Trout Derby was held the day before, so lots of trout to be had in the little pond. Brought the GoPro Underwater Video rig for another try at action shots of trout. Was a tough go with murkly water and lots of vegetation on the bottom to clobber the rig. Luckily, after making more mods on the fly, did get some video of the trout lurking in the pond. Key Take Aways: Green vegetation is thick on the bottom; best to use a Carolina Rig with 16″ to 18″ of leader from the weight to the hook. Use a bait that floats to keep it above the vegetation when Carolina Rigged. Else, use a bobber and suspend off the bottom. At one point, the trout wanted Corn but were not striking if on the bottom. Used a PowerBait Nugget threaded above the hook, and then bait the hook with corn. This allowed the Corn to stay off the bottom and in the “money” zone where the trout were lurking! Of the trout caught today, two went for Po...

Been trying various cameras and rigs or underwater fishing videos like we did when we had the Water Wolf Camera. Ended up losing it last year, so have made several rigs for an old GoPro Hero. So far, able to observe fish and their reaction to treated and untreated Scud patterns as part of our test of the Gulp Garlic Marinade. Plan to continue “testing” as our results are inconclusive. Did get the itch to try capturing a live bait strike with a Bluegill… no luck this round, but did find old video from the Water Wolf Camera as a consolation. That said, since no Water Wolf Cameras are in stock, and learned GoFish – with a wireless feature, has cameras in stock. Placed an order! Do check back, plan to do more “testing” of the Gulp Marinade and live bait action shots! GoFish Camera: https://amzn.to/3gBYgsj

Here is the video from yesterday’s trip to the Lower Mountain Fork. It was a tough day of fishing with lots of fish in the area as evidenced by the underwater video shots of Trout lurking in the area we fished. Did catch five and missed a lot more. All in the Red Zone, so we had to let them go save for the one Keeper that went 20″! All but one struck a White Midge Pattern that we think is called a Rainbow Warrior. The one exception went for the Y2K Egg Pattern. We fished the Y2K as a trailer to a Near Deere. The Midge was fished either as a trailer to the Near Deere as well as a single fly under an indicator. Great time even though it was frustrating to see them look and turn away from out fishing flies. Gotta go back for another round; we hope sooner than later!. PS: We knew there were lots of Trout in the pool we fished but after reviewing the underwater video, we saw there we a lot more! Lower Mountain Fork…!

Fished the local pond using the Two Piece Micro Fly Rod to catch Sunfish and Bluegill for live bait. Plan was to rig up our GoPro and GoFish Cameras for some underwater action shots of fish lurking in the area. In short order, managed to catch (as well as miss) a fish or two using a simple Midge pattern. Later, switched to a Tenkara fly when I lost the Midge. Fun stuff, fly fishing with the Micro Fly Rod… was hoping for more fun with the underwater cameras. Ended up only using the GoFish Cam. Did not land a fish but did see what was in the pond lurking as well as got a glimpse of the one that got away… a nice Bass that looked like the 20″ one caught last week!

Had a fun time kayak fishing Clear Lake Park (Lake Lavon) Sunday morning. Only one White Bass but did get some underwater action shots with the Water Wolf Camera. Was good to see what was happening underwater. Did notice the Slab and Jig Rig attracted more fish than a Slab alone. Also, noticed the Slab and Jig was fouled as we paddled past the “Island”. Lots of wind and waves, so opted to keep paddling to a less windy spot before checking the line. Fouled lures may explain the missed hook sets. Also, tried a swim bait that did get one fish to look at it. Swim bait was about 4″ in size, so whatever looked at was at least three times the length of the swim bait.

Missing the Waterwolf Camera. Trying another test of the GoPro setup for underwater action shots of fish. So far, gotta a ways to go. Think this will be a temp solution for now while we search for a replacement to the Waterwolf. Main reason we liked the Waterwolf was the ease of deployment and the video of the action happening even when the bite was slow. Past lessons learned… Turtles are fast and can steal your bait easily without getting hooked. And, Catfish and Bass will strike a live bait multiple times before finally take the bait! Do check out the video; included clips from the turtles, bass, and catfish action from the Waterwolf for reference!

Had some fun this past weekend fishing for Texas Rainbow Trout at Pottsboro Lake in Pottsboro, TX. Brought the @GoFish Cam to get some underwater video; able to capture some of the action. But, was sidetracked on a quest… Which technique works best for trout? We tried the “Cranky, No Yanky” technique that calls for keeping a tight line and reeling faster when the trout strikes. This one worked the best; no need to use the rod to set the hook, just reel faster. And, we tried the “Rip Thy Lips” technique… this was not the preferred method for limiting out. This technique calls for setting the hook immediately and with a strong pull of the rod at any indication of a strike. Was a fun time; windy conditions… but we limited out. Do check out the video; added underwater footage of the trout moving about at the end of the video.

