Fall 2014 Urban Trout

I flyfished Lake Petocka in Bondurant last Friday and the first 4 days of this workweek.
Weather conditions varied widely, from 70's to 50's, and wind from glassy calm to 30mph.

Success varied widely as well.  In order of the 5 days fished, trout landed were as follows:  27, 6, 4, 89, 17 (+1 perch).  So, one great day, and a couple of very disappointing days.

I tried a fair number of patterns.  I caught fish on many.  I would say my best-producer was probably a #10 or #8 nymph hook with an orange or dark-colored glass beadhead tied with a sand- or brown-grizzly marabou tail, Canadian olive or Canadian brown simiseal dubbing in a dubbing loop palmered up the hook shank.

First Week of April 2104

I've been playing around with my switch rod some more.  Caught more bass, crappies, bluegills and trout on it.  So, that's been fun.  Have used a regular fly rod as well.
Pretty typical catches for this time of year.

These microjigs work GREAT when suspended beneath an indicator:

Trout were somewhat interested in striking things on/near the surface, so I tried a "foamhead woolly bugger" like the one below, and caught a couple trout after they had splashed on the surface.  It didn't completely float, but it sank very slowly.

First Trout of 2013

I was trying to decide where to flyfish last night.  I decided to try a nearby lake that had been stocked with trout in January.  I never know what to expect at this lake.  It can be tough.

I fished from shore from about 6:15pm until 8pm.  When I arrived, it was sunny, 57 degrees, with a 10mph wind from the North.  I fished a short section of the SW and South shorelines, where the waves were pushing into shore.  The water was clear and high.  I gave my Cabela's Hip Waders their maiden voyage.  But, once I stepped off the shallow rocks along the shoreline, I was sinking into the soft sand-covered clay bottom, so I just stayed on shore.  I was also using my new 9' 6wt TFO BVK rod, and Lamson Konic reel loaded with an Airflo 40+ line.  That line casts really well, even into the wind!

I started out using a heavily weighted Chili Pepper pattern.  I saw a couple small swirls down along the shore and tossed it that way.  First trout of the year was a TINY little fella...The DNR doesn't stock them this small, typically, so I was wondering if there was some natural reproduction going on in this lake?  Maybe...maybe not.

I made some casts towards deeper water, but wasn't getting the strikes I was hoping for.  So, I switched to an unweighted black Woolly Bugger.  I tossed that around in shallow water.  I ended up landing a total of 12 Rainbow Trout, and had a few others come unbuttoned.  Almost all the trout I caught came within about 3' of shore.  I pulled at least 6 or 7 trout out of one small area.  At first I thought maybe there was a slightly deeper hole there caused by wave action that was pounding a shoreline feature.  Later, I walked over and looked.  Nada.  It looked just the same as everywhere else, so I can't explain why I caught so many fish from that spot.  Must have just been my lucky night.

Trout #2 was bigger than #1.

And a bit later, I liked all the spots on this nicer fish:

As the light faded from the sky, the wind died down, and the lake surface smoothed out somewhat.  I could see fish hitting small bugs on the surface.  I cast to some of these areas with that Woolly Bugger, and got a couple follows, but no strikes.

There was a gentleman fishing not too far away from me.  He was using spinning/casting gear.  It looked like he tossed some lures, but mostly was sitting motionless, so I assume he was fishing some sort of bait.  I didn't see him catch anything...but I was pretty intent on catching my own fish to pay close attention.

How to Catch Stocker Trout - 2012 Iowa Urban Trout Program

I don’t like spending precious fishing time driving to far-off destinations, so I tend to fish very close to home.  There are very nice streams in NE Iowa where anglers can fish for trout.  Unfortunately, many of those streams are a three-plus hour drive from Des Moines!

The Iowa DNR implemented the Urban Trout Program, and has been expanding this program, which is designed to bring trout fishing closer to anglers across Iowa.  The increase in sales of the Iowa Trout license funds the cost of this program.  Not only does the program introduce anglers to catching trout, it also sparks Iowa tourism by getting anglers interested in making the drive to experience the trout fishing in NE Iowa’s streams.  Since the Urban Trout Program is designed as a “put-and-take” and seasonal fishery, anglers are encouraged to keep their limit of up to five trout for a tasty meal.

