Constantly striking out on trout

Hi all, this is my first post but I've been lurking for a while. Last month I heard about the neighborhood fishing program and got pretty excited about the trout stockings. Thinking back to my childhood fishing for trout in Pennsylvania streams I went out and bought an inexpensive ultra light setup, powerbait, and some light tackle. I live in Abilene and we have a pond and a lake that are within 10 minutes of my house that are stocked every two weeks and I have been lucky to get out about 10 times in the past month. I haven't caught a single fish and I'm frustrated. I grew up limiting out on rainbows, browns, and Brooks and considered myself an avid trout fisherman in my teenage years. Not only have I not caught anything, but the dozen or so other Fisherman ive talked to at the pond have also had similar experiences. I am Yet to talk to anyone in my area that has caught a rainbow this year.

I've watched the videos that some of the guys post in the other thread and I repeatedly see people posting about limiting out. While I grew up fishing streams, pond and lake fishing doesn't seem like a totally foreign concept to the point where I should be constantly getting skunked.

My current setup is a 6 foot ugly stick\shakespear combo, 6 lb line, size 10-12 hooks with some split shot about a foot up. Typical bait is corn, varied colors of power bait, and recently tried using 501 super dupers. Usually I work a slow retrieve or intermittent retrieve. One thing that is new for me that i've never really had to deal with is poor water clarity. The water in both bodies of water is like chocolate milk and makes it impossible to see anything. Any advice or words of encouragement would be appreciated, thanks!

I've noticed here in Mesquite the cormorants are eating the trout nearly as fast as they're stocked. About 30 of the birds are at city lake park getting nice bellies full of fish everyday. The fish they don't eat are too busy running for their lives to worry about the bait we're throwing in. One tiny trout was all my dad managed today and they just stocked again yesterday!

Join the skunk club. Many fishermen who consistently limit out are not catching anything. Several factors are in play. The lakes are dirty because of excessive rain. The weather is just downright strange. A big factor is the size of the trout TPWD is stocking this year. They are tiny. Six inch trout are harder to catch. Another factor is the handling the trout are reported to be getting. Before the trout were not fed for several days before the stocking. Now they are fed right up to stocking, according to some reports. As mentioned above the birds are bad this year, and since stocking numbers are at an all-time low there are few fish available to catch.

Most of the reports of limits are coming from the south Texas area, which has had some but not all of the weird weather.

As to your rig I would say you are doing everything right. Hang in there and things are bound to get better as we get into colder and dryer weather.

It should be open season on Cormorants, year round.

I limited Tuesday . Water's dark and they wouldn't touch power bait , corn , rooster tails or worms .
I used a 1" silver shad ( 2 trebles ; I think it's sold for crappie ) and they tore it up .

For real . Just had a flock fly over the house .

And :

I usually practice my flyfishing hook set on these little buggers when they are stocked in the ponds. They readily take flies and can be taken with a fly and bobber set up on a spin outfit. I can catch them most any time of day in the ponds and now am going to give my rusty skills a try in Oklahoma.

Thanks for the encouragement. I went out on Saturday before the weather got bad and there was a ridiculous amount of activity on the water. I saw rises and a few jumps for about 30 minutes straight.... Kind of shocked I couldn't get anything to bite. The weather was real warm and there were a lot of insects out, I'm wondering if I should try a fly setup in a situation like that.

The way you're fishing may have something to do with it. Move that split shot ( pea size) about 3 feet up the line, #10 hook, floating power bait.Ball of PB big enough to cover the curved portion of the hook and hide the point. Cast it out and wait. When you see the line move hit 'em! The ball of bait will float the hook up out of the weeds.
I don't think I've ever seen anyone catch a trout retrieving power bait.
Good luck!
City Lake in mesquite is one of the worst places to catch trout I have seen.

