I know its early, but I wanted to get my trout hooks ordered this year early, because once stocking begins, there's not a hook to be found.

I always get the hook size number mixed up when ordering online - I can't just look at it and say "Self, this looks like the size you're looking for." So, any specific recommendations? A link or two would be awesome.

First let me tell you I have a discussion on catching stocked trout at this URL. I recommend the #20 Mustad gold treble hook. They are a bit hard to find but they are the best choice. Amazon has them at this URL

If you want a single hook a #12 gold Aberdeen is your best bet. Order them here.

Kind of off topic but in regards to trout, are there any areas that still stock the ponds or rivers with the bigger rainbows and brown trout? My dad and I fished the trinity and the rangers ball park in the early to mid 90s for the trout but it seemed as they expanded the areas that would be stocked the trout size were cut in half (and in some cases 1/4 compared to the bigger browns)

Where are you?

it depends on your bait I grew up in on a lake in Washington State trout fishing is huge there. Till i joined the army at is all i really fished for besides salmon and steal head. if you are using power bait i would say a number 6 or 8 egg hook if using warms then #8 bait hold hooks. here in Texas on the farm raised fish i just use orang power bait. 16in leader and #6 egg hook 1/4 slip sinker

Oh sorry I forget this is a tx forum and not dfw and the trinity is all over tx. I'm in Arlington and I was talking about the trinity in ft worth off university and the rangers ballpark in Arlington

Most stocked trout in Texas come from Crystal Lake Hatchery. They sell them by the pound. TPWD buys bulk lots of trout from Crystal Lake and parcels them out to participating cities. TPWD manages the lake at the ballpark. They buy only small fish so as to get larger numbers.

The big trout were procured directly from Crystal Lake hatchery and not through TPWD. Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD) manages Trinity Park and River Park and as you say they made the decision to buy more but smaller fish. Their fish are still larger than TPWD but sometimes not by much.

There are a few cities that still buy directly from Crystal Lake and stock the large fish but the information is closely held to prevent D/FW people from swamping their small ponds.

The hook sizes recommended by Chemdawg are too large for the small TPWD stockers.

oh cool thanks for the info. As a kid one of my theories was that we used up all the big ones they had and there was no more. So its good to know that it was more like they could pick their different sizes like picking what size minnows you want from the bait shop. haha also that's a good idea that the cities that buy the big ones keep it kind of secret. I'm sure my dad and I would drive pretty far to catch the trout like we used to back then. Also another question if anyone knows, I heard that below the damn of Possum Kingdom the waters cool enough year round for the trout to live if so do they get any bigger? I heard that trout can grow pretty big if their environment supported them.

#6 or #8 Egg Hook with power bait is not to lager 90% of the time thy swallow it. I catch them out of the park here all the time up till last year when i decied it wasn't worth it. The fish are just to small to mess with. Trout is all I really fished growing up on a lake in Washington and New York if you want to use a worm then #8 bait holder hook is about perfect

Thanks for all the recommendations!

You do not need bait to catch the TPWD stocked trout. Fish a silver 502 super duper extremely slow and keep your rod tip up as high as you need to keep the lure off the bottom. If the water is murky cast a size 2 or 4 blk/gld panther martin spinner. Crush the barbs on the treble hooks. As long as you keep pressure on the fish when stuck, you'll land most of them. The hooks are easier to remove and if you plan on releasing the fish the barbless hooks do less damage. The key to the super duper is s..........l.........o........w. use 4 lb line and an ultra light rod.

Easy.Pretend they are bluegill,bream.Smallest you can find.

I don't much care for soaking bait so I like Kastmasters, small in-line spinners, etc.

Smallest ones you can find on an ulta lite spinning set up with 4-6lb line.

I caught my limit last year on a $14 rod reel combo and the smallest hooks i could find at walmart.
I used some kind of small tub of pink bait to catch them, cant remember the brand.
Funny enough, that cheapo rod/reel has been a lot of fun for me.

I'm making dough this year for sure. Asian guys limiting out and poaching every day were all using dough... no amount of super dupers, spoons or spinners or powerbait could save me from skunking last year. This year will not be a repeat, I will taste the rainbow!