What type of bait to use for trout

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Register A Boat Register your boat today. Learn how to register your vessel, boating laws and more. Always have a few jars in the best colors such as yellow and chartreuse. Fish it with enough weight to drift it a few inches from the bottom.

It offers a slightly different action than the Rooster Tail Spinner that can be the difference when trout are hesitant to bite. Take full advantage of the trout stocking in Pennsylvania with these top 5 must-have trout baits and trout lures! Your email address will not be published. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website.

Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. It is important to understand this basic behavior of a trout to catch them consistently. Trout live in an environment whereby everything is flowing past them. They need a constant flow of water to survive.

Yet, at the same time, a trout prefers to expend as little energy as possible. Trout like to sit near the edges in slightly slower water to preserve energy and where they can easily move into the faster current to take incoming food particles.

Current, water depth and clarity play an important role in presenting the bait in a way that is attractive to the trout.

Even though to get the bait down to the fish weight may be added to the line , the delicate balance is to still have the bait flow with the current as if it is caught in and controlled by the current. Unnatural movement usually means the bait will go untouched or spook the trout off. Additionally, the bait itself must look natural. To glob a hook full of worm rather than weaving the hook through the worm will be less productive. Trout are very finicky creatures being very selective as to what they are willing to eat, especially native or wild trout.

Consistently catching trout, comes down to the ability to present the bait, in this case, a worm, look as if it fell into the water and is caught in the current. If the angler takes care to present his baits as if free-flowing in the current, his or her success rate will dramatically increase. Imagine, if you will, throwing a cork on the water. As it floats downstream carried by the current, it moves along at the same speed as the current through the riffles just bobbing along.

Unlike the cork in our example, these natural baits are going to have a hook, additional weight and a line attached to them, of course. The trick will be to have everything flowing like the cork. When fishing natural baits, I like to make my cast directly upstream. Then the trick is to reel your line in at a speed consistent to the flow of the current. You will need to experiment with the amount of weight needed to get your bait down towards the bottom or more importantly the strike zone of the Trout.

We had talked earlier about minnows and crayfish as creatures that live in the streams alongside trout and of course other fish.

Their survival depends on their use of camouflage and the ability to hide to go undetected by predators. When fish move, their swimming motion reflects light and produces a flash as light reflects off of their scales. This is the time when that fish becomes vulnerable to predators. Night crawlers, red wigglers, garden hackle—a worm by any name is always an odds-on favorite for charming trout.

Use a No. Bait-holder hooks have barbs on the shank that keep the worm from slipping down or off. Thread the worm on the hook, leaving the ends dangling. Worms are bottom baits as a rule. Some anglers prefer to use very little weight, letting the bait drift with the current.

Others like fishing the worm dead-still in the bottom of pools or weed pockets. For this style of fishing, use a slip-sinker rig.

Put a small egg sinker on your line, and tie a small barrel swivel below it. Use a worm inflator or hypodermic needle to give the bait a shot of air that floats it above the bottom. Cast the bait, and let it sink. You might read reams of trout-fishing literature without finding a single mention of the lowly waxworm.

Nevertheless, this little critter is one of the best trout baits available. Waxworms are larvae of bee moths. They grow from eggs moths lays in beehives, feeding on wax in the hives.

They can be purchased at many trout docks or in bulk through several internet companies. The standard waxworm setup is a slip-sinker rig like the one described for night crawlers.