New to trout fishing what should I try?

[DIESELDAN]

There is a small lake near my cabin stocked with brook and rainbow trout I'm just wondering what would be my best method to catch a few trout. I will be fishing from a boat with my 6 year old son who is very excited to catch a trout I told him they fight like crazy, would love to see the little guy catch his first trout,any help would be great thanx DieselDan

[JBMasterAngler]

Trout fishing can actually be pretty simple. Mepps spinners sizes 2 or smaller...colors - black/white, red/white, orange, firetiger, silver. The 3 smallest size rapala floating minnows. I prefer natural colors, but bright flourescent ones can work too. Small spoons in just about any color. And of course the ol' reliable, worm under a bobber.

[Redlantern]

All those ideas JB has work well. When I fish in stocked streamer lakes, sometimes I use half a crawler along with an artificial salmon egg, bright orange under a slip bobber. I also started using yellow sparkle wigglers with my crawlers. Trouble with them is they get sparkly stuff on your face and your daughter teases you about it.

This weekend the #3 firetiger rapala worked great for me while trolling. Seemed the rainbows would strike whenever I would turn my canoe or slow down.

Jb, how'd the test go?

[Scudly]

One thing I learned from the local north shore residents last summer is you do not necessarily have to leave worm on the bottom. I fished trout ponds off Gunflint Trail that are 15-25 feet deep. Early am if you see wakes that means they cruising on top looking for stuff to eat. Bobber set to 3' and a #8 hook with small split above. Use 2" worth of crawler. Just fishing from shore I would cast out and the bows would slam it. You could see a wake, throw to the left or right of the wake, not on top of their head. Worth a try. Not sure how deep your lake is.

I also enjoy Panther Martin spinners. All silver or all gold. Or black body yellow spots or yellow body red spots are killer. Size 6 and 9 are great.

Or if you have a fly rod might be a good place to teach your kids. Only the boat and yourselves to get hung up on. I hear some lakes have a prolific Hex hatch in late June through mid-July. Is this true? Enough pines fall in the lakes to create silt?

Good luck! Report back with photos please.

[Irish]

I am also new to trout fishing and was wondering what type of rod to use for fishing small streams. I have a 5'6 UL and a 6'6 M. I know something right in between these would be perfect but I don't really want to buy another rod.

[grate8]

they're not bad if fishing small water for small trout use ul

bigger water where trout may be biger then 16 iches need medium

[Nate McVey]

There's a small lake in the UP of Michigan that my dad and I fished on opener every year. We shore fished it casting small silver and gold Little Cleos and hammered the rainbows.

[Redlantern]

Irish, that 5'6" Ultra light will be perfect. Four pound line and you're set.

[Scudly]

Your UL or medium will be fine. As for line I suggest 6lb or greater for stream trout. Usually reels set for line smaller than this do not have a fast enough retrieve. Casting upstream ideal a 6:1 retrieve suggested. Personally I never fish lower than 10lb and I use braided Firewire or

Spiderwire (crystal or low vis green) - stream trout

fishing.

Fishing lakes you can get away with 4lb. Just be sure your reel has a fast enough ratio or you will be cranking away like mad when you fish spinners and spoons.

[DIESELDAN]

Took out my dad and son sunday we did really well with my son catching the largest fish of the day a 15 1/2" rainbow. Quite a fight on a superman pole! Also I know my dad had a great time hes 77 and been a avid fisherman his whole life but has never fished trout, hes already talking about doing it again. Thanx for the pointers guys! I'm pretty computer challenged so I'll try to get my wife to post a couple of pics.

[Scudly]

Glad you had success and your old man had fun too.

Quote:

I'm pretty computer challenged so I'll try to get my wife to post a couple of pics.

An easy way to share photos on message boards is photobucket. It has the code built in...

[MN Shutterbug]

Great report. Kudos to you. To learn how to post pics, go here. I'm looking forward to the pics.