Upcoming Trout & Fly Fishing Seminars in Tampa

There are two seminars during the first week of January for trout fishing and fly fishing enthusiasts.

The first is a free fly fishing seminar hosted by the Tampa Bay Fly Fishing Club. Captain Pat Damico will share information about fly fishing in Patagonia. The seminar will be held on Wednesday at 6 p.m. (January 2nd, 2008) at Compton Park Recreation Center at Tampa Palms. The club welcomes new members, also teaches tying flies at no charge.

The second is a free trout fishing Thursday at 7 p.m. at Jerry Ulm Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep center. This seminar is hosted by Rattlesnake Point Outfitters. The address is 2966 N. Dale Mabry in Tampa.

Spotted Seatrout Season Reopens January 1st in Florida!

After two months of closure, the spotted seatrout season will reopen in the southern half of Florida on January 1st, 2008.

The maximum daily bag limit for spotted seatrout in these areas is four fish per person. In all Florida waters north and west of these areas, the daily limit is five fish per person. All spotted sea trout must be 15-20 inches to keep them, but anglers may keep one spotted sea trout larger than 20 inches as part of their daily bag limit.

There are a few rules you anglers should be aware of:

• Multiple hooks with live or dead natural bait are not allowed
• Snagging or snatch hooking spotted seatrout is not allowed.
  
• Spotted seatrout may be taken only with hook, line gear and cast nets and must be landed in a whole condition.

Artificial baits like plastic shrimp or swimbaits will work, but anglers will definitely do better on live shrimp.

Spotted seatrout are currently active in the Gulf along the West Coast. For the last decade, one of the best trout areas in the state has been St. Joseph Sound,the shallow, grassy basin stretching roughly from Anclote Key south to Clearwater. The fish are typically found anywhere from 10 feet off the island to 50 feet out.

The spotted seatrout fishing season will close again during the month of February in northeast and northwest Florida waters.


For more information about spotted seatrout fishing in Florida (including the best fishing holes), click here.

Ice Fishing in Cleveland Metroparks

Several Cleveland Metroparks were stocked with trout this week for the winter ice fishing season. However, the ice is still too thin for walking on. But you should be able to fish from shore or piers.

Of the 1,800 pounds of trout planted in lakes this week, Wallace Lake received the Lakes receiving the most (800 pounds) - including some brown trout. The remaining trout were planted in Shadow, Ledge, Ranger, and Judge's lakes. Salmon eggs, power baits, and jigs tipped with grubs are just a few baits these trout will hit well.

Local rivers are reporting good trout fishing, including steelhead trout fishing. Excellent reports have been received from the Vermilion and Rocky rivers and from the Chagrin and Ashtabula rivers and Conneaut Creek. The Grand River is finally shaping up as well, and should be in fine condition in a couple of days.

Fly fishers are casting a wide variety of egg patterns, especially sucker spawn flies, as well as nymphs. Some of the largest steelhead trout of the winter have been caught in recent days from the Rocky River.

For more information about trout fishing in the Cleaveland Metroparks, click here.

Trout Fishing Tournaments on Lake Jocassee

Once again, the Jocassee Outdoor Center in Salem, S.C. is sponsoring a series of four trout fishing tournaments on Lake Jocassee.

The first trout fishing tournaments is scheduled Jan. 12th, 2008. The remaining tournaments are scheduled for Feb. 9th, March 8th, and April 12th.

Entry fee is $50 per angler for the first two tournaments, $35 for the March event and $25 for the finale. Entrants also have the option of putting into a pot for the largest trout weighed in each of the tournament days.

For more information, visit the Jocassee Outdoor Center's web site or phone 864-944-9016.

Jocassee also has a trout club which is open to everyone interested in conserving, protecting, and improving the trout fishery at Lake Jocassee.

For more information about Lake Jocassee, click here.

Fly Fishing Clinics in North Carolina

If you live in or near Fayetteville, North Carolina you might like to take advantage of the fly fishing clinics being offered at the John E. Pechmann Education Center. The clinics are scheduled for Jan. 12, Jan. 26, Feb. 2 and Feb. 16. The first three clinics are open to first-time participants only. The last clinic will be for anglers with advanced fly-fishing skills.

Additional clinics are set March 1 and March 8 for Boy Scouts seeking to earn fly-fishing merit badges.

If you wish to attend a clinic, you must pre-register and pay a $5 fee. Clinics are limited to 40 participants. To register phone 910-424-6134.

Fishing equipment will be available for those who need it.

For more information, visit the North Carolina Wildlife web site.

