New to Trout Fishing!

[felts_jf]

So I was bass fishing the other day, had a pretty good day but I have always wondered about trout fishing. Anyone have any pointers on how to get started doing this. I have a boat, I just need to know what kind of set up, bait, how to fish it, and where are some good spots. Any info would help.

Jason

[Rosann G]

Hi Jason, what kind of boat did you get? Alot of people troll for trout over at Spanaway Lake and Bud that runs the boat house there is really helpful about what to use for both trout and bass. The only bad thing is you have to pay to launch your boat there. Alot of people fish off the dock for trout there too. Ohop and Tanawax are good trout lakes too and American and St. Clair have trout and bass also. St. Clair is seperated into a go fast part and an under 5 mph side which is nice. Both sides have trout, bass and even some panfish. One of the things we used to use for trout is called a wedding ring and you troll with it. I can't remember the names of any of the other things that most people use. I caught a trout down in Mayfield Lake this last weekend when we were tiger muskie fishing on a red wigglewart. Good luck and I hope the trout fishermen/women give you alot more helpful hints.
Rosann

[Marc Martyn]

Jason,

Welcome home, my friend!

I would first suggest looking over the lake indexes in your area. Go to the home page, scroll down to the map of the state and click on the counties that you want to fish in. This will bring up a list of lakes in each county and you can go through the fishing reports on each lake. That will give you a pretty good idea of what is in the lake and also what tactics the anglers were using successfully. When you have a couple of lakes in mind, look up the topo maps for the lakes you want to try. This will give you an idea of the bottom structure of the lake.
Calling a resort for fishing information is often dubious. Many times they will tell you what you want to hear, especially if business is slow.

Here are some brief tips for fishing for trout-

In the fall, when waters cool, the fish will move into the shallows. Watch the water temperatures.
Keep an eye on the insect activity around the lake. If trout are rising, this generally means that the fish are cruising in the top 5-15' of the water taking emerging insects.
Invest in a fish finder. Trout generally don't "school" like spiny ray do.
Work areas of a lake that has a cliff, rapid drop off, bottom structure. These can be good areas.
Get on the computer and google "trout fishing". You will get enough hits from those two words to supply you with a whole winter's worth of reading.

Trout fishing is not rock science. Just like any other fish, you have to learn their feeding habits, water temperature comfort range and charateristics.

Good Luck!

[felts_jf]

Thanks for the help. I got a really good deal from my wifes boss on his 12 ft jon boat, FREE, so I couldnt pass that deal up, of course it is not brand new but considering I do sheet metal on planes in the Air Force I'm going to do a conversion on it to have some rod and storage lockers in it and maybe a livwell. Hopefully I can built it up enough to put a foot control trollin motor on it. Once again thanks for all the tips and it's good to be back in WA, been home 9 days and fished 4 of them so doing pretty good so far.

[iPodrodder]

Still fishing....easiest thing ever. Put a 1/4-1/2 oz egg sinker on the line. Then tie on a snap swivel. Attach a leader (the rule is generally above 2 feet and below 10'), bait the hook, and cast as deep as you can find. Power Eggs stay on the hook very well (never had one come off) have the same fishing potential as Power Bait, and for some reason fish don't swallow them as often as Power Bait (more lip hooks). But no less hooking potential.

[cavdad45]

This recently worked for me at a lake. Lake X has alot of brown trout, but using bait did not work out too good because the little bream would try to steal everything I tossed out. So I tied on a #10 Muddler Minnow and tossed it out below 2' of leader under a bobber. Worked great since the trout were cruising near the surface and in less than 20 minutes I landed and released my limit.

Marc, I know you are a flyfisherman, what brand of dressing do you use to keep a dry fly floating. I was constantly squeezing the fly to dry it out, but after a hit, it would not stay up?

[Marc Martyn]

Marc, I know you are a flyfisherman, what brand of dressing do you use to keep a dry fly floating. I was constantly squeezing the fly to dry it out, but after a hit, it would not stay up?

Cav-
I use Loon's Royal Gel. It is the best that I have found. Gink is also pretty good.
After catching a fish, I take the fly and swish it around in the water right after I remove it. This helps remove the fish slime. Blow off the excess water and then apply the dressing. Get your false cast going and continue a few times. This will fluff the hackle and also remove anymore excess water.
Don't squeeze the fly, this will deform the body material and bend the hackle. That makes the fly less buoyant and also make it sit on the water cockeyed.

Good luck.o:)