Brook trout are members of the Char genus and are more closely related to lake trout than they are to brown and rainbow trout. Food Sources. (10) Switch lures often: Avoid falling in love with one lure. Nice article I live near Baxter. Bigger bait fish will significantly decrease your catch rate when it comes to brook trout. His fishing experience includes the use of fly rod and reel. Caught 4-5 small brookies – was amazing feeling. The following tips will show you how to catch rainbow trout, brown trout and brook trout at any lake. There are multiple approaches you can take for how to catch brown trout based on the region in which you live. Brook trout will be shallower in the spring and fall when the water temperature is cooler, but will go deeper in the summer in search of cool water. January 16, 2021 Required fields are marked *. I’m always amazed, but delighted, at how few people troll for trout in April or throughout the fall. Cloudy or unpleasant weather can also be a surprisingly good time to fish for brook trout. But want to improve. Go to 2-oz if your boat trolls a little fast. Most Maine anglers focus on catching brook trout through the ice in the winter and in open water when spring blooms in May and June. January 16, 2021. You’ll most likely have a pond or lake full of hungry brook trout all to yourself! The splake is an intrageneric hybrid between the brook trout and lake trout (S. namaycush).Although uncommon in nature, they are artificially propagated in substantial numbers for stocking into brook trout or lake trout habitats. A great way to make a moth-like lure is to 3 balls of power bait together. The best method to catch lake trout is deep-water trolling, but some anglers try their luck spin- or fly-fishing. As with any time you go fishing, remember that patience is key, and whenever you’re reeling in you should do it slowly and keep the tip of the rod above your head. Be sure to review the angling requirements and regulations in your area that will govern your endeavors, such as having a license to go brown trout fishing. Your email address will not be published. They evolved in isolated ponds with few other competitive fish species and continue to flourish in these types of waters. The second is another fishing pole with a regular spinning reel containing monofilament. Recently moved to maine and am trying to learn how to fish ponds. Don’t get me wrong: I’ve caught plenty of brookies trolling without a fish finder, but the odds always shift in my favor if I understand exactly how deep the water is and what structure lurks below. You’ll likely have the pond all to yourself! Get out on the water to troll for brook trout right after ice out and also in October and November. I used a canoe to troll this tiny pond early in the morning for native brook trout in Baxter State Park, Maine. During the summer most of the water is warm, so if there’s cold spots where spring water is pumped into the lake, that’s where you want to be. When the lakes are deep enough, Brook Trout are usually found in water 10 to 30 feet/3 to 10 meters deep. With exceptions, I do much of my trolling for brook trout either paddling my canoe or using my 12 ft/8 HP aluminum boat on water bodies that cover much less than 100 acres… Hence, trolling doesn’t require fancy equipment and can be practiced by anyone who owns a small craft. Stan: I troll Adirondack ponds with two fly rods at a time similar to the way you described your own brookie fishing. Adjust the size of the lure to the expected trout population: I’ll use smaller lures when trolling for native brookies in a small pond and switch to larger lures when trolling in a larger lake. Get out on the water to troll for brook trout right after ice out and also in October and November. Make sure to fish those lures at two different depths, e.g., the lead core line 10 ft down (say one color and a half) and the downrigger placed 15 or 20 ft down. For instance, the Mammoth Lakes Basin is stocked primarily with rainbow, brown, and brook trout. Lake trout are often very deep-living fish and it’s not uncommon to hook into them more than 100 feet down. Lots of good brook trout fishing. Best Lakes for Catching Trout This is trial and error of course, and I’ve found that in spring you want to be at around 20 feet, and up to 45 feet as the weather gets warmer. In locations where ponds freeze over, brook trout may be easiest to catch just after the ice melts, since they will be hungry. I’m always amazed, but delighted, at how few people troll for trout in April or throughout the fall. The fisherman needs to approach these areas with a minimum