Trout Catching Techniques

Author: Trevor Kugler

The time of the year for the beginning of trout season is upon us my friends, and I figured an article about a few great trout catching techniques was in order. Many times the simplest things can help you catch more trout, especially in the beginning of the trout season. In many areas of the country, the government stock trout, and those stocked trout usually aren't too tough to catch. The first technique that I'm going to discuss, is a
simple one that works great on for catching these stocked trout.

1) A Set Of Gang Hooks - When still fishing from shore, as many anglers do in the opening part of trout season, a set of gang hooks is a great idea. If you use Powerbait or comparable synthetic bait and a set of gang hooks, you're effectively doubling your chances of hooking up. In a normal situation, you would have one ball of Powerbait floating off of the bottom, but with a set of gang hooks, you have 2 balls of Powerbait floating off of the bottom. Gang hooks will help you catch more trout.

2) Use Light Line - Trout are a very intelligent species of fish, although freshly stocked trout don't live up to this rule on many occasions. Their vision is quite good, and if your line is too heavy, you won't get nearly as many bites, it's as simple as that. I personally suggest 2 or 4 pound test for all of your trout fishing, but 6 pound test wouldn't kill anyone. If you are using fishing line heavier than 6 pound test to fish for trout you shouldn't be able to disgrace a trout by catching it!

3) Use Small Hooks - As I said, you should be using gang hooks, but in any case, when fishing for trout any hook over size 6 is overkill. I personally use size 10 gang hooks for all of my trout fishing, whether that is in a lake or river. The bottom line is that when fishing for trout, the smaller the hook the better. And don't worry, very large trout can be hooked and landed using very small hooks, I promise.

4) Be Organized - The more time that you can spend with your offering in the water, the better, therefore the less time that you have to spend fumbling around for gear and bait the better. In other words, get organized before you go fishing. Employing strategies such as the JRW Bait bag is a great idea and using retractors to hold your most used gear is another.

These simple techniques will enable you to catch more trout. As I mentioned earlier, many times the simplest things make the biggest difference. Never forget what Steven Wright Said about fishing, There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot." A very fine line, if I do say so myself.