Yo-Zuri Snap Beans

Description: Yo-Zuri Snap Beans are a sinking crankbait that  have oversized and highly visible eyes that help trigger strikes. Made from durable molded plastic. They come in two packs. One is 1/32 oz. and the other is 1/16 oz. Both ultra light lures are a little under an inch long.

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Norman Lures Deep Tiny N

Description: Norman Lures Deep Tiny N is a diving crankbait that consistently runs between 4 and 6 feet deep. The length of these lures is 1-1/2″ and they weigh 1/8 oz.

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Worden’s Original FlatFish

Descrition: The Worden’s Original FlatFish is a popular crankbait for a wide variety of fish. It was a wide wobbling action that is irresistible. Go with the F-sizes for UL fishing. They range from 1″ to about 2-1/4″.

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Yo-Zuri Pin’s Minnow

Description: Yo-Zuri Pin’s Minnows come in floating and suspending. They have a narrow profile and are 2-3/4″ long and weigh 3/16 oz. These ultra light lures come in a variety of popular colors including Rainbow Trout and Blue Shiner.

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Rapala CountDown

Description: Rapala CountDown are a sinking crankbait that sink at about 1 foot per second. This is great for suspended fish since you can “count down” your lure to the proper depth. For ultralight fishing, use Rapala CountDowns that are between 1″ and 2-3/4″.

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Strike King Bitsy Pond Minnow

Description: Strike King Bitsy Pond Minnows are a great little crankbait for UL fishing. They are 1-1/4′ long and weigh 1/8 oz. The reflective eyes on this lure may give it a slight advantage over other mini-crankbaits.

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Rebel Crickhopper

Description: The Rebel Crickhopper is a crankbait that is meant to imitate a cricket or grasshopper. It’s great for the summer months when insects fall into the water. It dives up to 3 feet deep, is 1-1/2″ long, and 3/32 oz. in weight.

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This is possibly the new world record brown trout. It’s 41.45 pounds and measures 43.75 inches. It was caught by Thomas Healy of Rockford, Michigan with a crankbait.

If certified, the trout would beat the existing world record by over a pound and the Michigan State record by over 4 pounds. There was no immediate word about whether Healy planned to submit the fish for record status.

                          

The single most important thing you need to know about catching trout in the summer is: Trout are a cool water fish. They prefer cooler water than any other game fish. You will need to find those cool “pockets” of water to find active trout. Knowing this you will understand the following tips for trout fishing in the summer.

Tip # 1: Fish deeper. That’s where the trout are. When the summer sun heats the water, it warms the shallows and the surface water the most. The deeper water is cooler and more comfortable for trout.

Tip # 2: Fish during the early mornings or late evenings. These are the times of day when the water temperature goes down a few degrees causing the trout to become more active. Also, in the mornings and evenings you don’t have that blazing hot and bright sun directly overhead.

Tip # 3: Slow down your presentation. Trout may become sluggish (slow and lazy) during the hot summer months so it’s best to slow down your lures and flies. You should be rewarded with more strikes.

Tip # 4: Fish on cloudy days. Trout are more active when they get the much needed relief from the hot summer sun.

Tip # 5: Fish in the shade. The water temp in the shade is usually a little cooler than directly under the sun. Look for structure that provides shade like: vegetation, underwater humps, submerged trees/brush, and drop offs.

These trout fishing tips have helped me catch more trout during the summer months. I would be bringing in my limit while other anglers didn’t do nearly as well. I attribute my summer trout fishing success to these very tips. I’m sure they will work for you.

                          

Wow! Look at the size of that brook trout (also known as: speckled trout, square tail, and coaster trout). That thing is HUGE! The average brookie length is about 12-16 inches and weight is about 1 pound. This fish FAR exceeds the average size for the species.

The brook trout was 29 inches in length and had a 21 inch girth. That’s one thick fish! Based on the brook trout weight calculation formula, this fish was about 16 pounds. That’s about 1.5 pounds more than the previous world record.

Too bad this brook trout is not officially recognized as a world record by the IGFA. The reasons are: 1) It wasn’t weighed, only measured. 2) Since it was released, the size could not be verified. I bet Tim Matheson (the angler that caught the fish) is pretty bummed out about that. Oh well, at least we can look at bright side. There is a world record brook trout still swimming around somewhere waiting to be caught. Maybe…

                          

I was reading an article about the “Top Trout Lures” on OutdoorLife.com and would have to agree with their selection. Here is what I have to say about those lures when it comes to fishing for the larger brown trout.

Spoons – Spoons are definitely great for covering alot of water. There is something about them that the large brown trout just can’t seem to resist. You can retrieve them at any speed, jig them, and twitch them. I would recommend 2-3 inch spoons (not including the hook) for the larger browns.

Spinners – Probably the most popular type of lure out there, spinners are also great for enticing strikes from large brown trout. I would suggest to experiment with different colors and styles in the #2 or #3 blade sizes.

Rapalas – Bait fish imitation lures like Rapalas are great for catching large brown trout. This is because only the larger fish target bait fish as a food source. My personal favorites are the Rapala Countdowns in natural looking colors like silver minnow, gold minnow, rainbow trout, etc. 2-3 inches is the ideal length.

Flatfish – There is something about the action of a Flatfish that make trout go nuts. If you never tried one, I would recommend you pick one up. Even when the bite was slow, I brought in good sized fish on a Flatfish lure. Once again, 2-3 inch is the ideal size.

Marabou Jigs – This is not in the Outdoor Life article, but I had to mention marabou jigs. This is one of my favorite lures for a good reason. That reason is: They consistently produce good catches of trout. I usually use 2-3 inch jigs in darker colors like black, brown, olive, and blood red.

You have probably noticed the numbers 2 and 3 in this article quite a bit. Those are the numbers I go by when choosing lure lengths and sizes for larger brown trout. (2-3 inches in length or #2-#3 blade sizes for spinners) It seems to be the ideal size.

So, get out there on the lake or river and catch those lunker brown trout.

                          

This is a technique I developed for fishing in lakes and reservoirs for spawning rainbow trout. Every spring between the beginning of May and the end of June (in my area) the rainbow trout cruise the shore in large groups looking to spawn. This is my favorite time of year to fish, because the largest trout can be caught right from shore. I usually use black marabou jigs (my favorite lure) to catch them.

One spring I was fishing at Quartz Lake, Alaska with my black jig. I noticed that the fish were very lazy so I needed to really slow down my presentation. My jig was too heavy to be retrieved that slowly. It would drag on the bottom of the lake. Hmmm… I though. How can I fix this problem? I decided to add a small bobber on the line to control the lure depth. I started catching them one after the other. A new trout fishing technique was born.

Not only did the bobber control lure depth but also allowed me to fish the jig super slowly. That’s not all. The best aspect of this technique is that even the smallest of waves would jig the lure up and down giving it a life-like action that the rainbow trout just couldn’t resist. I would catch them without retrieving the lure at all. I would just cast to where the fish were. The waves gave my jig all the action it needed to entice strikes. I would watch my bobber until it went down. I’d set the hook and then… FISH ON!

So far, this is the most productive technique I know for spawning rainbow trout in the spring. I strongly recommend that you try it. Let me know if it works for you.