How to catch trophy stream trout

1. Location. Majority of streams have an average of one trout per mile 20″ or larger. Some streams have none. You need to look for warmer water, often non-designated water. Do you want to catch 20 12″ trout or do you want to catch one 20″+ trout? I prefer the monsters. Consider fishing the lower ends of the rivers. Big trout have a large surface area and can withstand warmer water. Big trout may even live with other warm water species such as northern pike, or even catfish.

2. Food. Let’s face it a 6 lb trout is not interested in flies. He is interested in eating other trout, chubs, frogs, mice, you name it. Sipping #24 tricos would be a waste of time for this fish. Call me a Neanderthal, but consider live bait. I know many who have caught giant trout on crawlers. Better yet, catch chubs or suckers and use a 3-4″ tail with a larger hook such as a #2. If you are worried about mortality, consider a circle hook. For lures I like a #5 brown trout rap. I also like #6 or #9 Panther Martin deluxe all silver. For fly fishing use a streamer, wolly bugger, or even a mouse pattern. Something big and meaty looking…

3. Timing. Big trout are survivors. They are not going to take chances by being eaten by predators. Fish at low light. This means a one our before sunrise or one hour after sunset.

4. Approach. Stealth mode. When you find a hole with big fish you want to approach with extreme caution. Crawl through the grass. Remember a fish has a V shaped cone of vision looking up. If you are up on tall banks they will see you. In this situation, better to slowly wade from downstream up. Learn from the great blue heron.

5. Patience. Don’t give up so easily. If you spot fish and find some big ones and know they are there, stick it out. Don’t go hole hopping. Better to stay cool. Patience is a virtue, especially when fishing for trophy trout in low light. My experience tells me big trout are territorial. In larger river systems, some may migrate to spring seeps in the heat of the summer, however majority of time trout live in the same hole year after year. Take a big one out, the next biggest one moves in to stake his claim.

6. Gear. I used 10-12lb mono or braided line. I used a medium-heavy action IM6 blank pole that has plenty of muscle to keep a big trout out of the log jams. Leave the 2wt for the 10″ trout. Braided line casts a mile and IMHO is the best because it is very sensitive. Spinning reels with a good drag system also critical. Give your closed face reel to a kid. With spinning reels, you get what you pay for.

Hope to build onto this and looking for input from others!

alot of good info there, that will help alot of people get there PB

Great information
Thanks for taking the time to share

I really need to find the time to head south to chase some trout again.

Ron

Good post I prefer to use a 2-3 inch silver and black countdown rapala in areas that had trees fall into the river with rapids and alot cuurent flowing into the trees. All my fish have come fro mone certain non designated river that has a cold spring coming out of the hill side about 3 miles from a trout stream.

When I fish for trout rapalas are one of my favorite big trout lures also. I prefer to use the size 9 floating though. Over the years the Rebel Wee Craws have produced a fair amount of trout also.

Interesting that you use a MH rod for trout. I used to use a ML but switched to a light rod when I started using the no stretch lines. I was ripping the hooks out with the ML. Do you use the heavier rod with lures also or only with bait?

I thought you were going to say by the mouth. I do agree they like a substantial meal but my biggest brownie ever 22 inches in a small SW Wisconsin stream took a well presented scud fly which was the smallest fly I ever owned.

Great comments. I’m going back to my sweet spot tonight again. I will give the silver/black rap a try. I have yet to bring this one along for some reason. Have had best luck with brown trout rap #5 countdown. Want to buy the jointed floating version too. Hard to find in the stores. I also have a sliver/neon blue countdown that has never had a bite. I also have a Husky Jerk neon blue/orange that caught one stocker rainbow.

Don’t get me wrong, big fish eat flies too. They are opportunists. I switched over to spin and bait fishing because I got tired of breaking off on big trout on 5x or 6x tippet. Hopper season is coming up too and big boys will be pounding these late afternoon, early evening. I’m ready for that.

I don’t have a problem feeling the strikes/taps with IM6 medium-heavy. With crawlers, chub tails, or spining tackle, they smash it hard and the game is one. I do count to five for bait before I pull up slack and set hook. You will see them run with it. Braided line does not stretch and to me I can feel the direct connection to the fish. That is one thing I love about it aside from it’s ability to cast a mile.

I primarily fly fished for 13 years and I was always under the impression you needed light line, even fluorocarbon because trout spook easily. Maybe when presenting a fly. However with a lure or bait they are going to make a quick decision. Smash it or not. That is why I do a fast retrieve too. The fish has to commit. Later in the fall or very early spring when the water is near freezing you want to do slower retrieves because the fish are sluggish due to water temp. Otherwise I my reel is a 6:2:1 retrieve and I reel in at a medium pace.

