It took me a lot of years to get into trout fishing. I spent most of my childhood fishing for anything that would eat a worm. I spent my teenage years and early twenties chasing largemouth bass. Then from age 25 onward I have been addicted to surf fishing for stripers, blues, and albies.
Somewhere around eight years ago, I decided to fish for trout regularly. When trout are stocked the water is still too cold for migrating stripers. So fishing for trout gave me something to do after ice out but before the arrival of my seven lined friends. Trout fishing also gave me something to do when conditions weren't good for striper fishing or when I didn't want to take a long drive. Lastly, trout fishing in New Hampshire gave me a challenge at the end of the day when I was done with a hike and still had daylight.
What ended up happening was, I got good at it. It turns out fishing for stocked trout isn't very hard. However, some people make it much harder than it should be. I can't tell you how many times I've been fishing at a crowded bank and I caught more than everyone else around me combined. Some people just don't get it. If you are one of them, read on my friend
There are really three ways to catch trout. You can dunk bait such as Powerbait or worms. You can catch them fly-fishing, and you can catch them using lures. I am only going to cover using lures. There is no reason for me to cover fly-fishing. Chances are pretty good, if you can cast a fly rod you don't need my advice.
I'm not gong to cover Powerbait or worms either. For one thing, there isn't any skill in castng a piece of Powerbait and waiting for a trout to hit it. Secondly, almost every trout you catch on Powerbait and worms will have swallowed the hook. The fish is almost assured to die. I don't have any problem eating a stocked trout, but I'd rather have the decision left up to me, than the floating trout on the shoreline.
Okay, so now that we got that out of the way, how does one catch a stocked trout on lures? First off, you have to remember, these fish have lived in a crowded hatchery their whole life. For a while they still act like it. They will stay in tight schools for a week or so, then split up into smaller schools before finally becoming loners. So you have two choices find the fish or have them find you.
If you have the chance, go find the fish. Many Cape Cod kettle ponds and Plymouth lakes have tons of access. Some you can walk around the whole lake. I choose to wear my waders and circle the lake until I find fish. Obviously, you can use a boat, kayak, or canoe to find fish also. But, I will tell you, in a lakes with unlimited shoreline to wade, I usually do just as well from shore.
Another thing to remember is, sometimes the fish just aren't biting in one pond. I will leave one pond and fish others in a single day. If I make a day of it, I usually have a plan to fish three or four ponds n a day. One day a few years ago I went to the kettle ponds at Nickerson State Park. I left before daybreak and fished them for hours. I caught two or three trout. It sucked. Finally in late afternoon I left. I stopped at a pond in Sandwich on my way home just because it is a pretty pond. I ended up catching twenty six trout in a couple hours. That was after spending eight hours at Nickerson with barely a fish to show for it. Mobility.
So now that we covered that you should move until you find fish, even to another pond if you have to, what should you use?
For a fishing rod, I use a six foot medium light rod. Many ultra-light guys will use a 4'6" to five foot rod, this is fine in small streams, but on a lake, it just won't cast a lure very far. I can easily cast a spoon three times further with my six footer than these guys can with their ultra-light. I use six pound line on a 1500 size reel. I'm partial to Shimano Sedona, but as long as your reel doesn't suck you'll be fine. These aren't Tarpon.
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| My entire box is about the size of my phone, and probably weighs less. |
Using spoons and spinners means I can cover a lot of water quickly. They are simple to use you cast them out, wait for them to sink a little and reel them in. Simple. Sometimes I'll vary the speed. Usually I will try different depths. I have to force myself to countdown to let it sink before reeling.
As for spinners, I am partial to Roostertails. I am sure others like Mepps and Blue Fox work just as well. Roostertail makes like a hundred colors. I basically use two. I use the Yellow Coachdog ninety percent of the time. It is my favorite lure when I am not using the Casting bubble/fly. The other color I use is White Coachdog. I have both of them in sizes 1/8 and 1/16 ounce. I use the bigger size more often because I like the longer casts. I have caught trout on other color Roostertails, but I really believe in Keep It Simple Stupid. When they go onsale, instead of stocking up on twenty colors, most of them I will never use, I buy back ups for my two favorite colors for when I lose one or it rusts.
For spoons, I keep that basic also. I use 1/8 ounce Kastmasters. I have silver for sunny days, and gold for cloudy days. I probably have a perch color also. Again, I'm sure many companies make spoons that work. That's fine. I choose to keep my selection simple. The less time I am deciding what to use, the more time I'm casting.
For a swimmer, I use a 1 1/2 or 2 inch Rapala. I rarely use a swimmer. it is probably the last lure I will try. I like the silver, but will also use the perch color. I'm not sure if color matters.
This brings me to my favorite method of catching trout with a spinning rod, using a casting bubble and a fly. Almost nobody uses this method but it is the most effective way to catch trout that I know. When I said above that I've had days where I caught more than anyone around me, this is what I was using. First off, a casting bubble is a bobber you fill with water. This makes it heavy and I can cast it a mile. Secondly, it sinks, so I can control the depth I am using my fly. There is a "straw" in the middle that you thread your line through. Below the bubble, I use a 6 foot fluorocarbon leader. I'm not really a believer in fluoro, but I do catch more trout with it than without it.
Lastly, the fly. I carry a couple of flies for this method. I use olive and black Wooly Buggers. Olive Wooly Bugger is the fly I use seventy five percent of the time. I also carry Hares Ears (tan or olive) in size 12 and Pheasant Tails. I usually try the Hare's Ear and Pheasant Tail when the Bugger isn't working. This method is simple. Cast out as far as you can. Let it sink to various depths. I usually start with a five count. And then reel it in S-L-O-W-L-Y. If you think your reeling it in slowly, it is probably not slow enough. I have been on the bank with forty other guys and I was the only one using this method while everyone else is trying everything else in their box and I'm hooking them on every cast. I have witnesses.
My last tip I'll give you is to fish into the wind. I know this is uncomfortable, but it works. If the wind has been pushing in one direction for a day or more, the trout will be on the shoreline the wind is blowing to. All of the food items such as insects and small fish will be pushed that way. There is a lake in New Hampshire that all of you have driven by that I fish regularly. I can walk around it and will always fish with the wind in my face and the waves splashing my waders. One day a few years ago I pull up and the wind is howling through the valley. The shoreline it was blowing to was across the pond and a half mile walk. I got in the water and fished as I went. I didn't have any luck until I turned a corner and had the wind in my face. Every trout in the lake must have been on that side of the lake and they were hungry. I caught them on almost every cast. I couldn't miss. I tried every single lure in my box to find something they WOULD'NT HIT. I never did. In the course of a few hours I ended up with 59 brook trout, which is my high number to this day. The only reason I kept fishing after reaching absurd numbers was I was hoping for a big one. The fish that day went 8-13 inches, but had I caught big ones in that lake before. That day wasn't an anomaly, have had multiple twenty fish days in that lake, but always with the wind in my face!
I hope this helps you catch more trout this year. I have certainly seen more people fishing since their options are limited. Maybe some of these tips will help you get more trout on the bank. All I ask is please pack out your trash so the next person doesn't have to see it.
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