If you read my previous post, you will know where to find them, and you’ll also know that trout are aggressive, opportunistic hunters. But they are smart!
Fly fishing is a method that has been developed primarily for trout, but has now extended to other species. Also fly fishing is not the only way to catch a trout. Since I’m not fond of fly fishing, I focus on casting and trolling lures, and bait fishing.
As well as being smart, trout are also moody, so you should try multiple tactics – different coloured lures, different depths, rattles, and varying speeds.
Trout generally feed on other fish, as well as insects and their larvae. Adult trout will devour smaller fish up to 1/3 their length. Hence, the minnow lure is the best lure to try. Or you can try live bait, or even the traditional worms usually work well.
Lures
Similar lures can be used for casting or for trolling. Just check the best speed for your lure. Also, some lures are better for casting than trolling, because you can achieve much more of a jerky retrieval. Cracking or working a lure often helps to attract a trout. The more it is jerked through the water, the more it sends out a pulse that will attract a fish. The more the lure is worked, the further away you can attract fish from.
Diving minnows or surface minnows, vibes or rattles, and particularly suspending minnows work well casting. With a suspension minnow, you can vary and work your lure greatly, and not have the lure sink or surface when you pause it.
Particularly after rain, when the water is a little discoloured and there’s more feed in the water, fish are much more opportunistic. They will take a lure if they can find it, and they will smash it. So this is when working the lure, or having a rattle can really help.
When trolling, the more lures you can have out the better (within fishing regulations). Stagger the lines when trolling, and use lures at different depths. Make sure all your lures swim well at the same speed.
Have the swallow surface lure the furtherest from the boat – about 60-75m. Then have a diving minnow, which will get your medium depth, at a medium distance from the boat. Finally, have a Tassie Devil on a deep rigged rod as well, to get your deepest depth. Use a variety of colours, and keep rotating the colours. Don’t worry if you pass over the same spot a number of times, you just might not have found the right lure speed and colour for that moody fish!
Live bait
Worms always work well, at dawn or at dusk particularly. Just a simply rig, bouncing a sinker in the mud to stir up the fish. I tend to catch fewer fish, but bigger fish on worms.
With lures and flies, we are trying to imitate the diet of the trout, so they will take the bait. Trout usually eat large galaxias minnows and gudgeons. So, catch some gudgeons in a small net overnight with a bit of bait. Then use a live gudgeon on your rig.
Have a sinker about a metre up the line, so your gudgeon can swim around. Put the gudgeon on a small hook through his back so his swimming is not effected. Whilst you’re casting a lure with your other rod, just have a rod sitting out with your gudgeon swimming about – a natural prey for the big trout that you want.
