Ok, this is a bit embarassing for me to say, but I have never caught a trout before. I've been trying for some time now, but I could never get the job done. I think the reason is that I have been fishing the wrong waters. Well I went to a new spot the other day and there was another guy fishing there and what was in his cooler? A huge rainbow trout, 4 or 5 lbs, which is big around these parts.  So I know I'm in the right spot. Now comes the whole job of picking a lure and tactics and stuff like that. I've got one or two rods hooked up with some powerbait on a hook about 18" above a weight, so that the powerbait eggs float up a foot and a half above the floor. Does anyone else have any suggestions? I'll be fishing from a boat launch, in about 65 degree, cloudy/ rainy weather. Also, they are stocking the pond with 'bows this week and I've heard that the bass chase the rainbows over to where I'm fishing, so I figure I've got a pretty good shot. Finally, how would a fly work in this situation? I used a nymph to catch my first fish on a fly setup last weekend (2.5 inch largemouth, but still a fish), so I'll probably try that too.

If it makes you feel any better, I've only caught 3.

a black nat or a black woolly bugger works good this time of year. spoons such as little cleo's, jewels even the little dardevels work also. the colors would be ---- silver and blue, silver and orange, silver and green, copper and any of these 3 colors, pearle and blue has been working this year on the stealies here in ohio. oh ya i forgot, there's a lure called the super duper, i do pretty good on trout with that 1.

in-line spinners work good too and about any color will work, you just have to find out which one.....but any color combo from the above list works good on the spinners and beads.

HI Skewl. Just wondering what part of the country are you fishing? Besides what mr bill suggested you might also take along a couple of floating rapalas in different patterns. I am ot sure what pattern will work on your lake but I always like a rainbow pattern and gold. if the bass are nailing the planter rainbows you may even nail some nice bass. you could even try a fly and float rig with a bivisible or griffiths gnat. and also like mr bill said a black whooly bugger is always a good bet. I have never done that great with powerbait for trout but I know that it can work well with planters. a friend of mine swears by lime green with glitter.

Brian

Thanks for the tips guys. bpeterson, I'm fishing a natural pond in eastern MA. The waters gonna probably be pretty murky and high because right now its raining like all hell outside. Also, how would you guys recommend repainting and cleaning a little cleo? I found a rainbow-trout colored one lure hunting one time and I've been wanting to use it.

Posted By skewl on 01 Oct 2010 04:27 PM
Thanks for the tips guys. bpeterson, I'm fishing a natural pond in eastern MA. The waters gonna probably be pretty murky and high because right now its raining like all hell outside. Also, how would you guys recommend repainting and cleaning a little cleo? I found a rainbow-trout colored one lure hunting one time and I've been wanting to use it.

If the water is murky, than I recommend a Roostertail or some other inline spinner.

skewl, look and see if ya can find some of that color tape that ya can stick on lures. i would try prism as my 1st choice. if the back side is not all straight metal -- like silver or copper -- then i would put a strip of prism on that part too

Man, let me tell you guys, I tried absolutely everything. I had Powerbait eggs, brand new Little Cleos in Rainbow Trout color, a floating rapala, a couple other crankbaits, minnow spins, a bead-head prince nymph (that's all I had for flies because I'm just starting out fly fishing and the local fly shop was closed today), even my homemade inline spinners which work everywhere, and a big fat 0 is all I have to show for it. I saw them, too. I saw one smaller trout that must've just been stocked this week and one massive one, eye-balling it I would put it at 5+ pounds. Dragged my fly and powerbait right over its nose and pretty much just flipped me the bird. I'm going to have to get some dynamite or something, that's about all I didn't try.

By the way you might want to watch out for your hook setup. I got screwed once before for have the hook above the weight. According to the park ranger that wrote me the ticket it is illegal in new york to set your hook above your weight, the weight has to always be above the hook. Not trying to be a dick or anything but I was that you put it in your original message and thought I might let you know so that you do not have any problems later (like I ended up having). I know you see people doing it all the time but I have seen several people get screwed for it (me being one of them) and no one tells things like that even if it has happened to them before. I do not know about how they are where you live but out here they are really strict about hook setups and almost every other part of the law. Some times they will let  you go if you are fishing where you should not be (only if there are no signs anywhere). Just letting you know cause I know those park rangers love writing out tickets and they do not care who its for.

