Trout on lures

[Krang]

Anyone else into targeting trout on lures? I love it. Generally i think its not the easiest fishing. Though that depends where you are. For me it took a lot of reading and exploration. I recommend getting a copy of Trout in Dirty Places by Theo Pike. It set me in the right direction and I found some free trout fishing not too far from where I live.

I find very small lures work very nicely. In most situations I use floating so I can trot them downstream for a longer retrieve. Works like a charm. The smallest of the Rapala floaters are my go to but I like the countdowns and Yo-Zuri snap bean for deeper pools. Theyre both sinking. Never mastered the Tasmanian Devil but will be giving that some renewed effort when I'm out again.

Any thoughts/tips?

 

[David Gane]

I've caught a few trout on lures and spinners, but I've never targeted them.

 

[Krang]

I've caught a few trout on lures and spinners, but I've never targeted them.

Few people seem to in this country. Though I've seen a few videos on YouTube of people targeting them with spinners here it seems much more common in Australia and the US. The Tasmanian devil is an Australian specialist trout lure.

The UK has this course/game distinction which doesn't really exist in other places from what I can see. But there's no real reason for us to conform to it. I hope lure fishing for trout becomes more popular leading to more venues catering to the growing section of the market.

They're a really beautiful fish and targeting them is a good challenge, particularly in small streams where you're working around lots of cover. It can really test your casting.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

There is every reason to conform to the differences between coarse and fly fishing, and you would receive very short shrift if you tried casting lumps of metal to the trout on the beats here in the south . . . .

As someone who has spent his life fishing the USA, Canada all over Scandavia and most of Europe, (as well as here in the uk) I can assure you that the "differences" are observed in all of those places.

 

[Krang]

There is every reason to conform to the differences between coarse and fly fishing, and you would receive very short shrift if you tried casting lumps of metal to the trout on the beats here in the south . . . .

As someone who has spent his life fishing the USA, Canada all over Scandavia and most of Europe, (as well as here in the uk) I can assure you that the "differences" are observed in all of those places.

Looks to me like they're observed only by fly fishermen. But unlike here they're a minority within trout fishing. Maybe not in all places but as a general rule.

Not a particularly well regarded minority either.

You're saying that lure anglers in Australia and the US, avoid trout because they think their fishing is "course" and trout is "game"?

 

[Peter Jacobs]

No, what I am saying is that in my experience in those countries bait and fly anglers are very different and discrete groups.

In northern Norway most of the rivers are segregated with regard to lure and fly anglers, and the same is true in Sweden and indeed most of Canada. Here on the chalk streams of the south I know of no beats for lure anglers at all.

There remains a huge and lucrative market for those of us who want to cast a particular fly, to a particular fish on a particular beat rather than thrash the water into a foam using a lure or spinner of some description.

 

[Krang]

No, what I am saying is that in my experience in those countries bait and fly anglers are very different and discrete groups.

In northern Norway most of the rivers are segregated with regard to lure and fly anglers, and the same is true in Sweden and indeed most of Canada. Here on the chalk streams of the south I know of no beats for lure anglers at all.

There remains a huge and lucrative market for those of us who want to cast a particular fly, to a particular fish on a particular beat rather than thrash the water into a foam using a lure or spinner of some description.

The difficulty find a venue is why I recommend Theo Pikes book. It can be hard actually finding somewhere to fish for them. *cough*newbury*cough*

I don't tend to use spinners for trout BTW. I've nothing against people who do its just a personal preference for small hard plastics that can be retrieved in a variety of ways so suit a particular situation.

A quick search for videos on the topic reveals that trout on lures is much more widely practiced outside the UK.

 

[Krang]

https://m.youtube.com/results?search_query=Troit+lures

TA fishing is British. The others aren't tho.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Looking at your posing history it appears that you have a propensity for "last-word-itus" so from my side I'll simply say that I will agree to disagree with you on this topic.

 

[Krang]

 

[sylvanillo]

I fished for trout using lures for many, many years.
Many pics on my blog - if you find it useful?! petit-pecheur.net
There are very, very different lures for trout and with them very different techniques.
One which notably differs is ultra light spinning, where the angler attacks the trout from downstream. Short rods, small reels, waders. Round or oval spinners, small cranks, imitations of insects etc.
The other techniques, which normally require to attack the trout from upstream and therefore call for super discretion from the bank, are:
- Hard lures - an infinity of them, with the Rapala original floating 3 and 5 cm, and sinking (countdown) 3 and 5, being good examples;
- Undulating spoons - think of Syclops, Syclops Lite and Syclops S or Tobys
- Devon

I love undulating spoons and devons because of the casting accuracy they allow, and the different levels of water I can cover in one go.

