I went out to go for some trout this morning around 9 in the morning at South Lakes Park, Denton TX. They stocked this pond yesterday, so I was expecting to get some high activity today. Well, I was dumb-founded. I used lures and power bait to no success, using tips and tricks from the experienced and various other sources. To my surprise, I wasn't the only one with this problem at the pond. Everyone else there didn't catch a single thing... Anyone know why? Bad weather was on it's way, but I assumed it wouldn't affect a pond that much.

I really don't know why the stocked fish so often have lock jaw. I would think there has to be a certain level of short term shock due to the entire collection, transport, and delivery into water of a different temperature and quality. Just using an easy analogy, tropical fish purchased at the fish store and transported home can suffer enough shock to die or certainly not eat until they acclimate to their new environment.

Most of my local trout fishing has been focused where they are stocked closest to my home in the Trinity River at both Trinity Park and River Park. We have two agencies the TPWD and the TRWD that stock trout at these two locations. When time and schedule allow, I fish the TRWD stockings of the larger trout.

And what I have found over the years is the larger trout stocked by the TRWD often, not always but often can be caught soon after being stocked. I have fished the stocking dates when we had blue skies and t shirt temps, and I have been there with a cold almost sleet like mist was falling and in either of those two weather extremes I have caught my limits in a relatively short period of time on the date and time they were stocked.

On the other hand, I have read the reports and spoken to fisherman that have fished the stockings of TPWD trout at the community stocking sites like Chisholm Park, Greenbrier, etc and have not had a lot of success on the day of stocking.

Why? If only the fish could talk.

Both have experienced the same shock to their norm, maybe the larger trout are more capable of managing those stocking stressors. Perhaps their last feeding is a factor, I just know the TRWD trout are usually more cooperative that first day including during those first hours.

One thing I have noticed is the experience of one group of fisherman and those of another can be vastly different from each other, at the Trinity River this can mean location of where you are fishing. They stock the trout in the river and that river is largely void of structure but slight variations in water depth and current flow can congregate trout in a sweet spot.

This was particularly true one year when I was at River Park for the TRWD stocking at the time they were stocked and I and many others were not having much luck. One fisherman was slaying them right before our eyes. The difference in his favor was he was using a heavy spoon and casting to hole he knew to be there. Now under normal circumstances, long cast have not been necessary for me to have success. But on this stocking, the trout had congregated in this hole and he was the only one with a fishing set up that could reach them.

After watching him hook and catch numerous trout throwing all of them back I asked him what he was using, he showed it to me. It was called a Z Ray and it was in a Rainbow Trout pattern. It was much heavier than the Super Dupers most of the fisherman where using and the weight of it allowed him to cast most of the distance from one shore of the river to the opposite shore and fall into that hole. He told me he lived close by and walked the Trinity Trails for exercise. When the water was real low in the summer, he noticed that hole and prepared himself to be able to fish it with the next winter trout stocking.
So, most of us were S.O.L. and if you asked 90 or higher percent of the fisherman that day how the trout were biting we would have honestly stated not at all, if you asked that one fisherman how the trout were biting on the same day and time and fishing in the same section of the river, he could have honestly stated "outstanding, and we all would be accurate in our answers.


So, I guess it is best to go with hope of catching a fish that is not native to our waters and the realization like any other fishing no matter how much knowledge or how much one prepares, you can and will be humbled at any given time you go fishing.

That's a good explanation and story. Thank you for the information!

Trout stocked by TRWD are driven from Crystal Lake hatchery in Missouri on the day of the stocking. They are not fed for about a week prior to stocking.

Trout stocked by TPWD are bought from Crystal Lake in large batches, held in TPWD tanks, then distributed. There was a rumor that TPWD executives mandated that starting 2 years ago trout be fed the day before the stocking to make them harder to catch and therefore last longer. I did not verify if that were true.

Trout stocked by the two agencies experience entirely different handling, which may explain why Crystal Lake stockings generally bite on the day of the stocking but TPWD trout do not.

Interesting concepts. Let's hope they can survive with this mixed weather we're having.

I know the first sentence is true, sometimes I've "piggybacked" trout on the same truck as the TPWD fish. Long ago, I even met the Crystal Lake truck on the road when it broke down in East Texas, and helped finish the delivery to the Houston Astro Arena.

Now, I suspect as much as half the second sentence may be true, the part about TPWD holding trout in a central spot for distribution by smaller trucks to different locations. However, I am sure that the fish are not being fed while held, if done so for only a short time, and are "swum out" (held from feed and allowed to expel digestive tract contents) if they did get fed, before being loaded and shipped. Otherwise they will pollute the hauling tank with a combination of partially digested vomit and fully digested excreta and all die before arriving where they are to be stocked. Nobody hauls fish that have not been swum out very far. Well... more than once.

I do have a theory. Every location these fish are stocked is different, some are very different from others. Some may have a very strong natural food web in place and the stocked trout find an abundance of foodstuffs and stay full for awhile. At the densities stocked, they'll soon deplete any favorite food source and become more vulnerable to treats proffered up by anglers. Especially the savvy fishermen that figures out what they been feasting on...

Others stocked spots may be all but void of natural foods and the hungry trout will bite anything that comes along no matter how presented.

I've done many trout stockings over 35 years and seen both scenarios play out, among other crazy stuff. One place, we fed three truckloads of the one third pond stockers to a 100 acre bass pond every winter. Nothing beats trout as bass food.

And that could be another plausible theory. They will tend to bite less if too warm, or even if too cold. Ever wonder why they bite better at the end of, rather than the beginning of, the Boat Show??? Nothing to do with food, they don't get fed, everything to do with water temp. They keep 'em iced down good and let 'em warm up as the show goes along.

Generally speaking they can take up to around 75 (F) as an upper limit for a little while, but less than 65 is a lot better for them. In one old quarry lake I have had trout caught as late as June 9 into the spring.

I fished for stocked trout and was told that they were fed twice a day before stocking. They were biting from 9:00 to 9:30 and 3:00 to 3:30 which was their feeding times at the hatchery. They turned on and turned off to the clock.

We have a local lake stocked with trout. Some are catchable some are to feed the bass. I was there when they were releasing them , I wanted to see the big bass smash them like I had heard stories about. Well it didn't happen wind was like 25mph that day. 5 guys there all trying to catch trout not one made a book set. After a hour they all left. Kept throwing my slammer hoping to catch one of the big feeding bass. After about 4 hours I was loading up boat and there was a guy catching every cast. Just took them a few hours to but I guess. I never did catch a big bass. I don't think they got in a feeding frenzy cause they were all big catchable trout

trout don't like muddy water. My guess is something shiny might work better. With this weather, it is probably like fishing in a mudhole.

All are interesting concepts and explanation. Great read here.