by Jordan D., April 07, 2004

Spring is a beautiful time of year, flowers are blooming, the sun is shining and fishing season has just begun. Almost all of your local lakes have been stocked with rainbow trout, but a select few have been planted with triploid trout, which will be talked about more later in the article. This is a great time to take the kids, the girlfriend, the father in law, or even just a relaxing day of fishing on the lake with your buddies. In this article I will explain some proven techniques that have worked for me in the spring for trout in my local lakes and hopefully will help you get into a few.

About the Fish

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife stocks about two and a half million rainbow trout a year into lakes all around the state. The majority of the fish being stocked run from 8-10 inches in length, but triploid trout are also stocked into select lakes (last year there were 78). These triploid trout are genetically engineered so that the chromosomes usually used for reproducing are all focused on eating, which causes these fish to grow extremely large if given enough time. The majority of triploids will run one and a half pounds, but larger fish are not uncommon.

In the first couple of weeks after these fish have been stocked, they tend to eat anything that is presented in front of them, in fact it is not uncommon to find objects such as cigarette butts, and small pebbles inside a freshly stocked trout’s stomach. Research has shown that many of the stocked fish will remain in the top 5 feet of water for the first couple of weeks after being stocked, which makes them an easy target for large birds and fishermen alike. This is the best time in the year to catch these trout. After the first few weeks of being in a lake, the fish will begin to move downward in the water column, focusing more on natural forage and making it harder for fisherman, but still a relatively easy target.

Techniques


From a boat: There are many ways of catching these trout early in the year. Trolling is a very popular method to nab these fish. Popular lures for trolling include flatfish, small Rapala’s, small Apex’s, or other diving style lures. Spinners like Rooster Tails in 1/8 to 1/16 sizes, Mepps, Vibrax, or Wedding Rings also work well. Spoons like Needlefish, Triple Teaser’s, Hum-dinger’s, Wicked Willy’s, or Dick Nite’s will also get ‘em. You can also try trolling a variety of flies of your choice either on the surface, or wet flies. USE BRIGHT COLORS, these fish are not picky about the color, so the better they can see your lures, the more fish you will catch. These include bright orange, pink, chartreuse, yellow, fluorescent red, metallic on sunny days, and my personal favorite firetiger, which is a combination of yellow, bright green, and orange.

One of the most popular methods of trolling for trout is attaching pop gear, a string of spinning blades which send out vibrations the fish will feel on their lateral lines as well as a flash drawing the fish in near to your presentation ahead of your lure. Behind this pop gear you can pull a variety of different things, including spinners, spoons, lures, or even a worm threaded up your line. Using a small piece of bait on your hooks will increase your chance of catching fish, but make sure it doesn’t effect the action. The only downside to using pop gear is that it will create drag between you and the fish, but luckily there is a new product out called Big Al’s Fish Flash, which has made a small in-line flasher with no drag at all, to replace pop gear.

Other proven methods of catching these fish are to go alongside docks in relatively deep water and fish for trout “bass style”. For this method I prefer using either rooster tails or weighted Mepps spinners. The other proven, but not so often used method is to put a couple split shot about eighteen inches up from either a nightcrawler or powerbait and drift with the wind. I usually let my line hit the bottom, reel up a couple of cranks and drift from one side of the lake to the other. This can be particularly effective on days in which the sun is shining bright and the temperature is high, or later in the year when the fish have moved down in the water column. This method is similar to what saltwater anglers call mooching.

From the shore/dock: Don’t think that just because you don’t have a boat, you cannot catch these fish, as a matter of fact there have been days where I have beached my boat and increased my catch rate by triple what it was in the boat. As was explained previously, recently stocked fish will stay in the top four to five feet of water for the first couple of weeks after being introduced into a lake. This is why I would suggest either casting small spinners such as rooster tails in 1/8 oz size or other spinners or weighted spoons without any extra weight from the bank to areas where fish are active. Another alternative method of bank fishing is using a floating bait set-up. This includes a sliding ¼ oz egg sinker on your main line, a small swivel following it and early in the season go with long leaders, usually about 3-4 feet long to rise your bait way off the bottom, while later in the season I switch to a shorter leader usually around 18 inches. Although these set-ups will work well, by far the most effective and easiest way to fish off the bank is to use a bobber and a worm, or other non-floating bait. This set-up will allow you to control the depth at which you are fishing, you may want to use about 18 inches between your bobber and your bait in the morning or evening hours and then increase it to as long as 3 1/2 – 4 feet during mid day. This method will be exciting for kids especially. I still to this day remember my first bobber caught fish and I pass it on to youngsters I go fishing with nowadays.

Overall these methods are those in which I have tried over the years and have proven to be effective for me. I hope that the information that I have shared with you will bring you many fish and good times as well. Please practice catch and release in these lakes if at all possible unless you know for sure that you are going to eat them, don’t let them go to waste. Good luck to you all and tight lines.


-Jordan D.