Who fishes for lake trout here?

[August West]

I pretty much bass fish exclusively I always dream of something like that happening! I fish for smallies in the penobscot a lot, have heard a lot of tales of fisherman fishing for bass catching an Atlantic Salmon by accident. Has never happened to me though

If I had smallies close to me I likely wouldn't even think of anything else. Smallmouth in a river on light tackle is probably what they do to pass the time in heaven. Chris

 

[akthor]

Muskies and Pike are "infiltrating" the waters up here despite fish and games efforts to eradicate them. I am hoping to go fishing for some this season

I am sure it will happen to you eventually. I caught carp( more like snagged), Perch, Sunfish, Catfish, Trout, Pickeral, and even a snake(that was snagged as well) all while Bass fishing. I only use lures, no live bait.

The craziest thing I have seen was this little kid fishing for sunfish. His lil bobber went down and his dad said real it in. The lil kid said "Daddy it's broken!" The father ran over and after about 10 minutes he brought in a 10+ pound Tiger Musky. The tiger Musky ate the sunfish that bit the lil kids worm.. Crazy stuff:thumbup:

 

[akthor]

Lot of smallies up here, most bodies of water have them. I've had days on the penoboscot where we've got over 50 - 60 bass a piece. Those river Bass are strong.

They are taking a bunch of dams out soon to try to save the Atlantic Salmon. I wonder what it will do the Bass. I am in the minority up here tho.

If I had smallies close to me I likely wouldn't even think of anything else. Smallmouth in a river on light tackle is probably what they do to pass the time in heaven. Chris

 

[Brad "the butcher"]

Fishing from shore get yourself a couple casting bobbers, fished from shore with them for 25 years. They are teardrop shaped and have a length of surgical tubing running through the middle.
You run your line through and twist the top a few times and the twisted rubber holds the line with no damage at all. You can also pull the top out and fill it with water for extra weight.
If you use a heavy spoon/spinner and don't twist the top the line will run free, chuck it out then let line run through the bobber to the bottom, great way to work deep water dropoffs from shore.
With a light rod and 6lb test I can almost spool myself on casts, really helps cover a lot of ground and solves the problem of the fish always being just beyond reach from shore.
They are the only way to use light trout lures and get out there.
Rig a fly, small jig or spinner....small green and pink roostertail is money, good trolled for big ones too with a big dewworm and a stinger hook tied off the spinner for a texas rig. Bass will smash this too.

small 1/32 to 1/64 gumball jigs with the painted eyes. get some 1in twistergrub tails in red, black and white. Bait them with a small piece of worm, leech or grasshopper with or without a tail. Jigs suspended from a bobber are awesome, the waves give it action

flies.... fish them with 4ft line from the bobber with a small barrel swivel for twist. For wet flies put 2 tiny splitshot 1ft from fly 6in apart. Cast with a lob and the split shot will keep away from the bobber and not tangle. Dry fly just pop the bobber a couple times and reel in a few feet to stretch the line out.

get some doc spratleys and woolly buggers in black, red and green hook size's #12 and #8, good allrounders, a hares ear nymph and a small red leech will cover wet fly basics. Tom thumb's and mosquito's for dry fly. I have boxes of flies but run leech's,spratleys and buggers 75% of the time.
stocked fish... a small #12 or #14 tom thumb fished on surface or wet(split shot). They are all deerhair and if trimmed a bit look a lot like a feeding pellet. When the fish are jumping in the evening chuck one out dry, good fly. Really good crappie fly.

probably caught 120 to 150 trout and 25 salmon last year.

tight lines and sharp hooks my friend!

 

[PayetteRucker]

gotta pick up a nice collapsible rod for fishing all the untouched mountain lakes while backpacking here in Idaho-I'm a resident now and have a fishing license, so I'll be eating LOTS of trout this summer!

 

[Shotgun]

I'm a total newb to fishing too. What do you do with the fish once you catch it? Do you clean it right there or wait til you get home? Do you take a cooler with you or is there some other way to keep it fresh?

 

[fishiker]

If I'm keeping trout I like to break the neck and remove the guts as soon as I can. A lot of good ideas so far, I agree with yellow power bait, kastmaster spoons, and small jigs. My favorite Kastmaster is silver with white bucktail. Been catching fish with them for more years than I want to admit.

 

[Captain Spaulding]

Yeah I catch so many trout with those brown speckled Kastmasters i actually don't use anything else in my box...sure makes traveling light easy. I just carry 3 of them in the store packaging and I am good to go.

 

[jhrule]

FLY FISHING!!!!! best thing in the world...my favorite rig is 4 pound flouro line, size 8 hooks (octopus neon colors) and a clear float.....corn works good

 

[remmmm]

I'm a decent fisherman when it comes to bass and panfish, but I have never been able to catch trout despite several attempts on KY rivers that are supposed to be stocked. I've never heard of or tried powerbait, but I've tried most of the other things listed. I've caught several rock bass and small mouth while trying to catch trout, but no trout

 

[fishiker]

I'm a decent fisherman when it comes to bass and panfish, but I have never been able to catch trout despite several attempts on KY rivers that are supposed to be stocked. I've never heard of or tried powerbait, but I've tried most of the other things listed. I've caught several rock bass and small mouth while trying to catch trout, but no trout

If you're fishing for Rainbows it's hard to beat yellow power bait. For Brown and Brookies I prefer a joe fly. http://joesflies.com/ The size 8 are available with #1 & #2 blades. I try to get the larger ones when I can. In a river I add small split shot as needed and cast across stream. I let the lure work in the current as much as it can and wind when needd to keep it moving. In some stretches of fast water I will simply let it work downstream ahead of me as I wade.

