The wife and I booked a cabin on the Red River for the weekend of our 10th anniversary, Sept 30 - Oct 2. We weren't really looking to make it a fishing trip we were just looking for some place pretty and quiet to get away from the kids and work for a weekend, the wife doesn't like long car rides and Heber Springs is only about a 2.5 hour drive from where we live and seemed to be the best fit for what we were looking for within a reasonable drive.

That being said, since we did book a cabin at a trout fishing resort I will probably try to sneak a rod into the truck before we leave and see if I can do a little fishing while we are there.

I have never fished for trout and never tried to fly fish and don't want to spend the money to get outfitted with a flyrod and waders and all that. I have a really nice St Croix ultra-light panfish rod, would that be suitable for trout fishing? I also have some tiny jigs I bought for crappie fishing a while back but they are called trout traps so I assume they were meant for trout fishing, anybody know how well they work for trout? Would I fish them under a bobber if fishing with ultra-light spinning tackle?

There is a "fishing dock" where we will be staying, can you catch trout from a dock or do you have to wade? There is supposed to be a big shoal right out from our cabin that people wade out to and fish from but like I said, I'm not interested in going out and spending a ton of money on waders and what not.

From what I have seen of people who trout fish, they seem to be real big on catch and release and conservation, do I need to be using circle hooks to stay pc with the trout fishing crowd? If I keep one or two, what is the best way to cook them? Would I fillet them like I would a crappie?