Aside from location I think stealth is key. Stay out of the water. Stay away from tall banks. Circle around to to your spot. Determine the best angle to cast from factoring in the current. Do not wade in the middle of the stream and expect to catch a big fish. Avoid crunching gravel. Make sure your shadow is behind you, not in front of you in the pool. You are stalking the trout like a great blue heron. Ever watch one of these birds? They move VERY slowly. Sometimes once you crawl into position take a breather. Watch what is going on. Don’t just start casting. Often times your first cast should be your best cast because they will hit once or twice. After that you can cast until you are blue in the face and they may never bite. That or you take a 10 minute break or take a nap on shore and try again if you are limited to only 1-2 key pools in the river stretch you are fishing.

Great info and very helpful. You do gotta admit though, that catching one of them big ones on the UL with 4-6lb test is probably the best adrenaline fix you can get. Long time to fight the fish but a great rush and due to the lack of human travel on most streams I fish its dang near the only way to get through the woods

Htownriverrat you make a good point. My problem with smaller reels designed for 4-6lb the gear ratio is too small so you have to crank like mad to keep up with the current. If I could find an UL with a high gear ratio, I’d try on bigger rivers. At least where I fish there are a lot of places to break off – root wads, downed trees. I need a backbone to muscle them away from this stuff.

More importantly I’m interested in landing the fish ASAP so I can release in good shape. Play a fish for too long and lactic acid builds up and the fish might belly up from exhaustion. Don’t get me wrong, I love to eat trout but prefer those that fit in the frying pan. That and it is best to let the big trout go so they can continue to pass their good genes.
If a trout looks like it is not going to make it, I’ll keep it because I’d rather not feed the coons. If you see red, it is dead. Gill hook and/or bleeding, chances are it will not make it.

Hey scudly, nice to see you on a new forum. I enjoyed your post on big trout techniques, but would say my preference for stream trout is to skip the braided line and stick with mono. I’m a big fan of braided, but I do a LOT of deep jigging for lake trout where line stretch is a bad thing.

For big stream trout I believe a medium action rod with a spinning reel loaded with 6 lb mono is a powerful tool.

If you use a medium weight rod and mono (4 or 6 lb test) you have enough beef to set the hook, but not so much that you rip it from the fish. I have an ultralight rod I have used for small stream spinning, but with stretchy 4 lb mono, I lose a lot of fish due to the combo of line stretch and “soft” rod.

Good luck fishing tonight!

cutthroat,

Great to see you on this site and thanks for registering.

So I have the medium heavy action pole set up with 12lb mono. Last of the close faced reels for me. Rhino. Seems to outlast other closed faced I’ve had. I mostly use this one for the bait fishing.

Other pole has a 10lb braided on a Shimano side stab (entry level) and I use this to throw spinners more, sometimes raps. Usually have it set for a swivel so I can put on whatever. Casts a mile. The pole set up with this is actually set for 2-8lb line. IMHO, would like stiffer but just picked this Rapala pole based on name brand and price.

One thing I just learned is when using a closed faced rod with a spinner, this put tremendous twist on the line. Fishing with a spinner better to used open faced.

With my setup, would you do things differently? Since braided does not stretch, best to have a light-medium action? Much more whippy.

To date all the big boys were caught on the medium-heavy with 12 lb mono and I’m thankful for that. Bait fishing pole works fine. I can feel the line with my fingers or pull up until tension to watch the tip twitch. Sensitive enough.

BTW, was in Caledonia and stopped at ALCO (next to Dollar General). That place is cool. Has a bit of everything. Can tell the locals stick fish based on fishing tackle area. All kinds of stick fishing supplies like bells, circle hooks, etc.

ive been fishing power pro the last two years. love the way it casts and love to bait fish with it. what i dont like is this year i build a new rod that has titanium guides and when i fish raps the line makes a lot of noise. caught three fish over 20″ on it with braid last year but on a different rod with different guides. wonder if this has to do with the low numbers of fish and size of fish ive been catching lately. think ill go back to the gamma 6# mono next year.

Fanatic!

Thanks for joining this thread.

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what i dont like is this year i build a new rod that has titanium guides and when i fish raps the line makes a lot of noise. caught three fish over 20″ on it with braid last year but on a different rod with different guides. wonder if this has to do with the low numbers of fish and size of fish ive been catching lately.

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I’ve got a lot to learn on braided. I have noticed the same thing. More noise reeling in and casting. That braided makes a weird sifting type of noise on my ceramic guides. Wonder though if a fish can really hear that? Sometimes when I click my bail abruptly I’ve seen fish scatter. Maybe more in tune than one thinks. Folks says fish cannot hear as much sound on top of water versus below water. Gravel crunch versus the muffled sound of two fisherman talking above. My hunch tells me that in a dead silent situation on less traveled water you will have skittish fish that pick up on subtle sounds. Versus common water that is pounded, the fish are more accustomed to fisherman.