of disturbance, wait a little and then begin fishing. Stan. Brooke Wheeler Catches Trophy Rainbow Trout on Lake Lanier . Color is generally important insofar as calling attention to itself. You will catch 90 percent of the fish within 10 feet of shore. For example, you can use the: Mepps Aglia; small Mepps Syclops; gold and silver spoons and spinners. When you’re trying to catch trout in a lake from the shore, you usually need distance. If you’re not having any luck, try patrolling the lake for a while and see if you can get a nibble. By using light line, the line has less friction with the water and slices through so that your line goes down to the bottom without having lots of line out. As an Amazon Associate, Air Bed Comparisons earns from qualifying purchases. Brook trout are widely distributed from high mountain lakes to headwater tributaries. I’ll switch to the fly fishing rod with lead core and a spinning rod fishing a few feet below the surface with several split shots clipped in front of the two lures when I’m paddling my canoe alone and cannot work with a downrigger. To catch trout using spinning gear, select an ultralight or medium-weight spinning rod and reel combination to match your conditions. Your email address will not be published. This sliding-hook rig keeps the bait fish alive and lets it swim straight and true! So, instead of guessing where the lake trout are, tossing in your line and hoping for the best, a depth finder will put you on the fish faster.. This set-up is called a “sliding-minnow rig”. Try a technique of casting toward shore or along the shore followed by slow and partial retrieval of the bait … So, if I get a hit, I make it a point to figure out why by using the fish finder and then turn the boat around and troll right over that same area again, and again. Lakers have the same elongated bodies as the trout and salmon, but they grow larger than other charr species. If you do intend to keep the fish, make sure to only retain what you intend to eat. There are 65-85 pyloric caeca in the hybrid versus 93-208 in the lake trout and 23-55 in the brook trout. Brookies like slow moving water and and hang around undercroppings of the shore banks. She instinctively set the hook and the fight was on! The first lure is clipped to the actual fishing line, whereas the second lure is attached to the hook of the first one with two feet of monofilament. (7) Choose the right artificial lures: The available choice of trolling lures for brook trout in tackle stores is large, but typically boils down to spoons of different shapes and colors. Thank you for sharing your trolling experience. Brook trout are, by far, the most-popular salmonids caught in Maine waters. You can use spinners, soft plastics and smelly baits or fish eggs. According to AllAboutFishing.com, brown trout are the hardest trout to catch in the state and brook trout are the easiest. I’ve also noticed that reds, yellows and oranges appear to work well with this species, although bronze and silver are also popular. The trout likely hit because the lures passed over a submerged feature that held the fish down there in the first place. Happy fishing! Your article is the best I’ve ever seen on trolling for brook trout. Just cast out and find a way to mount the poles and start paddling? Because trout love the cold depths, they often can be found near each other even though they’re not schooling fish. A fish finder costing less than $100 will do just fine. Most Maine anglers focus on catching brook trout through the ice in the winter and in open water when spring blooms in May and June. Like all lovers, fishing is all about knowing the familiar fish. Or you can construct your own by searching YouTube for “sliding snell knot”. If you fish from shore, I would recommend finding a vantage point that allows you to case parallel to the shore. http://www.maine.gov/ifw/fishing/lakesurvey_maps/somerset/ironbound_pond.pdf, Ice fishing for brook trout on Knights Pond, South Berwick, York County, Maine (January 10, 2021), Ice fishing for brook trout on Chaffin Pond in Windham, Cumberland County, Maine (January 3, 2021), Fishing for brook trout and rainbow trout on Knickerbocker Lake in Boothbay, Lincoln County, Maine (November 29, 2020), Fishing for brook trout on Sewell Pond in Arrowsic, Sagadahoc County, Maine (November 27, 2020), Fishing for brook trout on Pinkham Pond in Alna, Lincoln County, Maine (November 27, 2020), Fishing for brook trout on Upper Hinkley Pond in South Portland, Cumberland County, Maine (November 21, 2020), Fishing for brook trout on Big Eddy Pond in Topsham, Sagadahoc County, Maine (November 7, 2020). Everything else being equal, brook trout will descend deeper into the water column when light levels are high and will ascend up the water column when light levels decrease due to cloud cover, or because the sun sinks below the horizon in the evening. Using a fish finder is the only consistent way to pinpoint most of these key features. (5) Re-troll over a structure that produced a hit: I can’t tell you how often this tactic has worked for me over the years. Nothing could be further from the truth!! Lake trout is not overly threatened by overfishing and predation, but its numbers have reduced in commercial la… I use two poles to troll when paddling my canoe. (9) Double up on your rods: Here’s more simple math: use two rods to quadruple (2 rods X 2 lures) your chances of catching a brook trout! Also keep in mind that if you’re not catching any trout, it’s because there’s none nearby. The tail is forked, and it has white leading edges across its lower fins and light-colored spots on a dark background. That’s our guide on trout fishing, hopefully you now know how to catch trout in a lake, or at least picked up a couple tips! Can you expand on how to troll in a Canoe? Best Brook Trout Lures. Therefore, one of my favorite type of lures to use for trout fishing at night are spinner or bladed lures. Subscribe today and join our fast growing fishermen community. Your blog author caught this beautiful 3.3 lbs. Weightless lures and spinners are generally consistent, and if you can get a lure which closely mimics their local feeding patterns, that’s even better. Trout thrive on different sources of food in different bodies of water in Colorado, at particular times of year. Plan a Deep Sea Fishing Trip in 2021 (With Packing List), Best Bait for Perch – Catch Yellow, White & Barred Surf Perch, Best Bait for Rainbow Trout – Rainbow Trout Fishing Tips, Best Bait for Rockfish – How to Catch Rockfish, Best Bait for Lake Trout – Learn To Catch More Lake Trout, Best Bait for Largemouth Bass Fishing – How To Catch More Bass. Before you can catch a lake trout, you need to find the lake trout. Try different colors, shapes, and sizes until the brook trout tell you what triggers their interest that day. Pro Tip! My best luck is using an all black small panther martin. If you catch one, there’s bound to be more nearby! Big trout will bite the bait and then slowly swim away, while small trout will swim away furiously. Other than that, the same light tackle that is recommended for lake fishing works well for brook trout. Guides Two to two and a half inches is the general sweet spot. There is nothing worse than wedging a trolling weight in between submerged boulders… Knowing the exact depth at any one time also allows one to quickly raise the lures to avoid getting hooked on the bottom. Trout can weigh over 35 pounds, so if you know you’re going to a lake where there will be some huge fish, be sure to grab a heavier rod. First, you need know where you’re going and how big you expect the fish to be. (12) Adjust your trolling depth: Brook trout, like all other fish, don’t have pupils in their eyes to regulate the amount of light that hits their retinas. (3) Use a fish finder: Proper trolling requires a fish finder in order to find underwater structure (see next tip) and minimize the chances of getting stuck on those structures. Was up in North Maine woods last weekend and went out on a canoe with my son. The lead core allows me to place my lures from about 5 ft (one color down) up to about 30 ft (five or six colors down) below the surface. Here’s everything you need to know to get the most out of your time! morning is the time they like to feed. Many approaches are available to catch these beautiful fish during the open-water season, such as spinner fishing, worm fishing, or fly fishing. How to catch lake trout A Depth Finder is your Best Friend. Getting out to the deep parts of lake can hep a lot, as can Spoons, spinners, and crankbaits are three great types of lure to catch trout in a lake from the shore. These features provide great ambush sites, offer shade and protection, and attract numerous prey items. This could mean tossing live bait or lures upstream of deep holes and allow the current to direct your bait to the trout. Brook trout are an introduced fish species that were first stocked in the early 1900s. This issue is particularly pertinent when trolling < 10 ft deep, close to shore, or in shallow vegetated areas in smaller ponds and lakes. , by the way, works equally well in larger lakes an hour bass was by! 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