The Complete Guide to Freshwater Fishing

If you're still looking for Christmas gift ideas for the angler in your life, you might want to check out the book, The Complete Guide to Freshwater Fishing (the Freshwater Angler).

I recently purchased a copy of the book and was quite impressed by the depth of information contained in it. It's one of those books that every angler would appreciate having in their library. I personally will be picking up a couple of more copies for my nephews.

Merry Christmas!

2008 Changes to Kansas Fishing Regulations Online

Printed copies of the 2008 Kansas Fishing Regulations Summary won't be available until early January, but anglers should be aware of several new regulations that take effect Jan. 1, 2008.

Some of the changes include reduced fees youth trout, paddlefish and the 24-hour fishing license. Other changes affect gigging (i.e., spear fishing), length and creel limits, and more.

Changes affecting trout fishing in Kansas include:

• Willow Lake in Tuttle Creek State Park has been added to the list of waters where a trout permit is required for all anglers from Oct. 15 through April 15; and

• Lake Shawnee in Shawnee County requires anglers fishing for or possessing trout to have a trout permit Oct. 15-April 15.

• A 20-inch minimum length limit and one-fish creel limit on brown trout has been established in the Mined Land Wildlife Area;

• Youth 15 and younger no longer have to possess a trout permit to fish during the trout season in designated trout waters, but there is a daily creel limit of two trout for those youth (unless they purchase a trout permit, which allows a full daily trout creel limit);

You can read the rest of the 2008 Kansas Fishing Regulation Changes by clicking here.

Trout Make a Daring Escape!

This story is too good not to share. Hatchery trout were recently caught on photograph making a daring escape from the hatchery (no kidding!).

To see the photo and read the full story of the brown trout making their escape, click here.

Trout Stocked at Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center

533 Trout were stocked Friday at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center into a new pond beside the Hart-Morris Conservation Center as well as into the older 1.5-acre casting pond (which got 995 trout). Trout will continue to be stocked through the winter months.

The new pond (which also has a fishing pier), has plenty of room around it for backcasts, making it ideal for fly fishing. In addition to rainbow trout, the pond also has largemouth bass in it.

Wet flies such as Hare’s Ear, Pheasant Tail, Prince, Soft Hackles and Dave’s Red Squirrel work well. Effective streamers include olive or black Wooly Buggers, Zonkers, Marabou Muddlers and Black-nosed Dace patterns.

Fishing is included with admission to TFFC, and no license is needed. TFFC also provides bait and tackle. Anglers who wish to keep trout must pay $5 for the opportunity to harvest up to five fish.

For more information, visit the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center.

Fishing Regs Change December 10 in Minnesota

If you live in Minnesota, you should know that some of the fishing regulations will change on December 10. These regulations affect ice fishing, handling fish, and fishing for certain species of fish. But some of the changes affecting trout fishing include:

WINTER TROUT FISHING

All lakes in Aitkin County and Blue Lake in Hubbard County are open to winter trout fishing.

ICE FISHING MEAL PREPARATION

While on or fishing waters with size restrictions, all fish for which the size restriction applies must have their heads, tails, fins and skin intact and be measurable except when a person is preparing and using such fish for a meal.

PACKED FISH LABELING

When packing fish, labels identifying the fish must include the name of the lake where the fish was caught and the size of each of the fish that are regulated under a special size limit.

TAKE A KID ICE FISHING

Anglers older than 16 do not need a license from Feb. 16-18, 2008, if they are accompanied by a child younger than 16 and are actively participating in Take A Kid Ice Fishing Weekend.

For a more complete list of fishing regulation changes in Minnesota, click here.

2008 Ohio Trout Lottery

It's that time of year again for anglers to send in their application for the 2008 Ohio Trout Lottery. This lottery is hosted by the Department of Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife and gives anglers an opportunity to fish a controlled section of Ohio's Cold Creek - A half-mile section of the creek, located at the Castalia State Fish Hatchery in Erie County.

However this angling opportunity is limited to a certain number of anglers and selected dates between March 31 and October 31st in 2008. Lucky anglers will be chosen through a special lottery.

Anglers interested in fishing the stream must submit an application form and a non-refundable $5 application fee to the Division of Wildlife, 2054 Morse Rd, G-1, Columbus, Ohio 43229-6693 between December 1, 2007 and January 31, 2008 in order to be eligible for the random drawing. The online application fee is $3.

For more information about the 2008 Ohio Trout Lottery, click here.

Speckled Trout Fishing in Mississippi Improving

Fall has always been one of the best times of the year for trout fishing. And Thanksgiving weekend brought a cold front across much of the country - which caused trout fishing action heat up even more!