It’s practically a year-round opportunity.  In certain lakes, at least some of the trout are actually able to survive even the hottest summers, like we just experienced in 2012.  With the Fall and Winter stockings, anglers are able to ice-fish for trout, provided there is safe ice on the lake.

I fished three different Iowa Urban Trout Program lakes in 2012: Banner Pits in Summerset State Park, Lake Petocka, and Ada Hayden Lake.

I made it out once in late January to ice-fish a nearby lake for trout.  It wasn’t a Stocking Day.  Fishing was tough!  Very few other anglers were finding/catching fish, so it wasn’t a case of fishing like/near the successful anglers.  I did manage to land a couple of trout, however.

In past years, I have ice-fished these trout on Stocking Day, and have often done extremely well.  In one freakish instance back in February of 2008, I landed 115 Rainbow Trout in 5.5 hours of ice-fishing.  Crazy! That day was so crazy, that for awhile two friends and I were all standing around and fishing out of one 8” diameter ice hole at the same time, and all catching fish.  We fished holes just a couple feet away from this particular whole, and wouldn’t catch anything.  Yes, we were laughing at ourselves while this ridiculous scenario was playing out, and enjoying every minute!  It was a similar experience in January of 2007, when I landed 88 Rainbow Trout through the ice in 5.25 hours of fishing.  On each of those days, I just shook a small Reef Runner Cicada about 18” below the ice.  The trout would come in and hammer the lure repeatedly…coming back again and again if they didn’t get hooked!

This year, open water arrived early in central Iowa.  I was fishing open water during the last week of February.  During the first week of March, I flyfished for trout at a central Iowa lake a couple of times during my lunch hour.  With the driving time to get to the lake and back, I was left with about 20 minutes to fish.  Using sinking fly patterns, I caught (and released) five Rainbow Trout each time.

I flyfished for trout a few more times through March and April.  April 21^st was my last brief trip to an Urban Trout Program Lake before the Spring heat arrived, and I did catch a trout that evening on flyfishing gear.

On October 19^th, Banner Pits was the first lake in the area to get a Fall stocking of trout.  Using a couple different fly patterns, I caught 21 Rainbow Trout on Stocking Day.  (I’ll talk about fly patterns later.)

My next trip to Banner was not until 9 days later.  I caught a bass, a crappie and a bluegill, but no trout.  I did have one trout follow my fly, and another actually hit it, but shook free almost immediately.  After talking with several people, only one had caught a single trout that day.  One guy had located hundreds of trout in one area, and threw everything he could think of at them, but couldn’t get them to strike.  Hey, it happens!

The next lake to receive trout this Fall was Lake Petocka on November 1.  I flyfished it on Stocking Day for a couple hours.  I caught/released 5 trout and a bass, but fishing (catching) was extremely slow for everyone.

I continued to flyfish at Lake Petocka occasionally thru December 1.  I had some excellent days flyfishing there, catching 64 Rainbow Trout in 6 hours of fishing one day, and then catching 78 Rainbow Trout in 4 hours a couple days later.  Trips like those are outstanding…and not typical by any means. I had a few other days with shorter fishing trips, and fewer fish caught.  In that first week following the stocking, I had caught 10% of the 1,500 trout that had been stocked.  And within one month following the stocking, I had caught a total of an even 200 Rainbow Trout there, or 13.33% of the stocked fish.  Not too shabby for 9 fishing trips!

Ada Hayden Lake was stocked on Nov. 20, and it was an interesting experience.  I flyfished it on Stocking Day.  One DNR employee I talked to said he counted 95 anglers there at the time the fish were put in the lake.  It was crowded!  I caught and released 5 trout fairly quickly, but then the crowd got under my skin and I decided to call it a day (part of the reason was that I had already caught 22 trout at Lake Petocka earlier that same day, and I was worn out!).

A buddy and I flyfished Ada Hayden once more on the day after the Fall trout stocking.  It was extremely windy.  We thought the trout would be along the north shoreline where the wind was blowing in.  Casting into that wind was tough, and we didn’t see anyone catching any trout.  We walked 4/5 of the way around the lake before we finally found any trout.  It was apparently the mother lode!  We fished those pods of trout along with several other anglers.  In the next couple of hours, my buddy and I caught/released a total of 112 Rainbow Trout between the two of us!

