Help me catch trout

July 27, 2011 12:10 AM

Trout fisherpeople. I must feed my family (or eat at sonic) I will be at Gastons weekend after next. I plan to do the lazy man and fish from the bank rather than venturing out in a boat (rod and reel not fly). Give me a list of what I need in my trout tool box. I'm starting out clean. No rod, no reel, no other equipment including line, sinkers and bait. I'll have a knife and I think I remember how to clean a trout but that's about it. Any equipment, bait, technique, etc. advice greatly appreciated. I do not want to end up eating at the hotel restaurant although it is tasty. I want to buy as much of what I might need before i get there. Prices escalate as you near the site. Thanks (cleaning pointers also appreciated).
posted by Carbolic to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (8 answers total)

I don't know what the insect population and life stage is at Gastons right now nor the water temperature and level, but if I wanted the best possibility of a catch I would bring a simple spinner lure, veleveeta and corn as mentioned above, and maybe a small frog lure. Is there a reason that if you caught a bass you wouldn't eat that? Cuz odds are better on the bass.
posted by spicynuts at 12:22 AM on July 27, 2011

Also, a daredevil spoon almost never fails!
posted by spicynuts at 12:25 AM on July 27, 2011

Not elegant, but if I needed to eat I'd suggest a 3-rig set up. Estimate the depth of the water you'll be casting into, that's how long you want to make your terminal tackle. Say its 6 ft. depth. Terminal consists of a bubble (bobber) + 6 ft of mono with hooks/bait tied at 1 ft, 3 ft, and 6 ft. Use 3 different baits (salmon eggs, leeches, worms, etc). You won't need to do much but watch the bubble and strike fast when it dips. This is my 'fish or your money back' rig.
posted by artdrectr at 12:56 AM on July 27, 2011

Small bright orange/red wet fly, weighted as necessary for your gear and jigged. Even if the trout don't see it as a tasty tasty trout egg (and according to your linked page, they probably will) it'll annoy the hell out of them and provoke them into biting it.
posted by Ahab at 1:21 AM on July 27, 2011

As much as it pains me - a hard core catch and release fly fisherman - to suggest it, I would use a light spinning rod outfit with 4 pound test line. Use a size ten or twelve hook, live bait on the hook, and crimp a nice fat split shot sinker about 18 inches above the hook. Lob that rig into the river and maneuver it so it rolls naturally downstream into holes and places where the trout lay to wait for food without expending a lot of energy fighting the current. I wouldn't use a float or bobber at all for trout, unless it is a small foam indicator of the type used by fly fishermen when fishing nymph patterns.

Best bait is a worm, preferably a whole garden worm. At this time of year grasshoppers are excellent bait, and nothing beats a cricket. If you have small size 12-14 hooks you can always look under river rocks and collect caddis fly larva - these are often encased in a tube of fine gravel and sand, just squeeze 'em out and skewer them.

The slightly more sporting option is to buy a few small spinners - size 12 Mepps are the classics - and try casting upstream and across the current and reeling them in. This weeds out the smaller trout who would be busy nibbling on all your worms, since the spinner triggers a response in bigger fish that a wounded minnow or smaller trout is available to be eaten.

Since it looks like Gaston's is on the White river, you will want to move your bank location about every ten minutes, the best option is to move upstream in stages - trout always feed facing upstream and are less spooked by what goes on behind them. If you haven;t had a hiot on bait in 5-10 minutes it means you have either spooked the fish or there are no fish where your bait lies. Move - trout fishing is always a matter of moving on.
posted by zaelic at 2:49 AM on July 27, 2011

My go-to setup for trout stream fishing: a 4.5ft Ugly Stik rod, 4 pound test monofilament (I prefer Berkeley Trilene to Stren), #10 Eagle Claw hooks.

the site you linked has pretty good bait/lure recommendations:

Neverthless, many quality brown trout and rainbow trout have been recently caught. On higher water conditions, fishermen and women have been using blue fox gold #2, live redwormsand night crawlers, pink Eagle Claw trout bait worms, Excaliburs', Rapalas, Smithwick rogues, and steelhead orange egg patterns.

Lower water conditions have caught many nice trout on night crawlers, brown and yellow rooster tails, yellow or orange powerbait, buoyant spoons, and colorado spoons.

Interesting about brown/yellow rooster tails - in the streams of Pennsylvania I swear by blue rooster tails (which in and of themselves were something of a rarity.) No matter the color, however, for trout the 1/24oz size is my favorite.

As for live bait, in PA we swear by waxworms for trout. I will often pair a waxworm or two with some Power Bait.

And you can never go wrong with minnows (shiners).
posted by namewithoutwords at 5:41 AM on July 27, 2011

For trout, I use a treble hook with Power Bait with a couple of splitshot about 18" up.
posted by kamikazegopher at 4:05 PM on July 27, 2011

A little late to this party for me it seems. How did your weekend go?

I prefer the zen of fishing flies (and releasing my catch), but if you really want to fill a creel rather than merely have an excuse to bask in the solitude of a beautiful river, then use worms.
posted by caddis at 12:43 PM on August 11, 2011