When it comes to trout fishing there has always been a ton of argument as to the "best" trout bait. There are many factors that go into catching trout, and I think that the bait is just one of them. Anyone who claims to have the "best" or some secret kind of trout bait that will work better than anything else is more than likely pulling your leg and trying to get your money. However there are some old standby's that are quite effective and should probably be employed as bait when fishing for trout. I'll break the two down, the best I know how, and you can do what we anglers do. Experiment and find out which is your favorite. I'm referring to "baits" in this article so lures and/or flies aren't going to be included.

Live Trout Baits - These would obviously include such trout baits as minnows, leeches, insects, crayfish, meal worms, and of course the earth worm. The most popular of these trout baits has to be the worm. And the best big trout bait is crayfish. If you locate a large trout and fish for said trout with a live crayfish as bait, you're in good shape. If you happen to be a worm fisherman and you employ gang hooks to present your live worms, you'll also be in good shape. The important thing to remember with any "live" bait is that you want to present that bait in the most natural way possible. You want the live bait to look as much like it naturally would as you can. This is what's important about fishing with live bait.

Synthetic Trout Baits - Synthetic trout baits would include all of the baits that come is littler jars such as Powerbait, salmon eggs, corn, marshmallows, and cheese. I have little or no respect for these trout baits personally, but they do work. Especially when fishing for stocked trout. My friend and I have joked that they must feed stocked trout Powerbait when they are growing up, because they love the stuff so much. It almost seems as if stocked trout are addicted to Powerbait. As I said, I personally have a problem catching a fish on bait that looks like something my daughter would play with, but when the rivers are too high and muddy to fish, what are you going to do? Gang hooks and a bottom rig are a great way to present Powerbait as well. If you're using twice as many hooks and twice as much Powerbait, your chances of hooking up should double, right?

The bottom line is that the best trout bait is completely up to personal preference, but if you put a gun to my head and made me give an answer, the answer would be a live worm. Rigging a live worm on a set of gang hooks has always been my personal favorite trout bait. The combination has resulted in so many trout over the past 20 years, that my answer would be live worms rigged on gang hooks as my all time favorite, and therefore the best trout bait.

Return to Index

 

Copyright 2007 SunshineStateFishing.Com All Rights Reserved