Which bait is best for trout?

[Ploe]

I caught my first fish today, yet my dad caught nothing. He was using lures and i was using salmon eggs. I caught a rainbow trout 14" long and we released it. Everyone we see uses worms and if we ask them they use worms and there are empty buckets of worms all over the place. Are worms really that efficient? Please post what you use for freshwater fishing.
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[Ploe]

I forgot to mention that i caught a Rainbow Trout at Fish Lake that weighed 4 pounds.
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[Flycasting]

Yes, nightcrawlers are a very efficient bait for just about every species.

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[Ploe]

What length is the best? The salmon egg was about 2 cm long, cuz my dad thought everything else was too big LOL.
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[Flycasting]

I guess it just depends on the situation. If you are fishing for planter rainbows, then I would use a half nightcrawler with a marshmallow. If you are fishing a stream, I like using a whole nightcrawler with little to no weight.
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[Ploe]

well I... umm... hmm...

isn't a planter a fish that was preset there?
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[lskiles]

Hey Ploe,

What he means, I am sure, is that they plant fish in certain lakes and streams because they can not produce enough fish to sustain a decent fishery. The planters are normally what the call "put and take" fish. The Fish and Game plants them just to give people an opportunity to catch a fish or two. They are not really big usually, but it gives pretty much everyone a fish to take home.

When I use a crawler I will normally use just half of it at a time and as was mentioned I will most times use a marshmallow or a small gob of Powerbait to help to float the worm a little bit off the bottom. It also adds scent and flavor.

Do not worry too much about using too big of a bait. I have seen fish hit a bait near as big as they are and the old saying has some truth to it, "Big bait, big fish."

The important thing is to experiment, watch other fishermen and copy the successful ones. There is a wealth of information on the net to help you. Go through some of the old threads on this forum and see what you can glean from it. I know I have learned a lot about fishing since I have been reading here. Mostly little things about tying knots or rigging bait, but that is what fishing is about, a whole lot of little things that make or break the day.

The more you know about your prey the more successful you will be in subduing it.
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[Ploe]

well then, no i dont fish for planters and i will be sure to tell my dad that the size doesnt matter. ty 4 da info and if possible Iskiles could you send me any links that you found helpful?
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[lskiles]

I have to be careful to add links to messages because I do not want to violate the rules of this forum. There is a product called Trout Magnet I have used for two seasons now and it is killer on pan fish in lakes/ponds I have seen video of it being used in rivers for trout very effectively. What it consists of is a one-sixty-fourth ounce jig shaped like a shad dart with a split-tail grub suspended under a float. You have to twitch it and keep it moving all the time because the bite is always on the fall and because of the shape it falls more naturaly. I have noticed them for sale at Wal-Mart, but I buy them on-line.

You need to roam around this site...some of the old posts and some of the stickies. You can get some real good links and info on knot tying, which is a VERY important aspect of fishing that is sometimes ignored. There is a great thread on filleting fish. If you dig deep enough you can find info on different rigs and such. There is more information than you could absorb in one sitting thats for sure!
If you ever have any specific questions about some rig you heard about or a bait or lure you want to know more about, just throw it up here on the board and there is bound to be somebody with the knowledge to help you better understand it.
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[lunkerhunter2]

Have you tried spinners? Smaller trout will usually take a spinner or even a night crawler under a bobber maybe with a salmon egg on the tip. A bubble/fly can also be deadly.[]
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[Martini78]

In my area, most of the trout you'll catch are fish that were stocked into the body of water by the fish commission. You can catch 11", 12", 13" fish all season long, but finding a big one is tough.

With that said, small stuff works the best. I haven't had any luck with red worms or wax worms, but they might work depending on the location. Some guys use Berkley Power Bait nuggets. Personally, I've had no luck with it.

For me and the trout fishing I have done, fathead minnows (approx 2") and small hooks (#10 or even #12) seem to be at least decent all the time. I've also had decent results with salmon eggs in quicker water where they kind of drag the bottom with the current.