Do you mean a drop shot rig? I thought those were legal, but you are right that NY has some very stringent policies related to fishing (I was up till 3 the night before I went to Lake george for vacation reading through the fish and game regulations. What a headache!) but I didn't know that drop shot rigs were illegal. I don't think they are illegal in MA. Btw, I wasn't using a drop shot rig, but I can see how someone could read my post like that, and thank you for pointing that out. And you're right, those park rangers just love givin out those tickets.

One suggestion I have is to fish slowly, especially in murky water. On cloudy days and when the water is muddy I usually start with a bright color such as florescent orange or chartreuse. I would start with a Rooster Tail or Panther Martin in the 1/8 to 1/16 ounce size and make sure to retrieve it very slowly, just enough to keep the blade spinning. Giving the rod tip a quick jerk prior to the retrieve helps to get the blade spinning. I usually begin by covering the top few feet of water but I will cast and count down while letting the lure sink if I can't get anything on the surface until I find a depth where the fish seem to be or I can't get anything there and move to another spot. There are days when I know the fish are there but I just can't get them to hit anything and other days I can catch fish on almost every other cast so keep trying and good luck!

If ya listen to ICBob, he'll tell ya go with color combos such as orange & silver, chartreuse & silver...I didn't hear ya mention a crawler harness, or for that matter using night crawlers....Folks out my way like the Panther Martin fished slowly...Good luck!

If you're not opposed to live bait, then sometimes a meal worm or wax worm on an ultralight lindy rig and slowly dragged along the bottom will get you a trout. Depending on how deep the water is, it may be 30-50 feet on the bottom. That's my last resort style.

How hot was it the day you were fishing, skewl?  Trout don't feed real actively during hot weather.  That might be the problem.

Hey there; I have found a lure that I absolutely slay trout with.It does not matter if they are stockers or wild trout.Its called hd trout and it comes in several patterns.Their website is dynamiclures.com  good luck.

Thanks for the tips, everyone. Fisherfanatic: The air temperature that day was about 65 degrees, and the water temp about the same. I think I may have to resort to live bait on the next trip. The reason I dislike using live bait is because you gut hook more fish and I'm not used to using a circle hook, but I may have to try it. Speakin of which, has anyone tried circle hooks for trout?

Skewl, the temperature the day you went was ideal, so that probably wasn't the problem.  Gut hooking can be a problem at times, but you can prevent it 99% of the time by using polarized sunglasses and watch the fish take the bait.  You have to react immediately to make sure they don't swallow it.

Hope that little tid-bit helped!

Sometimes it's just timing. I get the majority of my trout early in the morning from first light. Come around high noon they sort of shut off. Then around evening they may start to pick up again. Sometimes they bite goes onto sunset.

I will say that sometimes some slight modification to a lure makes a world of a difference. The swivel on the front split ring of the spoon can make it wobble a little more, but the best feature of that is getting the spoon to free fall flutter. Sometimes that little flipper spoon attached to the rear splitring along with the treble hook of the spoon makes for a wonderful target for the trout to bite it. Sometimes using a smaller lure will work, at other times an even larger lure will work, I've gotten little 10 inche trout hammering 1/4 to 3/8 oz inline spinners and spoons when at times I'll never considered those larger treble hooks to be small enough for them to take. When it comes to spoons, even the thickness of the spoon can make a lot of difference. I've sometimes do better with thin spoons, sometimes better with thick spoons. It's a lot about the sink rate and how the spoon flutters. Heavier spoons will pull deeper in the water column as well.

Awesome luck! It's supposed to be about 60 or a bit higher this weekend, so I'll most likely be able to go this weekend, thanks for the temperature info, fisherfanatic. Also, Slipperybob, what would be an example of a thick spoon or a thin spoon? And good idea with the snap swivel, that makes a lot of sense, thank you.

A flutter spoon is a good example of a thin spoon. The thicker end of this spectrum would be the Eppinger (Daredevel) spoon.