Speckled trout fishing in Southern Mississippi continues to improve thanks to this recent cold front. Below is the fishing report recently published in the Sun Herald.

As water temperatures plunged below 70 degrees, speckled trout and redfish are searching for bait from Moss Point to Bay St. Louis with the majority of the action taking place around deep drop-offs and bends in the rivers.

The only holdback has been dealing with the effects of rainfall - before Thanksgiving and after. In some places, the smaller bodies of water will be murky.

When this happens, look for cleaner water in the main rivers and bays that cycle muddy water out quicker with low and high tides.

With that in mind, places like the old Kremer Marina in Gulfport and Biloxi's Big Lake should be good.

In Hancock County, fishing remains solid off the Jourdan River near I-10 and back south toward the Bay of St. Louis for trout. In Harrison County, Bernard Bayou, Parker's Creek and the Industrial Seaway should have trout.

The Pascagoula River, Mary Walker Bayou, Sioux Bayou and the Singing River have been solid all the way from the interstate south to Northrop Grumman.

Other top spots in Jackson County are Fort Bayou - just east of the bridge on Washington Avenue - and the mouth of Graveline Bayou.

Two of the top baits for Graveline are live croakers and small minnows suspended underneath a popping cork.

Live shrimp should be available at bait shops through the end of the year. Small pogies and finger-size mullet are plentiful in the bays and rivers for those anglers using brill nets.

Slow-trolling using plastic jigs and slow-sinking lures will become more productive in December.

To read the entire fishing report which also covers redfish fishing, click here.

For more speckled trout fishing tips, click here.

Heritage Pond Stocked with Trout

Heritage Pond on the north side of Dubuque was scheduled for stocking yesterday. It's the first of three stockings scheduled. More than 1,500 catchable size rainbow trout were planted in the first stocking.

These stockings are part of an initiative by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to provide trout fishing opportunities through the Thanksgiving holiday.

More stockings are planned for January and March.

For more information about trout fishing in Iowa, click here.

Fall Trout Fishing in Arizona

Fall trout fishing continues to be excellent in Arizona. I've been taking my nephews, their friends, and others out fishing at Lynx Lake a lot this season. My youngest nephew is 5 now and old enough to really enjoy trout fishing on his little Jack Sparrow fishing pole.

Since Fall is one of the best times of the year to be out trout fishing, now is a good time to take the kids out for a day of fishing! It's a lot easier to keep kids focused on trout fishing when they're catching trout.

Here are some photos from some of this year's Fall trout fishing excursions.

Fall Trout Fishing 2007

Trout Fishing Opens on Madison County Lake Next Friday

Madison County Lake (near Huntsville, Alabama) will open for trout fishing the day after Thanksgiving.

Anglers ages 16-64 must have a valid Alabama fishing license and a daily lake permit - both of which can be purchased at the lake store. Bait and rental equipment also are available at the lake store. The lake is open on weekends until Feb. 1 from daylight to dark.

Stockings will be a bit different different this year. The lake will get its usual 3,000 pounds of trout from a Georgia hatchery, but this year there will be several smaller stockings instead of three large ones. This should give anglers more opportunities to catch trout over the whole season.

For more information about trout fishing on Madison County Lake, click here.

Trout Fishing Tip #2 - Watch Where Trout are Rising

It may seem obvious, but you'd be surprised how many people will sit there watching trout rise or jump out of the water for insects and never move try and cast their line into that spot.

Figuring out where trout are hanging out is half the battle. But once you do figure it out, you can improve your chances of catching them by casting your line into that spot. Trout are lazy fish - they don't want to work hard for a meal. So if you present your offering to them, you have a better chance of getting them to take it.

But watching trout rise (or jump) is important for another reason. In addition to telling you where trout are - it also tells you that they're feeding near the surface of the water. And if you're lake fishing - this information is especially important!

Lakes are usually deep and so there are different feeding zones. As the day progresses, trout may change feeding zones. When you see them rising (or jumping), you know they're actively feeding near the water's surface - so you'll want to keep your bait near or close to the surface of the water (in other words, you don't want to be bottom fishing deep in the lake when trout aren't there).

Watching trout rise is another of those telltale signs that gives you a couple of bits of information which can in turn help you choose the right fishing technique.

Trout Fishing Tip #1 - Watch the Birds!

One of the biggest keys to successful trout fishing is being observant. There are usually telltale signs around you that will give you an advantage of how and where to catch trout.