As others have mentioned the issue in the Uk will be to find a venue. Not only we don't have much trout but the private clubs often do fly only; the bylaws may let you fish on fly or lure from 1st of April but clubs generally let you do fly only (and then from 16th of June, any technique IF you're lucky!!)

Hope its useful and make you dream during lockdown!!!

 

[sylvanillo]

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[John Keane]

I first started fishing for trout with worms in a small North Wales stream, eventually got up to the lake that fed the stream and starting chucking Mepps at them and found it too easy, a fish a chuck, no skill involved. Took up fly fishing and never looked back.

 

[flightliner]

I much prefer to deceive a trout with a fly. I have caught a few using small silver spinners on a large Sheffield res' when back in the day they were stocked during the close season but, before the season was open again any angler would be hard pressed to catch any never mind one has they had all been caught.
Going home on the last bus to Sheffield in the first few days many anglers had a basket or bag full of em.
In short they were dead easy, no skill req'd whatsoever, no challenge.
So, years later after being introduced to fly fishing it soon became evident that all the negatives I'd experienced years earlier quickly turned into fascinating positives.
In short krang, sorry but not for me.

 

[Krang]

I first started fishing for trout with worms in a small North Wales stream, eventually got up to the lake that fed the stream and starting chucking Mepps at them and found it too easy, a fish a chuck, no skill involved. Took up fly fishing and never looked back.

Did you find it easier than catching chub with a Mepps? I have always considered them quite similar in terms of difficulty. Perch and Pike are easier. They're everywhere and are sometimes difficult not to catch when you're targeting something else. Yet I know of nobody that says "chub, pike and perch are all too easy on lures". So why are trout different? Do you find trout on lures easier than other fish on lures or is there some other reason?

 

[Krang]

I much prefer to deceive a trout with a fly. I have caught a few using small silver spinners on a large Sheffield res' when back in the day they were stocked during the close season but, before the season was open again any angler would be hard pressed to catch any never mind one has they had all been caught.
Going home on the last bus to Sheffield in the first few days many anglers had a basket or bag full of em.
In short they were dead easy, no skill req'd whatsoever, no challenge.
So, years later after being introduced to fly fishing it soon became evident that all the negatives I'd experienced years earlier quickly turned into fascinating positives.
In short krang, sorry but not for me.

I've never caught a stocked trout so don't know about that. The trout I catch are not very easy to catch relative to other fish on lures. I buy lures that I think will be effective, use ones that turn out to be effective and buy more of those ones if I lose them. For me the fun is feeling the tug of a fish on your line, the hit of adrenaline and the battle that follows. If I wanted to make it harder, catch less fish and have less fun I could save a lot of money and buy really cheap lures from Amazon.

 

[sylvanillo]

(Sorry for the weird post above, I wanted to edit it with a pic of the lure box given that anglers won't go fishing in a while apparently, and I ended with a wrong cc-paste..) mg:

 

[sylvanillo]

I first started fishing for trout with worms in a small North Wales stream, eventually got up to the lake that fed the stream and starting chucking Mepps at them and found it too easy, a fish a chuck, no skill involved. Took up fly fishing and never looked back.

Fishing with worms is perfect choice at the start of the season, theres nothing more attractive than a juicy red worm hmmm
Unfortunately baits are prohibited until mid June. In all other countries I have been living it was allowed !?

Basically i started with nymphs for this reason. Becomes prolific a bit later in the trout season so I kept doing it all year. Catches superb chub and all species.

I found Mepps spinners are a super technique but it's interesting when you can really enjoy a wild, sporty combination of hiking and fishing into lost streams in a mountain.... Uncommon in the UK!

 

[flightliner]

Krang, sorry but am unable to quote you .
The way you choose to take a Trout is entirely your choice of course.
You say it's fun the way you do it, it was the same for me before my conversion having used the fly,it was so much more satisfying.
Fun is good but mostly only temporary but satisfaction is much more permanent .
You should take time out to try (fly fishing) it sometime!

 

[Krang]

Krang, sorry but am unable to quote you .
The way you choose to take a Trout is entirely your choice of course.
You say it's fun the way you do it, it was the same for me before my conversion having used the fly,it was so much more satisfying.
Fun is good but mostly only temporary but satisfaction is much more permanent .
You should take time out to try (fly fishing) it sometime!

I can't imagine why I'd find it more satisfying. I think it would feel like using a poor tool and be very frustrating. Like trying to cut down a tree with a really small saw or using a wrong sized screwdriver. I'd see an awesome fish, miss it and know that I could've got it with a lure. I'd spend more time waving the rod back and forth and spend the whole time wishing that I could use a spinning reel and feeling bad for supporting the people that often make it very hard to do that. I suspect because they know that flyonlyism is all that motivates most people to take up fly fishing. Without it people could exercise freedom of choice and fish how they really liked. If fly fishing really is so satisfying why can't it survive in a free market of methods?