Trout Fishing

[acwatkins]

How many of you guys target trout? Ive never really tried it but I just got picked up a new ultralight and some trout lures, gonna give it a shot this year. Looking forward to the challenge!

[reddogge]

I used to do it years ago in PA and MD. I'd bait fish ( the old garden hackle) with spinning rods or use small spinners. In the catch and release sections the guys like to bend the barbs down for quicker releases.

[fishinggod]

I've spent my whole life trout fishing in northern and southern California but there aint no trout down here in southern maryland where i live now.

[Big Mike]

Au contraire! Just 2 days ago they stocked a couple of ponds down here with those oh so skittish hatchery raised trout. Just sit on the bank, put a piece of corn on a hook and make as much noise as possible to simulate the daily feeding they are used to. No need to match the hatch or execute the perfect roll cast. Best of all you'll have some corn to serve with your trout when you're done.

[M1A4ME]

The most trout I ever caught in a day was trolling (by rowing a 12 ft. boat around the lake) small panther martin spinner baits.

The biggest trout I ever caught (19.5 inches) was caught on a chartreuse crappie jig about 5 ft. down under a slip bobber just floating out there as far as I could toss it from the bank.

[Mark]

Certainly most of the freshwater trout caught in ponds and streams here in mid-Maryland are hatchery fish raised on pellets. I suspect few survive anglers, herons or the warm waters of summer to reproduce in the waters in which they were stocked. However, the stocked fish instinctually chase spinners and small crankbaits that imitate minnows on which they would naturally feed if they had been raised in the wild. I think it's amazing that after many generations of essentially being domesticated "spoon-fed" fish they so quickly resort to wild behaviors. Hunger is a powerful motivator.

[bunnielab]

I often hike the upper Patapsco river and wade for panfish. Several time I have caught rainbows and browns well into the summer and pretty far from the stocking points. They have never been very large so I don't think they thrive in that river.

However, last Monday I happened to be at Daniels dam messing around with my new waders when low and behold the state trout stocking truck pulls up.

Dispite my high hopes, the combination of very high and fast water and my inexperience with working small spinners in current, I only caught 4 trout out of the 500 dumped at my feet. I managed to loose/destroy about 6 spinners and after getting a very impressive wind knot, I gave up using the rod.

The fish didn't seem to be moving much out of the riffle they were placed in and you could see them stacked up behind almost every rock. I began trying to sneak up on them and gently net them. Rainbows are really beautiful fish and it was wild to be able to get that close to them, if I stood still long enough they would stack up in the slack behind my legs. I had heard of "trout tickling" but always doubted it, but it if I moved slowly and carefully, they would remain totally still as I moved the net over to them. After netting and releasing maybe a dozen my feet got unbearably cold and I called it a day.

I have always enjoyed wade fishing and am really looking forward to getting more into it this spring.

[Mark]

I often hike the upper Patapsco river and wade for panfish. Several time I have caught rainbows and browns well into the summer and pretty far from the stocking points. They have never been very large so I don't think they thrive in that river.

I also have waded the upper Patapsco for stocked trout -- specifically the Avalon area. I often entered at the swinging bridge and worked downstream. I've caught smallmouth, sunfish and even tiny stripers in addition to rainbows in that general area of the river. Nothing large.

Interestingly one of my most successful trout lures was a 2 inch Rapala Countdown minnow in rainbow colors.

Countdown.jpg

I caught many stocked rainbows on it. I had one copy of the lure for many years because even if I got it hung up on the rocks I could reach it on foot to free it. I finally lost it to a pickerel in Weems Creek in 2014. I doubt the pickerel had seen a rainbow in its life. But that didn't stop it from striking the Rapala.

Anyway, small crankbaits in addition to in-line spinners are excellent stocked rainbow lures.

[acwatkins]

I've heard good things about the patapsco river. I work in Catonsville and the river is only about 5-10 minutes away. I think I'm gonna try to swing by daniels or maybe the paper mill area one day after work this week.

[sega]

It's ridiculous here in WV. Guys literally waiting at the streams for the stock truck, then obliterating the stock as soon as they're dumped into the water. You can go two days after they've stocked and you'll be lucky to catch your limit.

