# Self Sufficiency/Living off the Land or Off the Grid > Fishing >  Share your best kept TROUT FISHING secrets!

## ElevenBravo

Being a rookie, I'd like your trout fishing secrets....

* Best time of day
* Water depth
* Best time of year
* Your preferred LURE, how you retrieve it, etc..
* Your preferred BAIT and how you fish it
* Where to find them
* How you cook them

And, anything else you care to share.  I love trout, they are delicious and I'd really like to have one for dinner!

Thanks much for your time!
Andrew

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## Sparky93

I have only done a little bit of trout fishing in small Colorado streams. I prefer to fly fish but my dad uses a spinning rod, the bait he uses is a little gold or silver spinning blade (not sure what it's called, it's like a spoon but not if that makes any sense) and it's all he uses. He prefers fishing down river where as I prefer fishing up river, the streams we fish in are fairly swift so where there are rocks sticking out of the water creating an eddy behind them there are usually trout sitting in the eddy waiting for food to float by them. With the fly rod I will cast up past the rock and let my fly float down through the eddy where as dad (fishing down stream) will cast his bait past the eddy and slowly retrieve the spinning blade into the eddy and let it spin there in the current. I'll try and find a picture of the bait dad uses but I got to get to class right now.

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## ElevenBravo

Does it look something like this?
21oVU2ibVbL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

If so, Ive got one... A Little Cleo spoon lure.  Getting ready to fish it...

Andrew

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## hunter63

> Does it look something like this?
> 21oVU2ibVbL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
> 
> If so, Ive got one... A Little Cleo spoon lure.  Getting ready to fish it...
> 
> Andrew


Hope ya got more than one........LOL, lures are generally referred to as "some", rather than "one"....

I'm a big lawn chair on the river bank fisherman......Drive down to my lower field mow a spot on the bank with the brush hog, set up my lawn chair, make up a "river rig".

River rig around here is a tri-swivel tied on your line, 1/2 oz sinker on about 18" line on one side to kinda bounce along the bottom.... and a worm or night crawler on 24" or so on the third side......
Cast out, take a nap, pull up supper in a while.

Biggest trout so far was a brown 18", with several 14" or so.....throw small one back.

Have some rainbows lately as the big floods in 2008-2009 flooded out some trout ponds and the got away....

If you can find a cope of this book, interesting reading lots of tips.......
http://trouttip.com/books/trout-fishing-stories

I stop and talk to him at the farmers market pretty regular.......Good guy.

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## mountainmark

I'll bet he uses a kastmaster. My favorite. Use different sizes depending on what i'm fishing for.

Mornings are best for trout where i'm at. Get up and out there before first light and it shouldn't take long. Early worm catches the fish. I always am entertained as I drive home with my limit and see folks just walking out of their house with rod in hand.  :Wink: 

I also fish with worms in the small trout streams. Just a worm, a hook and a sinker will do.

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## Sourdough

Karluk River........Late Sept. through Oct. twelve to 16 pound Steelhead.

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## ElevenBravo

Okay, I went trout fishing in Glade Creek today, first time I actually SAW trout!  I was all excited.  Tried 4 different lures, not one hit.

As I am finding out, trout are smarter than I am.

After some advice from anglers at work, I stopped and got some #10 snells (cause Im lazy), some salmon eggs (Like I saw with fishingwithrod on youtube) and some small split shot.  I also still have some night crawlers in the fridge from the other day, which I have not used yet.

So, tomorrow... I go to the creek (water is about 2 or 3 feet deep where I was at, max), which is 2 minutes from my work... Ill try some worms and eggs and see what happens.  Will (maybe) report back later.

Andrew

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## ElevenBravo

> make up a "river rig".


Thanks for the tip, Ill give that a try in the Roanoke River this weekend.

Andrew

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## Sparky93

> Does it look something like this?
> 21oVU2ibVbL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
> 
> If so, Ive got one... A Little Cleo spoon lure.  Getting ready to fish it...
> 
> Andrew


Ya, it's kind of like that a little different though but same principal. And like Hunter said, you'll want more than one their easy to lose lol. Another place fish like to hang out is under spots where the bank over hangs.

This was one fish I caught, rainbow trout are probably one of the most beautiful freshwater fish.

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## crashdive123

@Elevenbravo - you are quickly discovering why it is called fishing and not catching.

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## ClayPick

When I was a kid I would catch bugs and throw them to the Brook Trout at a good fishing hole. Grasshoppers would always get a rise out of the big ones.

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## Sparky93

As far as cooking them I've never cooked a trout, just fished for them for fun, but if you catch another one of those sunfish of good size fillet it (there are videos on youtube of how to do that), batter it (I use store bought batter) and deep fry it. Serve with french fries and hush puppies and you'll have some fine dining lol

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## crashdive123

While this will not help for the catching part, it will certainly be a treat in the eating part.  Mrs. Crash and I spent a night in Brevard, North Carolina on the way to the Jamboree.  We each had a trout dinner at the Falls Landing in downtown Brevard.  It was, without a doubt, the best trout either of us has ever had.  Highly recommended for anybody in the area or passing through.

