Fishing for Rainbow Trout
Fishing for rainbow trout is actually amongst many people's most favorite of pastimes. Many anglers from all walks of life and fishing experience will try their hand at catching this beautiful species of fish all year round. There are many ways and locations to catch rainbow trout, for example, from the shore of a lake, the banks of a flowing stream or river, from a boat or punt and even when the water is iced over, where ever and when ever you choose to fish for rainbow trout you will find it an extremely popular arm of the fishing world. In this article I will talk about rainbow trout as a species and also some of the techniques employed when attempting to catch them.
Rainbow trout love the clear and cool waters of rivers and streams, however, they will tolerate warmer, silty environments also. Given the choice they prefer a water temperature ranging from 55 degrees to 60 degrees, however, they will stand water temperatures either side of their preference. When spring arrives and the water starts to warm up, adult fish head for shallow rippling water or flowing clear rivers or streams to spawn. This spawning activity is often seen later in the year, even as late as June. Until around three years old, the rainbow trout will eat crustaceans and water bourne insects as their main source of nutrition. After three years they generally head for larger expanses of water where they feed on small fish, larger insects and they have even been know to eat small rodents.
Before and after spawning are the most beneficial times to fish for rainbow trout, that is, in the spring and later in the year in the fall. At these times the fish is ravenous and will go for a variety of baits such as spinners, spoons, jigs, flies and live bait.
Probably the two most popular baits amongst the many used to tempt the rainbow trout are small lures and live bait such as worms, grasshoppers, leeches, maggots, minnows and small frogs. As with many fishing techniques it is very important to mimic the natural behavior of the fishes prey to entice them to your hook. When using worms, for example, to gain a natural look it is an idea to use gang hooks. If you want to catch that prize winning rainbow trout you need to make your bait as natural and convincing to the fish as possible.
There are a plethora of lures to choose from and common choices for the rainbow trout angler are rooster tails, spinners, minnow plugs and jigs to name but a few. The smaller lures are best to use, somewhere around a quarter of an ounce maybe less. Don't worry about using small lures, chances are you will catch some big fish on a small lure. I think one great tip, and I say this from experience, is to have plenty of lures in your tackle box as you may find that you lose a couple of lures when they snag up somewhere and if you don't have back up, your day has ended.
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