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Trout Tactics, how to target trout species.

Rainbow & Brown Trout Lure Fishing.

Author: Ultimate Fishing Date Published: 2nd of June 2014 at 03:56am

Fishing for trout is a popular fishing activity all around the world, in Australia we have come to love these introduced fish, so much so that state governments regularly stock them into lakes across the country. Trout are normally not active in warmer weather however, during our summer they regularly stick to the bottom of lakes and rivers hibernating until the cooler weather appears again. Their natural habitat ranges from cold to almost freezing, so they aren't perfectly suited to Australian waterways. However, their hardiness to tolerate and hibernate during extreme heat where most other fish would die means they are a very good investment for recreational fish stocking.

The most common method of catching trout is the humble spin lure, the spin lure was actually created in response to a home made invention first discovered when fishing for trout in America, with some design changes and trial and error, this gave birth to the spin lures we still see on the market today. Different brands of spin lures normally don't matter, the design has been so well refined that even the lowest cost spin lures are just as effective as the most expensive. The benefit of spin lures is ease of use along with a range of possible retrieve methods, when fishing from the banks of lakes or rivers, you can either cast and retrieve so the lure is moving in mostly a straight path back to you, while staying at a depth set by your retrieve speed, or you can allow the lure to sink and retrieve slowly, followed with a flick on the line to rise again, then repeat this process.

Spin lures for trout in deeper waters when fishing from a boat or kayak can take on a different method entirely, the lure can be dropped vertically to the bottom, then retrieved upwards to about 2 foot, then allowed to sink again, repeating this method can produce an excellent result and the benefit of this is you can use much lighter weight and lower cost spin lures, as the ability of these lures to spin when retrieved vertically is greater than trying to spin horizontally. For retrieving from the banks a heavier weight is required to produce the spin effect as the lure is returning across the water, when fishing from a mostly vertical position the weight on the lure is perfectly placed, meaning lighter weight is often better.

Catching trout on blades is something not many people consider, they are most commonly caught using spin lures or regular baits such as worms and corn. However when other methods aren't producing fish, using a blade may actually surprise you. The methods of use for blades are a little different to a spin lure, as there is a lot of weight in the lure itself, and no spin action to keep it suspended in the water, you will need to retrieve the lure faster to stop it from hitting the bottom of the water. For kayak or boat fishing, the blade offers the ability to cast long distances and sink faster, snag possibilities are lower due to you being in the middle of the water source and snags on foliage can normally be rectified by moving the kayak or boat towards the direction of the snag, for underwater reeds this causes the plant to strip in a straight line upwards, releasing the lure, where as the same snag if fishing from the banks usually doesn't offer the same effect.

Trout tend to attack lures which are slower moving, but a lure moving fast will draw more attention, so for trout fishing on lures, the recommended retrieve method is the slow retrieve followed by quick jerks of the rod upwards every few seconds, after jerking the rod the line will become slack, so upon lowering the fishing rod again reel the line back in until you can feel tension restored, continue reeling the lure in slowly after this and then add another quick upward jerk on the road again, this will usually produce the best effect and the most fish for your outing.

View more articles in our Australian Fishing Guide.

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