What works for catching these “stocker trout” at the Urban Trout Program lakes?  Anglers using live bait or prepared baits can catch trout on live minnows, nightcrawlers, canned corn, marshmallows, salmon eggs, and artificial scented baits such as some Berkley products developed for trout.  Bottom fishing can work, but suspending the bait under a bobber keeps it up where more trout are likely to see it.  Anglers casting lures can catch trout by retrieving small jigs tipped with plastics, small in-line spinners such as Mepps or Panther Martins, and small Kastmaster spoons.

I have tried most of those lures and baits, and caught some trout on them.  Anglers tossing artificial subsurface fly patterns with fly rods usually out-catch the other fishing methods by a substantial margin.  I’ve personally switched to fly-fishing for these trout, and have seen my success rate soar during the open-water season.

Different days see some fly patterns working better than others.  The most consistent pattern is a Woolly Bugger, in about a size 8 or 10.  Those that have a beadhead for weight are more versatile, but some days unweighted ones are useful if the fish are in the shallows.  Total length of the fly at about 1.5” seems to be an effective size.  Feel free to experiment.  This fly pattern can be bought or tied in a wide variety of colors.  Darker colors seem to work best the majority of the time, but some days the fish want white.

 Another color scheme that worked really well for me this Fall is called a “Chili Pepper”, and is made with a lot of flashy copper-colored materials.

Another idea to keep in mind when choosing fly patterns to use for these “stocker trout” is that they have been raised in a hatchery on pelleted food.  So, it stands to reason they will want to try to eat a fly that looks to be close to the color or size of a trout food pellet.  I tied up a pattern like those in the picture below, and some days have done well on them, either retrieved or suspended under and indicator (and indicator is a fly-fisherman’s version of a bobber).

At every lake I visited, each day the biggest challenge was to locate the fish.  Once located, they could usually be tempted to strike.  Wind and waves sometimes made it difficult to detect, but watching the surface of the water and looking for trout to give their location away by swirling or jumping at the surface of the lake is a good way to discover their location.  Another good rule of thumb is to fish the downwind shore of the lake.  This rule isn’t 100% accurate…but pretty close.  Some days the fish were out away from shore, other days they were cruising the shallows just a few feet from the shoreline.  Sometimes you can see pods of trout near the surface.  If these are within casting distance, you are in for some excellent action!  Try to pick off fish from the edges of the pod to avoid spooking them.  Other times, looser and smaller groups of fish can be seen cruising along the edge of the first dropoff near shore.  Cast ahead of their direction of travel and bring the fly/lure across in front of their path.  Trout are aggressive when they strike, there is no doubt when you have a fish on the line.

Fishing the Urban Trout Program is a great time!  Plus, fishing for trout extends the fishing season, since these fish stay active in colder water when most of our warmwater species are fishing much slower due to the colder seasons.  Get out there and have fun!

Lake Petocka - Nov. 1-4, 2012

Lake Petocka was stocked with 1500 Rainbow Trout on Thursday at Noon.  I took Thursday and Friday off work to fish it.

Thursday morning I fly fished a local public pond to waste some time before heading to Bondurant (Lake Petocka).  Using a chartreuse micro jig,  I landed 100 small fish...81 Crappies, 15 Bluegills and 4 Green Sunfish.  Not bad for two hours of fishing!

At Lake Petocka, fishing was tough after the stocking.  Most folks left fishless.  Maybe one or two caught their 5-fish limit.  I did better than most, and caught 5 trout and 1 chunky Largemouth Bass, but it took me all of 2 hours to accomplish that.  I also fished my way around nearly the entire lake.  I didn't keep any.

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On Friday, I fly fished Petocka for 6 hours.  I fished one corner of the lake for awhile.  Caught 10 Trout there, before my friend Dale G. called and said he'd been there awhile longer and had caught 18 fish where he was.  He told me to come down and fish with him, if the action slowed where I was.  It did slow.  I caught one more trout before heading over to his corner of the lake. I saw a few small pods of fish working quidkly along the top of a drop-off, and landed 2 trout from those groups.  Then the action died at that spot.  I saw some more fish further down the shoreline, so I started following where I could see fish.  I caught quite a few more fish, at least one from almost every small group that came down along the shoreline.  Dale came down and fished by me.  The action slowed.  I headed back to the corner of the pond where I had started the morning.  There were fish there...quite a few!  I was catching fish on nearly every cast for awhile, and Dale came over to see what was up.  We both caught fish here.

