Trout Fishing Tips, Tricks & Advice

Rainbow Trout Fishing Tips & Tricks

2009-04-25T01:45:00.000-07:00

Rainbow trout are very easily spooked and cunning fish, that often dwell in clear streams and rivers of Canada and North America. In order to catch rainbow trout, there are many tips and tricks of the trade that are useful to apply. I will go over what I have learned in my lessons and follies over the years following trout streams through the middle of nowhere and back in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey.

First of all, you must remember to be as quiet as possible at all times. Step very lightly, as the vibrations of your steps can be felt in nearby bodies of water unless the water is flowing vigorously. Do not speak loudly with friends, keep it down to a whisper. Try to move without any sharp or jerky movements, as this may spook the fish away.

You also should be wearing clothing that blends in well with the environment. This means that you need to wear earth tone colors, such as browns, dark greens or even darker greys are fine. A large yellow thing moving around in the woods is clearly not natural and the rainbow trout know this - so no matter how much you love your nanna's sweater, leave the ugly thing at home.
Another tip is to use the lightest tackle that you possibly can. This means at most using 6 pound test line, although I usually opt for 4 pound test you have the chance of losing some of the bigger ones. Use very small hooks, just big enough to pierce whatever bait you are using. If you are using lures, the smaller the better.

Active lures are not good. Rainbow trout will rarely bite on crankbaits. Jigs can be useful from time to time, though hard to fish with in swift moving waters. The best jigs for rainbow trout tend to be the small tube baits.

Small inline spinning lures can also catch rainbow trout, this can be an especially useful trick when the trout are being lazy and clearly aren't feeding. If you cast out and then reel the lure upstream past the trout, but a few feet away, sometimes the fish will bite out of agitation. You need to bring it far away enough so that the trout can notice it approach, but doesn't get spooked. Sometimes this will scare the rainbow trout away, so be careful.

Salmon eggs and small red worms are by far the best baits for rainbow trout. Put them on as small a hook as you possibly can, toss it upstream and let it float down with the current. The work does itself. When you see your line twitch unexpectedly, you set the hook and reel in your prize. Did I mention that rainbow trout make for really good eating? The flesh is very tender and I'm told that it could also be good for you.

The last piece of advice I have for you when rainbow trout fishing is a two parter, but a standby. Those two things that you must always keep in mind when fishing are patience and perseverance. With those two things we realize that not all days will be good fishing days, some days the trout just won't bite and will hole up in a pocket under an overhand and dangit you know that they're there you can see them! But that day just won't be a good day. For every day like that though, know that your patience will pay off, and your rainbow trout bounty will come to you soon.

How To Catch Trout

2008-08-04T09:21:00.000-07:00

If you're looking for an easy and reliable strategy guide on How To Catch Trout, then you've come to the right place!

Trout are one of the most fun freshwater fish to catch. Fishing for them often involves fishing in serene locations with clear, cool water as trout don't tend to do so well in polluted rivers near cities. Many people go fly fishing for trout in rivers or streams. However there are many different methods for how to catch trout.

Live bait, along with a standard spinning reel and rod will do well for most smaller sized trout in rivers and streams, such as brook trout, brown trout and rainbow trout up to about 20 inches or so. Most will use either 4 or 6 pound test line here, as well as very small hooks. Your live bait of choice is just fine, however be careful to wash your hands carefully before you go fishing with a scent free soap. Handling bait with your bare hands can contaminate the scent, so often times I find it is useful to get my hands a bit dirty before handling live bait (with some dirt or the muck at the bottom of the creek).

When live bait fishing for trout, the solution is simple if you run out of bait, as you can often find more bait beneath mid to large size rocks along the creek or riverbed. You will find hellgramites, which are the larva of a fly and resemble caterpillars with pincers. They make excellent bait. More commonly you will find crayfish, which trout will eat, especially when they're small. Hellgramites should be hooked once through the midsection, and crayfish once through the tail.

Generally when fishing with live bait, the easiest method is to toss the bait upstream from where you are standing and then let it drift downstream. Bites are detected by keeping an eye by the portion of line floating on the surface. When it "jumps," set the hook.

Other than that some fish for trout using lures. Lures are much better to use when you are not intending to keep the fish for eating, as lures hook in the fishes lip, whereas baits may be swallowed with the hook and damage the insides of a released fish.

The best lures for trout fishing are spinning lures, flies and small jigs. Some have used small crankbaits successfully, but these are better for large trout like lake trout. Even then, jigs or spinning lures are usually better.

To use a spinning lure to catch trout, just cast it out and reel it in. It is helpful to use a slightly irregular start-stop routine. Make sure that when you are reeling it in though, that you are doing so fast enough to make the blade spin.

For jigs, you can cast them out and then just let them sink to the bottom. Then you slowly reel and tug the rod, again in a start-stop motion. Jigs are also very good for ice fishing for trout.

Finally there is fly fishing. Fly fishing is one of the most popular methods for catching trout. However in order to fly fish you need special equipment. You need a fly fishing rod as well as a fly fishing reel. In addition, you need colored and weighted line, with a leader on the end of it. Finally, you need the lures that you tie on the end of it.

