It's the spring in America folks, and that means fishing for stocked trout. I must admit as a serious trout angler, the idea of catching stocked trout somehow just doesn't feel right to me. It never has. I liken stocked trout to prostitutes in some ways. You know, why pay for something that you can get for free, if you just apply yourself? The same goes for trout in my mind. Why catch trout that have been raised in glorified aquariums, when there are native trout that were born and live as nature intended available to be caught?

No matter how I feel about stocked trout, when the rivers are high and muddy there really is no other choice as far as trout fishing goes. So I bite my tongue and fish for the darts (I call stocked trout 'darts' because many times there fins are rubbed off from being in the hatchery, and thus resemble darts) for a month or so, until my favorite rivers are fishable again. So what is the best way to fish for stocked trout?

The most effective way that I've found is probably to use Powerbait or similar synthetic bait rigged on a set of #8 or #10 gang hooks. You see this synthetic bait floats, so when a bottom rig is created, the bait is floating off of the bottom, above any underwater debris. So still fishing with a set of gang hooks and Powerbait is quite effective. Obviously a single hook can be used as well, but with a set of gang hooks you are able to present double the bait, therefore increases your chances of a bite by 2X. In every sense, this makes perfect sense.

My fishing buddies and I have joked for years that they must feed trout Powerbait in the hatcheries, because they love the stuff. For stocked trout in lake situations, Powerbait will out-fish even live worms! If you add in the added feature of gang hooks?watch out! You'll be dealing with more darts than you want to clean.

Stocked Trout also like such baits as cheese, corn, and marshmallows. These baits can all be effectively rigged on a set of gang hooks as well. Of course small spinners and spoons can be used to catch stocked trout as well. And if you're one of those anglers that like waving feathers in the air, stocked trout can obviously be caught this way as well. The bottom line is that catching stocked trout (especially in lakes) is one of the easiest type's fishing to learn. It becomes a different ball game with native trout, but stocked trout are far from a difficult fish to catch, and yet provide plenty of entertainment for anglers of all skill levels.

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