However! White Fly Outfitters a fly shop in Harpers Ferry has an awesome trout stream that they take great care of. The stream is right across the bridge going into Harpers Ferry. They often have trout in their aquarium at the shop, that they've pulled out of the stream. They have some absolute monsters in there. For $75 you can fish the stream all day. I haven't been able to do it but I've heard great things, and seen the pictures. Not to mention you have the opportunity to see a lot of cool wildlife up there (few bears have been seen up there this year).

[sparky1423]

I'm really looking forward to some trout fishing. Local areas near me are Deer Creek and the Gunpowder River. Sometimes I get this mentality that if I'm not in my kayak, then it's not fishing. It's nice to wade through the river and get back to my roots before I started kayak fishing.

[M1A4ME]

Zack, my folks live in western Greenbrier County. Not sure how far you are from Richwood but there's a small lake up there called Summit Lake. The biggest trout I ever saw was in that lake. We were floating out there one sunny summer day casting spinner baits when I heard a funny gurgling noise and turned my head to look over my right shoulder. That fish was all the way out of the water, vertical and beginning to fall back down into the water. I don't know why it jumped that far out of the water. I assumed the gurgling noise I heard was water running back out of it's gills as I could see water coming out/off it on it's way back down into the water.

Summit is also were I caught that 19.5 inch rainbow on a cold Friday (the day after Thanksgiving). I was fishing because an out of state deer hunting license is stupid expensive in WV.

[M1A4ME]

When we were kids we'd walk over the mountain from home and trout fish (natives). We'd take lunch (can of spam, loaf of break and an onion - unless it was early enough in the spring that the ramps were up), a bucket, 15 ft. of 6 lb. test line, some hooks and some split shot weights.

We'd get over there near the creek and find us nice little 10 ft. sapling and cut it down, trim all the branches off it, tie our fishing line to the end of it, tie a hook on the other end of the line and start rolling over rocks, stumps, logs to gather up bugs (worms, beetles, larvae of any type) and put them in the bucket. Then we'd head up the creek and start creeping/crawling through the laurel thickets/briers to get to the creek anywhere we new there were pools of calm water.

Put a bug on the hook, one or two split shots and easy the pole out of the pool and unwind some line and give it a little toss and wait. I remember my dad always catching more trout than we did. I finally got to watching him (listening doesn't exactly tell the tale) and saw how he'd crawl up on those holes, sun across the creek from him (no shadows on the water), no noise and then pause a little bit before putting the bait in the water.

As I remember it, 10" or so was big enough to keep/eat. I saw him with a 14" one once, the biggest native I ever saw live. Of course, you could jump across that creek in many places and no place was it over knee deep, but man was it clear and cold.

[bunnielab]

I also have waded the upper Patapsco for stocked trout -- specifically the Avalon area. I often entered at the swinging bridge and worked downstream. I've caught smallmouth, sunfish and even tiny stripers in addition to rainbows in that general area of the river. Nothing large.

Interestingly one of my most successful trout lures was a 2 inch Rapala Countdown minnow in rainbow colors.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]18218[/ATTACH]

I caught many stocked rainbows on it. I had one copy of the lure for many years because even if I got it hung up on the rocks I could reach it on foot to free it. I finally lost it to a pickerel in Weems Creek in 2014. I doubt the pickerel had seen a rainbow in its life. But that didn't stop it from striking the Rapala.

Anyway, small crankbaits in addition to in-line spinners are excellent stocked rainbow lures.

I have a small collection of mico cranks that I plan on fishing a bunch this spring. I have been slowly de-barbing them, but it is tough to really pinch them down without deforming the tiny trebles. I would love to just swap them out with factory barbless ones, but can't find any small enough.

However! White Fly Outfitters a fly shop in Harpers Ferry has an awesome trout stream that they take great care of.

I think this spring I am going to take a fly fishing lesson/guided trip from them. I want to get into fly fishing but have not decided if I want to get a conventional set up or a tenkara one. I think a guided trip will help me decide.

[sega]

I have a small collection of mico cranks that I plan on fishing a bunch this spring. I have been slowly de-barbing them, but it is tough to really pinch them down without deforming the tiny trebles. I would love to just swap them out with factory barbless ones, but can't find any small enough.



I think this spring I am going to take a fly fishing lesson/guided trip from them. I want to get into fly fishing but have not decided if I want to get a conventional set up or a tenkara one. I think a guided trip will help me decide.

Go for it. Bryan is a cool dude who knows his stuff.


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