Also, as lunkerhunter suggested, try some spinners. I use Blue Fox spinners for lots of different applications, but for trout I've had the most hits on 1/16th oz Panther Martins. I wouldn't go heavier than 1/8 oz if the fish are on the small side. The 1/8th oz will reach a little deeper and the 1/16 oz will be more apt to stay near the top of the water. Just make sure you're gear is light enough to throw 1/16 oz or you might run into some headaches.
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[Martini78]

Three of us went trout fishing today in a few spots along a nice creek and a smaller river (about the same width as the creek in the spots we fished). We all had very good luck with mealy worms and salmon eggs, drifting on the bottom. I used #8 hooks.

We caught 5 or 6 fish apiece, all brook trout, and none over 15".
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[The_Angler]

I am very new to fishing(and this forum) and I have heard that Power Bait is wonderful for trout bait. Is it good and should I use it? I usually just go mainly with nightcrawlers and Power Bait but I have been fishing about 10 times and haven't gotten a bite, although this is probably because I am new and I am doing something wrong(although I did get a few books since the last time i fished). Also, I would appreciate some ideas for other good bait or lures.
Thanks []
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[Martini78]

I never caught a fish with Power Bait trout nuggets either. I've used Power Bait 4" and 5" worms for bass and have had no luck with them either.
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[fretfishman]

nightcrawlers will work for eager and dumb trout (new stockers, for example), in my experience, but if you want to use live worms then earthworms (a lot smaller and more lively in the water) or wax worms (much smaller) work better.

salmon eggs work very well most of the time if you rig them right. I see a lot of guys using huge hooks and stuffing 4-5 salmon eggs on them...LOL. if you want to catch trout (and I'm even talking quality 20+ inchers) a small gamakatsu single egg hook (or similar) works best. if you feel the need for more bait on your line it's better to tandem rig 2 of these hooks with one egg each than it is using the huge hook/5 egg method. oh, and corn is banned here in colorado for good reason - they pound it. however, there are corn flavored/colored eggs on the market that work very well for heavily pressured trout waters. from a distance they have a sweet, almost bubble gum smell to them - yet up close they smell like a salmon egg. when I stroll up to a lake for some shore bait fishing and ask how guys are doing and they show me a regular salmon egg and report no fish or even bites - I throw on these corn eggs and they'll generally produce fish.

another easy and extremely effective trout method - Berkley Gulp brown artificial earthworms rigged on either a tandem hook rig or stinger hook works very well. leave slight slack between the 2 hooks and leave about 1/4 inch off the front hook for the head and about an inch off the back for the tail. this allows the worm to swim very well when straight retrieved or jerked back. the best method I've used for it is a couple of quick and small snaps - pause - repeat. it makes it swim much like a snake yet the movement is minimal so it looks realistic and enticing to the fish. I've actually caught everything from bluegill, crappie, trout and bass on this presentation. it just looks like an easy and lively meal.

some guy from Berkley made a youtube video of a caterpillar and mouse presentation made of both powerbait and the worm I mentioned and I tried it last week when I felt like kicking back and doing some bait fishing - it produces some vicious strikes, especially the "mouse" one. basically, you cut off about an inch of the worm and thread it onto a couple of the hook points on your treble. then you put on your powerbait and shape it around the "tail" (worm) to make a body. it's just another way of "thinking outside the box" and it produces fish well. as many trout that see powerbait every day in a conventional manner - it makes sense...they get the scent of the gulp worm and powerbait and then see this little creature and just go nuts.

anyway, sorry for the long-winded response, but hope some of it's useful.
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[linejudge]

First, I will add the caveat that some baits work better than others depending on where and when. I like to have baits and lures that do not die in my tackle bag so I always carry about a dozen of my favorite trout spinners and spoons. Next, I always have power bait paste that I use with an eagle claw size 12 pre-tied hook and a piece of split shot. I use enough paste to cover the hook or about the same size of a piece of corn or the size of a salmon egg. I have caught hundreds of trout and steelhead with power bait and lures.
But..... my "go to" bait is plain old garden worms. I just turn over some leaves somewhere on my property and find plenty. They are cheap ( I just spend about a half hour looking) and they work. I use the same #12 eagle claw hook w/ a piece of split shot. Sometimes I don't use the split shot! They really are that efficient depending on the circumstances and about all species of fish like worms.
So, when I trout fish I always take:
1) lures
2) power bait
3) worms
sometimes I take
1) corn
2) wax worms
3) meal worms

KISS
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