Watching the birds is one of these telltale signs. Birds have an uncanny ability to spot trout in the water from the air! If you pay attention to the section of water they're flying over and where they're swooping down to grab fish, you'll know where the trout are!

And if you know where the trout are hanging out, you'll have a better chance of catching them!

You'll notice in the image above, that this Osprey has a trout in his claws. I took this picture a few weeks ago at my while I was fishing at Lynx Lake. I watched as he swooped down and grabbed the trout from the lake. By being observant, I was able to stay in touch with where the trout were hanging out in the lake that day and make sure our kids took home their bag limit.

Watching the birds (as well as the rest of your environment) is important when trout fishing. Being observant of these little telltale signs will make you a better trout angler!

Brook Trout Fishing Secrets

Brook trout are fall spawners so many trout anglers consider this to be the best time to catch them. And since brook trout need cool, clean streams in order to spawn, you can often find them in making their way into tributaries this time of year.

Like other trout species, brook trout like to hang out near boulders, logs and other structures that provide cover and security. They feed on worms, grasshoppers, and other insects.

When fishing in lakes, try trolling near shore with worms or spinners tipped with worms. Salmon eggs, Wooly Buggers, and dark colored nymphs are also effective. Corn is also effective on hatchery brook trout.

Artificial flies are also work well when fishing for brook trout – especially dry flies, streamers and nymphs that imitate natural food sources.

Keep in mind that of all the trout species, brook trout are usually pretty small and if fishing in streams or small rivers, you’ll need to use light tackle (2-4 lb test). In lakes, you can usually get away with using 4-6 lb test line.

Although most brook trout are pretty small, there have been some amazing trophy-size brookies caught. In 2006, an angler in Manitoba caught a 29 inch brookie. Although this catch would have most likely given him the world record, he released it after snapping a few photographs - thereby eliminating his chance of a world record. However, in 2007, the National Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame awarded this angler a catch and release record.

Struggling to Catch Trout - Try Trout Attractant!

Often times when I'm trout fishing my favorite lake, I'll spend the day reeling trout after trout while others around struggle to hook one. We may even be using the techniques (shore fishing with powerbait on a sinker) ... yet I'll catch trout, and they won't.

Sound familiar? Here's one of my trout tips for you ...

What these folks often don't know is that I'm also using trout attractant - which can sometime mean the difference between a good day at the lake and a bad one.

Like it or not, we have a human smell. And this human smell is often transferred to your line and bait as you handle them. If you're a smoker, it can be even worse. One of the ways to fix this problem is to put a dab of trout attractant on your leader and bait.

You can buy the stuff in any sporting goods store (even in Wal-mart). Attractant is specially designed for different types of fish (trout, bass, game fish, etc.). You'll either want the trout formula or the one for live game fish.

Although you can "spray" this stuff on your bait, I like to remove the cap and use the tube attached to the lid to wipe attractant on my leader and bait (sometimes, I'll even dip my bait into the bottle).

Trout attractant gives your offering a bit of edge over other angler's. If you're struggling to catch trout, you might want to pick up a bottle and give it a try!

Fall Trout Fishing Fun!

In the past two weeks, I've made several trips to Lynx Lake in Prescott, Arizona to enjoy the fall trout fishing action. I've been teaching my nephews and their friends how to trout fish ... so we've taken full advantage of their days off school.

As usual, we've managed to walk away with our daily bag limit on each fishing trip. But in addition to sharing our boy's excitement when they reel in their catch, one of the more interesting things to me is watching others around us get skunked.

It doesn't take long before they start moving in closer to us (thinking we've found a secret trout hole), and eventually they start asking our secret - of which I'm always happy to share (especially when there's kids involved).

Anybody can bait a hook and throw it into a lake and wait for trout to swim by. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. But the good anglers are always paying attention to the little things .... such as outdoor temperatures (especially water temps), where trout are rising, and other things.

These are the things that separate intermediate trout fishers from advanced ones. If you want to be a successful trout fisher, you need to understand these things and adjust your fishing tactics accordingly. And the longer your fishing day, the more changes you may have to make.

Fall is one of the best times of the year to be out trout fishing. Water temperatures are cool, and so trout are usually actively feeding near the surface. Pay attention to where they're rising (or jumping). That will tell you where they're feeding - and if you look closely, you may even see what they're feeding on!

Trout are lazy fish - they don't want to work hard for a meal. So if you can get your baited hook to them (rather than wait for them to swim by and find it), you'll have a greater chance of catching trout.

For more trout secrets and tips, check out the "Trout Fishing Tips" eBook. Take advantage of the fall trout season while you can!