More fun with the Water Wolf Camera and being able to observe the action underwater. Fished Celebration Park this evening and managed to get one nice Catfish using bread for bait. Did have several others take our bait but was not able to land them. Missed hook sets as well as setting too early. No worries, still lots of fun. Murky water but still able to get some video. Also, was interesting to see an underwater current that we suspect was coming from the run off from a rain storm that passed a half-hour before. Current from the surface was not noticeable.

 Yesterday morning fished Celebration Park’s North Pond . Used a Water Wolf Camera to get underwater video of the fish lurking in the pond – Bluegill, Sunfish, and a couple of Catfish. Caught several Bluegill and Sunfish using the Micro Fly Rod! Used a size 10 Pink Near Deere that they were readily striking. But, should have went “micro” as the fishing fly was way too big for the scrappy fish. Later in the evening, fishing buddy suggested fishing the East Pond as Celebration Park. No need to twist this fisherman’s arm to go fishing… rigged up a couple of spinning rods and grabbed some bread for bait. Prefer to use bread for bait when fishing local ponds as the Catfish have become “trained” by people feeding the ducks with bread. (Liked this method so much, wrote two articles about it… “ Fishing with Bread ” and “ Fishing with Bread: Fishing Rigs “). The evening round saw lots of strikes and misses – suspect the smaller fish like the Bluegill and Sunfish were having a feeding frenzy...

Took the new GoFish Camera out to City Complex Pond in Murphy, TX for some scouting… fish scouting for Bass! Used to do this in the past with the Water Wolf Camera but our efforts were on hold since we lost the camera last year. After several hits and misses using the GoPro Hero (older model), took advantage of the price drop of the GoFish Camera and ordered one. After a few oops in setting the camera, able to put a live bluegill on the hook and observe the underwater action. It was mainly bluegill and a little bass “eyeing” the live bait, and then it was turtle avoidance after the turtles started showing up and taking the bait! Did get a brief glimpse of a bass. Looked like one of the bigger bass that we used to see in pond in past years. Unfortunately, the pond’s clarity was not as good as it normally is. But, after tweaking the video settings and slowing the speed, we were able to see the outline of the bass. Good to know there is a nice size Bass still in the pond…...

Took the GoFish Cam camera yesterday for another round of scouting the local pond for what is lurking below. Had some catfish strike a doughbait but forgot to turn the GoFish Cam recording on. Lesson learned… went back this morning to scout the same spots plus a drainage channel that we know holds fish. Still have some adjustments to make with the GoFish Cam and its setup but did manage to capture the underwater action to include a bass that had a Panther Martin inline spinner in its mouth! Do stay tuned for more as we seek out other areas to go scouting with the GoFish Cam!

Caught several White Bass today off the point by the Island at Clear Lake Park (Lake Lavon). Others were doing well casting; opted to troll for them in hopes of a underwater shot of a fish striking the lure. Still editing today’s video but we may have gotten the strike this round! Of the White Bass caught this round, only one was a Keeper. No worries… good workout in and still got to go fishing! Here is the video of yesterday action, and below it are pictures from today. Will get a video of today’s action posted as soon as we can… stay tuned!   One keeper, off the point by the island, tan is maintaining! #kayakfishing #lakelavon #whitebass A photo posted by COAF Field Team (@coaf.field.team) on Jul 21, 2016 at 6:39pm PDT Upper left cntrclockwise. Fish reacting to lure trolled through school. #kayakfishing #waterwolfhd A photo posted by COAF Field Team (@coaf.field.team) on Jul 21, 2016 at 9:24pm PDT

Decided to fish Pottsboro Lake in Pottsboro Texas this past Saturday. After a little rain in the morning, made it to the pond just as a cold front rolled in. Cold and windy, did manage three trout. Planned to catch trout using ultralight lures and a BFS Rod/Reel, but trout wanted PowerWorms. Good thing I had the Bubble and Fly Rig handy, just swapped the fishing fly for a PowerWorm. Bite was steady, just kept missing the hookset. Did get a few Bluegill and a Bass on the PowerWorms. Plus got some underwater video of what was lurking in the pond! Do check out the video! Spiderwire 10lbs EZ Braid

Scouting the drainage canal with the @GoFishCam where I went fishing the other day. New there were fish but now have a better idea of what is lurking below. Did not see the nice bass in the culvert from the other day, but did see one that would have been fun to catch on the micro fly rod. Also, got some footage of the fish lurking in the pond, too. Did bot catch anything; it was cold but was able to stay out long enough to drain the camera battery down!