The lures are called flies, and they are made up mostly of feathers, threads and other similar objects, tied around a tiny hook. They are cast out, with the line giving the weight, where most flies float on the surface. Then, a hungry trout will come up to the surface and attack the fly, hoping for a meal but instead becoming yours.

Once you get a trout hooked, they are quite fun to reel in and put up quite a fight. They jump and splash quite a bit, and it is important to give them a little bit of slack line when they jump, or you risk dislodging the hook. Often times a steady reeling pressure is good enough to bring the trout up to shore, where you can release them or store them away for a meal as you wish.

That's all for now, check back soon for even more information on Trout Fishing and How to Catch Trout.

Trout Fishing in Pennsylvania - Cool Streams, Beautiful Breeze

2008-07-10T16:34:00.001-07:00

When I was a child, my first trout fishing adventures were in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The streams there are cool, relatively small, and the fish are stocked each year, though that doesn't mean there isn't a native wild population (there is).

I used to go out into the woods early in the morning as a relatively small child, along with a small rod, reel, and a massive scientific array of lures and baits stuffed in my pockets. The rod and reel that I used are very similar to the set shown at the Amazon link to the right. I would try just about anything to catch those fish. Trout do make great meals, and I may even include a few of grandma's old recipes on here eventually.

Most of my trout fishing back then was done on a small creek. The first thing to know about trout fishing is that it is vital to be very quiet. You will often times be fishing on very small, clear bodies of water, and any loud noises (or even sudden movements!) could easily scare the fish away. It really is an amazing experience fishing for trout when you can see them sitting on the bottom of a creek a few feet away from you.

The other thing to know about trout is that they can be very finicky. Some days, it can be nearly impossible to catch them on anything but live bait. Some days, you may be out of luck with nightcrawlers, especially if a lot of people in the area have been fishing with worms recently. The best advice that I can give as far as that goes is to do what I did - carry an arsenal.

Although I used to only carry one rod back then, I carried a massive array of fishing lures and baits held in tiny tackle boxes that would fit in my pockets. Let me go over a few of them.

Nightcrawlers/Red Worms
These guys work pretty well, the only problem is keeping them alive and in good condition. Many people don't understand this initially, as their early experience of fishing is sitting around a lake fishing off a dock or something similar. However worms don't tend to keep very well in a pocket or backpack when you're hiking around the woods, following a stream a few miles up or downstream to try and find where the fish are at today. That being said, they are steadfast, reliable and will catch fish year round, everywhere in the country. Generally when I used them I'd dig them up from the ground in areas near the creek.

Salmon Eggs
Salmon eggs can be great. You need to use a very small hook, and they are generally best when you are in a situation where you can see the fish. That way you can simply cast the eggs upstream, drift them down past the trout, then reel it in and do the same thing again. They are also easier to carry as they come in baby food sized jars.

Powerbait & Similar
These are sometimes oddly colored, strange smelling globs, chunks, or pastes that come in jars or pouches. They are meant to be globbed onto a hook and cast out. I have found that these can sometimes work well, however they are at their best when you allow a line to drift downstream, and then simply leave the bait in the water for an extended amount of time. The scent will carry downstream and then attract fish. This is how I have caught some of my biggest trout.

Small In-Line Spinning Lures
These lures are very simple to use, you just cast them downstream, then slowly reel them in against the current. It can be difficult to use these in areas with a lot of tree debris or brush on the bottom, but it can be manageable. These lures work best when the trout are not hungry, to get the trout to strike out of aggression, territoriality or sheer curiosity.

Small Jigs
To be honest, I always carried a small selection of these, but never had much luck catching trout while creek fishing for them. I'd catch perhaps a fish here or there. I imagine these are most viable in the cooler months, when a slow presentation is best, but if you're simply looking to catch fish, live baits or salmon eggs tend to work best.

Live Minnows
These work to catch the larger trout. I used to tie these on at a regular basis whenever I would go fish on a spot on the stream where it would widen out, and deepen to around eight feet. The water murked there as it approached the Susquehanna River, so I couldn't see the fish. I'd put minnows on, and catch some truly lunker trout out of that pool. I also caught smallmouth bass, carp, pickerel and other general oddities out of that pool. In summary, minnows are good for trout fishing, but only if you're fishing in an area you know to have trout big enough to eat them!

Flies & Fly Fishing
Eventually on my journey through trout fishing, I got my first fly fishing rod. You can find a few great fly fishing rods in the links to the right of the page. Fly fishing changes trout fishing fundamentally, as it is another great tool in your arsenal. I learned how to tie flies, and that made the experience all the better. It is somehow primitively satisfying to create your own lures, catch fish on them, then feed to sustain yourself. Or at least have a nice weekend meal.

Fly fishing involves using a thick line with a leader, then tie a small fly on the end. Not a live fly, a hook with feathers and stuff tied to it. =) The line gives you the weight to cast. You have gently 'whip' the line back, and then forward to land the fly on the water. You generally toss the fly out there and let it drift downstream, over the heads of hungry trout hopefully. For more fly fishing strategy you can check out the book I have listed to the right.

That's all for today, check back again soon for more Trout Fishing Strategy, Tips, Tricks and Advice right here!