Veritas,
I feel your frustration! I grew up in PA as well and have caught hatchery and wild trout in PA, WV, MD, NC, IA and OR. Have caught them all on bait, artificials and fly fishing. I have fished a lot over the years for various species of fish (bass, trout, crappie and saltwater etc) and have caught a lot of fish.

Back to my point... I moved to TX about 4 yrs ago and was excited to learn of the trout stocking program. Over the past several years have tried many different stocked ponds/lakes in the Houston area and have rarely caught any trout. I have been fishing on days when there are over 50 people fishing and have seen very little to no fish caught. I could name the places and times but there are too many. The only place I consistently caught trout was at a place that was stocked during the week and practically nobody fished it until the weekend. I would take a day off on Friday, fish it and limited out within 1 hr both years -- unfortunately parks and wildlife no longer stocks that lake.

So I am pretty frustrated about the whole stocking thing, but go out anyway because I love to fish and my son loves to go with me. I always bring garden worms along so my son can at least catch a few panfish, while I try everything but the kitchen sink to catch trout. I have even caved in and bought some powerbait that looks like hatchery pellets - maybe that will turn my luck this year - haven't gone out yet but plan to several times.

Hope your luck improves!

Join the club. The only trout I've ever caught was in the spring while fishing for sunfish.

2-4# line, bubble float, small swivel under the float, 4-5' leader with almost any wetfly you can think of on the end. Cast out, let it set for 8-10 seconds, and slowly work it back, pausing for 5-6 seconds at a time. This is the most effective method I've found for stocker trout. Super dupers are good too.

Your line is too heavy and your setup is wrong for them as well. #12 hooks are ok. First, you need to set up like a Carolina rig...4-6lb line is all you need honestly. Make sure your leader is 3-4ft in length. You don't need anything more than 1/4oz to 3/8oz slide weight honestly. Make sure you tie directly to your hook, don't use pre-made hooks. As mentioned above, floating powerbait balled up about the size of 2 corn kernels works great. I've found over the years that the corn yellow color is the best. Sometimes mixed with the green chartruse works too. Never "set" the hook. Just lean back and reel. The trout's mouth is super soft so any hook will penetrate it's skin pretty easily.

If that doesn't work...get yourself a Black rooster tail in 1/4oz or smaller. Silver blade works best. If the water is super dirty, get the brown with gold flake rooster tail. If the trout are there and are feeding the slightest bit, you will catch them. Trout are opportunity feeders, they eat what they see in front of them or what "comes" to them. If you see them, fish from behind them and cast out in front of them. Trout have keen eyesight so if they see you, your chances go down quite a bit.

I've limited several times around the DFW area. At Bailey Lake in Burleson I couldn't get a bite on anything but a silver Super Duper. At Holland Lake in Weatherford, they went mad for chartreuse and orange mouse tails. On the super duper I did slow, steady retrieves, and the mouse tails I fished on 12s with about a foot, foot and a half leader and they usually sat about 10 minutes between bites, sometimes less.

Are you talking about Grover Nelson Small Pond over by the zoo? I went out there yesterday for an hour or so after work, not even a nibble. I've been thinking I might try my luck at some crappie in Lytle Lake

When I first started fishing for stocker rainbows, I had the most success using velveeta cheese with some garlic powder mixed together. I would get a big chunk of cheese, put it in a ziplock and pour in a good amount of the garlic powder. Then just mash it all together. Use the same size of cheese as you are using for power bait. Now, I will say the cheese doesn't stay on the hook for multiple strikes, but it will get bit. When I started fishing with some slight current, I began to use berkley trout worms. I rip a small piece, roughly an inch or less and hook it whacky style with the small hook. I would toss it in and let it float and bounce around the bottom. I have also caught fish in a pond setting using trout worms. Just a very slow retrieve, drag it in front of their face. If they are there, they will hit it.

My best luck was corn in the ziplock bag with garlic powder.
But I have had much better luck with small hooks that are about a quarter inch long.
The small ones a half inch long do not get as many hits.