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## jfeatherjohn

I spent 7 eeeks in Stonwall, Colo last summer. Monument Lake was about 4 miles up the road.
All trout, and the fishing was usually pretty good. One time, nothing was biting, so I "contra-ed; drug out the salmon eggs, went to a treble hook, and put a bobber on with about 24" depth. People were dropping by for salmon eggs after I took my 3 and then started throwing back. A whole jar of salmon eggs gone in two hours.
I never know what trout are going to want, so I keep a "menu" in my tackle box.

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## Stiffy

I've fished for more than 50 years, and tried about everything.  Right now I usually use a small streamer, fished downstream and retrieved upstream, play it like it's an injured minnow.  You can use streamers with a fly rod or spinning rod, or no rod at all.

However, if you prefer bait fishing, try to find whatever is local.  I like to roll over the rocks in shallow water and see what's under them.  I you find any type of grub or larvae, use that for bait.  Otherwise, look for bugs or hoppers inhabiting the grass or brush along the water.  Trout, like many other fish, go for the stuff that they recognize as food.

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## finallyME

I use different tactics depending on where I am fishing.  If it is a lake, and I want to try bait, then I use powerbait.  I only use the corn flavored bait.  That is the only one I have caught fish with.  I never use weights or a bobber, just a bubble.  You don't loose hooks as much.  I fill the bubble completely full with no air.  Then I put it behind a swivle and put a leader with a treble hook on it.  The bait goes on the treble.  Make sure you have enough bait that it floats the hook.  This way, you are fishing off the bottom.  You will mostly catch planter rainbows this way.  If you want the better tasting brook, then you can't use bait, well worms might work.  You can fly fish with this setup, just replace the treble and bait with a fly, and put an air bubble in the bubble.  The bubble adds weight, but floats.  You can also replace the fly with a lure.  There is a lure called a Jakes lure.  My dad called them super dupers when he was a kid.  I have a bunch of different lures, but the jakes gets the most success.  
For river/stream fishing, I like to just use a worm and a swivle.  No weight.  I just throw it in the current, and let it feed out to the spot I am trying to hit.  One week in the Uintas, I caught a ton this way.

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## finallyME

Some other things to consider.  You want light line with no memory.  If you use mono then nothing bigger than 8 lb line.  I know a lot of people that use 4 lb line.  I like 6.  Of course, I recently switched to the braided line.  It works like the low weight mono, but with a higher breaking strength.

And, if you are bait fishing in a lake.  Throw out your line, give it some time to sink to the bottom, reel in slowly until the slack is taken out of the line, then .....PUT.....THE....POLE....DOWN....and.....DON'T.  ...TOUCH.....IT, until you get a hit.

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## ElevenBravo

Wow, some really good tips!  

I went yesterday back to the creek where there are trout.  Another guy was doing well, all I got was a sucker.

But, they did show more interest in the salmon egg than with any lure I used before.  I need to get some power bait, it seams anyone that is catching trout in these waters is using PB! A friend at work swears by Trout Magnets, so... Id like to try that also.

I am quickly learning about creek trout.  They have good eye sight, are smarter than me and are not like bream.... they dont hit on just anything!

Andrew

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## finallyME

I have found that the creek trout around here only hit on worms or flys.  They won't touch powerbait.  Only the planters in lakes around here go for the powerbait.

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## roar-k

My secret is I tell people the fish I bring home are small.  That way they have no interest in my fishing spots and I can keep them to myself and the other 10 people....

There is one awesome spot about 6 - 8 miles up in the Smokies that's absolutely awesome.

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## crashdive123

Too bad you are only able to catch small trout out of that spot. :Whistling:

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## Canoetripper

I use a Mirror lure with two blades  like a devils horse.
I think it's a m52 The trout we catch are speckeled sea trout.
Thats  the only trout we have here in Fla.

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## Alex

> I have found that the creek trout around here only hit on worms or flys.  They won't touch powerbait.  Only the planters in lakes around here go for the powerbait.


I've never had any luck using power bait, but if their not hitting flies I'll switch over to my spin caster and bait up with some red wigglers.

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## Bearskin Grills

OK, here is a sure fire tip for pretty much any type of fish. Works great for trout and especially deep small mouths. Get yourself a hypodermic needle.  rig your line with a hook and set a weight to the height you want your bait off the bottom. slip a worm on the hook, inject a little bubble of air in it.  the worm floats at the height you have set.   works like a charm.

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## Psalm25

[QUOTE=ElevenBravo;366534]Being a rookie, I'd like your trout fishing secrets....

* Best time of day
*10:00am*
* Water depth
*Find a deep pool on the edge of some rapids*
* Best time of year
Mid June
* Your preferred LURE, how you retrieve it, etc..
*Hand tied fly, I like Adams*
* Your preferred BAIT and how you fish it
*Worms, but that is cheating lol*
* How you cook them
*Build a fire on shore put a flat rock in the middle of the coals, place the fish on the rock and remove once cooked.*

And, anything else you care to share.  I love trout, they are delicious and I'd really like to have one for dinner!

*Don't forget to bring a wineskin (preferably homemade wine) to wash your shore lunch down with*

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## rikflaxman

How can I tell which one is the best product among those mentioned on the list here?

*****GASP! SPAM...CAN YOU BELIEVE IT???*****

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## Rick

Well, I would tell you but I doubt any of those products are available in Bangladesh so it would do you no good.

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## BushCraftPilot

I've always had luck with Panther Martins or Rooster Tail spinners. My friend got a huge 16" rainbow on a zebra Rooster Tail.

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