1. Know Where to Look
Knowing where to find trout is the first and more important of these trout fishing tips. You could follow all the other tips perfectly, but if you don’t know where to start, you’ll never catch anything.
Trout tend to live in cold, moving water. Many trout run up streams and rivers, but there is also another species that lives in lakes.
Trout are often stocked in ponds and lakes for fishing purposes, too.
These fish aren’t just an important food source for humans – they’re also popular with other animals. In areas where fish predators live, like bobcats and bears, you’ll often find trout.
Remote locations tend to have more trout since there aren’t as many people fishing there. If you really want to make a memorable fishing experience, you can turn it into a hiking adventure to find the best trout location.
They can also live very deep in some of the biggest lakes, where they grow to shocking sizes.
However, you don’t need to go on a mission to wrangle the biggest fish to have a great time trout fishing. Just check out local fish stocking information and plan to go about a week or so after the last stock for your best chance at a catch.
2. Use the Right Equipment
Next, you’ll want to be sure you show up prepared.
Unless you’re seeking out really big fish, you can go with a light tackle. The popular rainbow trout, for example, only grows to be about a foot long.
Most trout fishing poles include a light or ultralight rod, line tested to 4-8 pounds, and a spinning reel. Innovative new reels like this fishing yoyo can make fishing even easier and more fun.
The way you bait the fish is important. Powerbait, a floating synthetic bait, typically doesn’t work on wild trout but can be great for stocked trout that were raised on similar food. This kind of bait looks like the pellets used to feed farmed fish, so fish that were raised for stocking purposes love it. However, wild fish won’t even recognize the pellets as food.
Also, if you’re fishing for larger trout, bait that mimics insects and flies probably won’t work because their diet is focused on more substantial fare.
For the bigger trout, you need lures that mimic their actual diet. Try large bug imitators, tubes (which mimic the zooplankton that almost all fish eat), or worm imitators. You’ll catch different trout depending on what kind of bait you use.
Don’t forget to make the lure twitch and move so it looks like live prey to catch the attention of the fish.
3. Try Natural Bait
Instead of using a lure, you can also try natural bait, which fish always love.
Natural bait was used for centuries before the artificial lure was invented, and there’s no better way to catch trout than by using what they eat naturally.
You’ll have your best luck if you can find out what the fish in that area specifically eat, and choose your bait accordingly. One of the best trout fishing tips is to specify your approach to the location and kind of trout.
Good live bait can include mayflies, minnows, nightcrawlers, and crickets.
If you’re not sure what to use, bring a few different kinds of bait. For example, you could bring both Powerbait and real worms, and see which one is more popular among the fish in that area.