For the day, there were lulls in the action, but overall it was fairly steady.  I used a variety of fly patterns.  White was a very effective color this day.  I ended up catching and releasing 64 Rainbow Trout.  Some were caught by casting straight out with beadhead White Woolly Buggers.  Others were caught on Blue Thunder Streamers worked along the top of a drop-off when small groups of 3 or 4 trout would come along the bank.  And others were caught on unweighted white Woolly Buggers cast really shallow along the shoreline when small pods would come in and search for food within 4-5' of shore.  And still others were caught on a gold Springbrook Wunder microjig suspended about 10"-12"under an indicator in a small pocket of water with 2-5' depth.

This one hit an unweighted white Woolly Bugger.

This one hit a glass beadhead dubbed-body softhackle.

This one hit a Blue Thunder streamer.

Hard to see...but a number of fish had sort of rosy-pink bellies.  I assume this might be the coloration of a spawning male Rainbow Trout?...since most of the fish with such bellies were dripping milt.

This was Trout #60 of the day!

Dale G. And I fished together much of the time.  He even supplied some buffalo meat sticks to help re-energize us after noon.  They were tasty, thanks Dale!

I finally left when a very rude Dad used his 3 year old son as an excuse to cast into the small area we were fishing.  Really irked me.  Don't misunderstand, I thought it was great the guy brought his son out to try for trout.  But fishing really close to other guys and then casting the son's rod (with a huge bobber on it) over in front of those other guys into the area they had clearly been fishing for some time, and then moving himself between the son's rod and the closest guy and start casting dead-center where the established angler had been casting and catching fish.  Dale was that guy first...and he left without complaining.  So then the Dad picked up his gear and moved over by me and repeated the same situation.  Each time he would cast his son's giant bobber over in front of me, I'd turn and look right at the dad.  He wouldn't make eye contact with me at all.  But it was ridiculous and obvious what he was doing, and it was outrageously and sickeningly rude.  What a horrible example he was setting for his young son!  I just reeled in and left as well, and saw the  dad then move into my position and start casting over by the guys that had come down to fish on my other side, but were not crowding me.  Unreal.  I'm still pissed.  The Dad finally hooked a trout, and handed the rod to his son to reel in.  THAT was a good move, and I admired him for that.  But with a lake full of fish and tons of vacant shoreline to choose from, to crowd out people who are catching fish is still unacceptable.

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Unexpectedly, I found myself with some time to go fishing on Sunday, Nov. 4.  I headed back to Lake Petocka.  The sky was overcast, with occasional light drizzle.

I first fished the last spot where I had caught fish on Friday. Not much going on there.  I had only made about 10 casts when I got a phone call.  Dale G. was at the lake again, and had seen my car.  There were fish where he was, so he invited me over.  Fish indeed!  The two of us were soon catching plenty of fish.  Guys next to us bottom-fishing with bait just looked on and shook their heads.

Because of the weather, I had my hoodie hood pulled up over my cap.  After awhile, I became aware that I was being watched.  I looked to my left, and there was a guy standing about 6' away, facing me and just looking on with a scowl on his face.  "Hi," I said.  He said "I'm just going to watch you."  Weird.  "OK," said I, and turned back to the business of fishing and catching.  The guy just watched me for about 20 minutes!  At one point he asked to see what I was using.  I showed him, and went back to fishing.  He finally moved about 25' down the shoreline and fished.  Turns out he was using spinning gear.  He was casting into an obvious pod of trout, but not catching any.  Over about 1.5 hours, he did land 3 or 4.  That's him in the background of this picture (of me holding a rather fat toad of a trout!):

Dale caught plenty of Rainbows as well:

Fishing eventually slowed.  Dale had to get on home.  That guy to my left who had been watching me caught one more, and decided to leave.  His pod of trout were still there, so I moved over and caught a bunch more fish from that pod before it slowly moved beyond my casting range ( plus I was casting into the wind).  I ended up catching 78 Rainbow Trout in 4 hours!  Pretty good day!

Dale pointed out later that my total trout caught over 2 days (64+78=142) amounted to nearly 10% of the fish that had been stocked!  Actually, I need to catch just 3 more trout (since I had caught 5 on Friday, so a total of 147) to make it an official 10%.  I think I can "get'er done"...if I can find time to get back over to the lake!  :)