Lake Trout Fishing 101

It is now November and one of the alternatives to bass fishing that is about to be available to us out here in So-Cal and across this country is to fish for Rainbow trout. There are a number of lakes that are about to be stocked with trout that are managed by either the county or state or cities on top of several in this area that are privately owned and operated.

All of them will begin stocking “bow’s” about the same time, usually around mid-November depending on the water temperature of the lakes.

Out  here they typically wait until day time water temps drop to or below 60 degrees. While this is not my favorite kind of fishing, I have enjoyed a whole lot of trips targeting these cold water critters with my sons as well as teaching both my young daughters how to fish beginning with trout. The reason for using stocked trout to teach the youngin’s how to fish is simple.

The equipment required is easier to use than bass fishing gear, the lures are smaller and much less numerous and don’t require the same level of knowledge to be effective as bass lures and because trout are only available for a short period of time while the water is cold and they are not a wild species, they tend to be less wary and fairly easy to catch.

With all this being said, here is trout fishing 101 for anyone who might be thinking about trying trout fishing for the first time. To begin with you’ll need a rod and reel that are suited to light weight line and lures. My personal choice for reels at the moment is the Pflueger President. I have three of them in the 6720 size which weighs in at 6.4 ounces and has a line capacity of 105 yards of 4 pound test.

This reel sports 8 bearings, a wooden crank handle, spare spool, front drag adjustment and is very smooth and well balanced. I have had these reels for at least 6 years and have not had to replace them or had any of them fail. At only $49.99 retail, these reels are a great value.  Of course as with all my reels, I do take the time to regularly clean and lubricate them.

Rods

Next on the list is a rod that will allow you to cast these small lures a good distance. Here again there are several good choices but for me the one that stands out is the Berkley Tactix in the light action. You have to be careful here because there are two versions of the light action, one is rated for 1 – 6 pound line, the other and my choice is rated for 2 – 8 pound line.

I prefer the latter probably because I spend most of my time fishing with bass gear which uses considerably stiffer rods and the slightly stiffer Tactix just feels better to me. I do not use rods that are rated as ultra-light as I just can’t seem to get used to the extreme flex in this rating class when casting.

The other thing I like about the Berkley Tactix is the fact that there are a number of different lengths available that will serve anglers of all sizes from my three foot tall daughters to my six foot five inch sons. As far as length, my choice is a 6-1/2 inch light. These rods are crafted of IM7 graphite and to me offer both the flexibility and the backbone needed to catch the trout that we get that can reach weights of over 10 pounds. This rod series retails for about fifty dollars and complements the Pflueger President very well.

I spool all my trout reels with 4 pound test P-Line CXX in Moss Green. I have tried other lines but in my opinion, this line is the strongest and most reliable line I have used for trout fishing. Here is a little hint if you’re looking to spool your own reels which I prefer to do. All spinning reels pick up line counter-clockwise. When you are spooling them without a spooling station, make sure that you rotate the filler spool so that as the line comes off, it comes off in the opposite direction, or clockwise.

This will help to lay the line on the reels spool without much line twist. Using the P-Line you will not have to stretch the line prior to fishing and if you spool your line correctly, you will find that even using the small, twisting type lures required for trout fishing, you won’t have near as much line twist through the season. I find that by following these steps, I only need to spool my reels once for the entire season.

Trout Lures

Now we move onto lures. For trout the selection, as well as necessary colors are much easier than for bass fishing. I always start every fishing trip by using a lure that runs faster and if that is not working, go to slower moving lures. My first choice for trout is always spoons. While there may be a lot of these to choose from my favorite is the Lip-Ripper spoon. It weighs in a hefty 1/5 of an ounce and can be cast a country mile using the gear described above. I prefer this spoon because of its relatively heavy weight and its design.

The spoon is drilled and can be burned, jigged or slow rolled. The patterns available are limited and I have caught fish with all of them. I catch more with the patterns that use a gold blade but keep the silver blade patterns as a back- up. I do make a couple of modifications to these lures prior to using them. The first is to remove both the front split ring and the stock hook. Since I tie on a number one snap to all my trout rigs, I don’t need the front split ring.

I don’t care for the stock hook and always replace it with a number 8 Owner Stinger treble hook. I think they are sharper and rarely do I have a fish get off of them. The last mod that I make is to coat the taped side of the spoon with clear nail polish. The pattern on the Lip-Ripper is an adhesive tape. They have wonderful colors but I have had that tape ripped off by the first fish that hit the lure. Two quick coats of clear keeps the tape in place for a long time.

Another spoon that I always have tied on is the Thomas Buoyant Cyclops. This little spoon weighs 1/6 of an ounce and has some time tested patterns that have consistently produced for me. The only change I make to this lure is again replacing the stock hook with a #8 Owner Stinger.

Another lure that I always have with me is a Warden’s Rooster tail. The venerable old in-line spinner has been around a long time and has caught a great deal of fish. I keep the color choices simple, fire-tiger, neon green and some orange all with gold blades. I also like the sonic Rooster Tails. Color choices here are the same or similar and I get the 1/8 ounce size.

For my slow moving lures I like two techniques in particular. One is drop-shotting.  A simple technique that involves putting a weight below the hook that is tied onto the main line. I use small soft plastics nose hooked on a #6 Owner mosquito hook tied about 24 inches up the main line. All you do is cast it out, let it sink, and begin a slow yo-yo, jigging type retrieve back to shore.

Next is split-shotting a soft plastic like a Berkley trout worm or mini-critter. Here all you do is  attach a split shot up the main line about 24 inches above the hook. Cast it out, let it sink and again begin a slow yo-yo type retrieve back to shore.

Finally, I always carry a decent selection of crappie tubes with jig heads that range in weight from 1/32 to 1/8. There are a number of ways to rig and fish these little tubes but the simplest is just to cast it out and use a slow, small, steady bouncing type retrieve back to shore.

With all of these lures, the main thing is finding where in the water column the fish are hanging out and getting your lure in front of their face. The simplest way to do this is just count the lure down a few seconds. Most of these lures have a sink rate of about 1 foot per second. So if you don’t get hit by counting down 2 seconds, on the next cast count down 3 and then 4 and so on until you find the fish.

It Might Be Cold, But Get Out There Anyway

Now I know the first time I tried this kind of fishing, it took some getting used to after having fished for nothing but bass. However, the learning curve for trout fishing was a great deal shorter than that for bass. Fishing for these stocked trout can be a blast and a great way to introduce young children to fishing and enjoy harvesting some of what you catch. You can probably find a few lakes in your area that are going to begin planting these fish in the next month or so which gives everyone plenty of time to find the lakes, get the equipment and plan some outings with family and friends.

My opinion is why not take advantage of this resource and introduce some folks to fishing. I know that my daughters brownie troop has  already asked me to lead a trip to go fishing for trout this winter and of course I will be right there with her as she shows some of her little friends how it’s done.