 

[August West]

I'm a decent fisherman when it comes to bass and panfish, but I have never been able to catch trout despite several attempts on KY rivers that are supposed to be stocked. I've never heard of or tried powerbait, but I've tried most of the other things listed. I've caught several rock bass and small mouth while trying to catch trout, but no trout

Trout fishing, in general but especially for wild trout, is kinda like hunting, more so if the stream gets a lot of pressure. You have to be able to read the water, know what the fish are likely feeding on that time of the year and be able to present the lure or bait properly. It is a whole lot more involved than finding a stream that has trout, chunking a baited line into it and waiting, not saying that is what you are doing but what most do.

My suggestion would be to find someone that is an experienced trout fisherman and see if he will give you some pointers or perhaps take you with him. This might be hard, in a lot of areas favorite streams and techniques are well kept secrets, including myself. But I have no problem taking friends to neutral streams and giving pointers, you have to be a good friend indeed to see my best water. You might think this is an aholish way to be, to explain, if you know of a stretch of water that holds fish and is fairly private and let people know about it, even friends, before long it will have more people than fish. Chris

 

[Diomedes Industries]

Well - I picked up today:

Yellow Powerbait.
I have Corn.
I have Nightcrawlers.
A few Kastmaster knockoffs (because all they had were silver and gold kastmasters)
A few mepps spinners
A few spoons (Daredevil and the like)
A few minnow type lures
A few casting bobbers
A few rooster tails.

That should do me for trying out the trout I have stocked near me. I will go out for an hour or so tommorow with more on Thursday and see what I can catch... besides a cold.

TF

 

[Joezilla]

I will live and die by my panther martin gold 1/4 oz weight. I first learned about it in California near the streams of Muir woods. The locals swore by it. Soon I was hooked, and have used it for EVERYTHING since then, especially trout. At the place I lived at a few months ago, I had a stocked pond. This was the only thing I would use and they would nail it. I have a plethora of other lures, but I find myself always coming back to this one.

Black. 4 yellow spots. 6 on the gold spoon.

 

[Brad "the butcher"]

I will live and die by my panther martin gold 1/4 oz weight. I first learned about it in California near the streams of Muir woods. The locals swore by it. Soon I was hooked, and have used it for EVERYTHING since then, especially trout. At the place I lived at a few months ago, I had a stocked pond. This was the only thing I would use and they would nail it. I have a plethora of other lures, but I find myself always coming back to this one.

Black. 4 yellow spots. 6 on the gold spoon.

yeah those are good love the lead body for casting, the panther martin 1/8 micro's with yellow body and orange blade are really good in the spring and tannic/dark water. It really wakes them up

 

[pilote]

i have NEVER caught anything using a panther martin; don't know why...

what does work for me on trout are thomas buoyant spoons (red/gold is killer color), kastmasters (golds, wht/grn colors), mepps (black fury), and roostertails (bumblebee, rainbow trout colors only)...

i hate using powerbait...and i hate doing the inflated worm thing...

 

[Jenner 515]

I just went out today and pulled 4 brown trout with a 1/4 oz BKT.

Using the BKT or the RT I have NEVER left the Animas or a lake around here empty handed. Rock solid!

Here is the KASTMASTER site

+1 Captain, the Kastmaster is my favorite lure here in Colorado and other locales.

Caught a 39" Lake Trout out of Lake Granby on one, and had a 50+ Brook trout day in Ruidoso NM using nothing but Kastmaster.

 

[akthor]

It's all about what you have confidence throwing sometimes. Lures that work for some people even when they are in the same boat as you sometimes won't work for you.

You get a lure you catch some fish on it. It's becomes your fave so you use it more and then you don't realize it but you become a "specialist" with that lure. You know exactly how to twitch, wiggle, pull, drop you know every nuance you especially know the tells of when a fish has taken it. This leads to you catching more and more fish with it.

Not a magic bullet. Just a tool that you become a master with. I can catch smallies with a black and gold J9 Rapala like nobodys business, catch them when others can't or when other can only get them with jigs or spinners. I will be catching them and then they switch to what I'm using and they don't catch them and I still do

i have NEVER caught anything using a panther martin; don't know why...

what does work for me on trout are thomas buoyant spoons (red/gold is killer color), kastmasters (golds, wht/grn colors), mepps (black fury), and roostertails (bumblebee, rainbow trout colors only)...

i hate using powerbait...and i hate doing the inflated worm thing...

 

[tonym]

It's all about what you have confidence throwing sometimes. Lures that work for some people even when they are in the same boat as you sometimes won't work for you.

You get a lure you catch some fish on it. It's becomes your fave so you use it more and then you don't realize it but you become a "specialist" with that lure. You know exactly how to twitch, wiggle, pull, drop you know every nuance you especially know the tells of when a fish has taken it. This leads to you catching more and more fish with it.

So true!:thumbup:

My biggest confidence lures for bass are the Zoom Baby Brush Hog and a Luck Craft Flash Minnow MR