# Fish of the Month - Trout



## spork (Jan 21, 2012)

I'm no expert, buit I've learnt some stuff from a couple of fellas who are, so I'll try to share it here.

Name/UserName: Gard / Spork
Where I fish: Tasmania. 
Area I fish : Mostly dams and lakes for trout.
Rod/Reel I use: Various rods, most from MCF. 2-4 and 2-5kg and around 7' length. Various reels. Sustain FG 1000, Certate 2004, Caldia 2500...
Line used: Tasline SAS braid, 8lb. FC leader, at least a rod length. 4-8lb.
Hard Body Lure: Cobras / Tassie Devils for trolling. P21 Crackjacks (Black and gold), Rapala F7 and countdown, in "spotted dog".
Soft Plastic: Damiki grubs, Fish Arrow J shads, Strike tiger nymphs, grubs and paddle-tail worms.
Technique: Trolling. Casting.
My hot tip: Take coffee!

I've fished for trout on and off for well over 30 years. Probably caught more in the last two years (since getting the kayak) than I had in the preceding decades! I owe that success to my trout mentor, John, and another mate who's given me heaps to tips - Mic Ribkah of Strike Tiger lures.
My favourite method to catch trout is to troll a couple of lures out the back. I often find myself fishing for trout in cool weather so trolling stops me from turning into an icicle! One, if not both, are usually the cheap winged lures - Tassie devils / wigstons / cobras.

These work well at "kayak pace". They impart a nice rhythmic motion to the rod tips at the right speed, easy to see if it changes you are either going too fast, stopped, or fouled with weed. I rig them with a single hook usually, and don't usually run a swivel. Just tie the leader straight onto the braid. These lures sink, so can be fished quite deep if you slow the kayak right down and "jig" them as you go along.\
Favourite colours vary from one lake to another, but some favourites include "red frog", "green frog", "xmas tree" (deadly @ Arthurs lake) and "coroboree" - probqably my favourite all-rounder.

Minnow pattern lures also work well. A shallow runner over weed beds can be deadly, and if you want big trout, don't be afraid to run big lures. I have hooked trout on 90mm jointed lures. I like natural colours - Brown Trout or Rainbow Trout patterns are always good. Gold with a black back and orange belly is another dynamite colour combination for Tassie trout, but sometimes they want to eat outlandish coloured lures instead, so have an assortment and don't be afraid to mix it up a bit. Fish your lure faster than you would for bream, but mixing up the speed will often turn a follow into a bite.

Rods and reels - I fish for pleasure, and I get pleasure from using good gear. The kids have left home, so I can afford some nice stuff now. But you don't _have to_ spend a fortune. ERspecially for trolling, where you don't have to cast a mile, or have a super-light rod and reel. A combo like a Shimano Catana rod and Sienna reel ($100-120) is a great way to start. I landed my PB rainbow (well over 6lb) on this very setup.

Casting: I don't usually cast the winged lures. Not sure why, because they do cast a mile. I guess I've always thought of them as trolling lures, so thats what I do with them. Other people do cast them, and catch fish. I prefer to cast minnows, surface, or softs. More often than not the cast will be towards the bank where a trout is feeding. In our cool highlands lakes I've caught more trout in water less than 2m deep than I have in deeper water. I tend not to fish for them so much in the summer though, so this may change during the warmer months.

Soft plastics are versatile. They can be flicked into snags, even onto grassy banks then slipped back into the water over the edge where trout will often be feeding. They can also be worked deeper around drowned timber, or (like shallow runners) over weedbeds. A small nymph pattern on an unweighted hook and fished very slowly can be deadly in windlanes for fish feeding on the little creatures there.

Where? Weedbeds. These are always worth a look. Fish a shallow lure over the top of them, or a deeper lure along the side of them. Can be very productive. They would be my #1 area to target. Rocky points and shallow bays can also produce well, as can drowned timber. Large trout have few predators here in Tassie, and can be quite bold. I've seen them holding station behid their favourite rock in 18" of water in the middle of a sunny day! I leave the deeper holes for the bait fishos...

Where else? With no currents, lakes are quite different to rivers, but trout still tend to be where their food is. It is very often windy, and although it's more comfortable to fish a lee shore, it's usually more productive to fish the windward shore, especially if insects are on the menu.

Hot tip? - Stay warm! I do most of my trout fishing in Autumn and Spring, in Tassie, and a bit of it in the highland lakes. Air temps are low - water temps are lower. Dress appropriately, take plenty of food to keep your energy up, and you can't beat hot coffe (or soup). A thermos is good. A jetboil or similar is better!


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

Name/UserName: Craig / Junglefisher / The user formerly known as Junglebeard / Tundrafisher.
Where I fish: Currently Canada. Have also fished for about 3 months in Tassie.
Area I fish : Currently lakes mostly. Have fished quite a few dams, rivers and streams.
Rod/Reel I use : Whatever. Something around 6'6"-7', 1-3 or 2-4kg, 2500 reel and 6-10lb line.
Hard Body Lure/Soft Plastic: Definately my favourite are the ecogear M lures. MX48, MW62 and MW75.
Bait I use: Powerbait
Technique: Generally trolling in lakes. Morning or afternoon, just troll around, generally on the edges or dropoffs but mix it up if it's not working. I've also had a lot of success casting to rises on lakes (with HBs). If the fish are holding on a drop off, it can work well to hang back and cast at the area. I've also had success sight fishing in clearer waters. 
In flowing water, definately fish upstream. In addition to Scott's comments, the back of rocks that are in the current can hold surprising sized fish. they hold behind the rock out of the current waiting for a feed to come by. I tend to use the same lures here but those spoons are deadly too (and cheap!)
Bait fishing we use a "P" rig. A sinker on the bottom and two hooks attatched by short lines to metal droppers. Size 2-4 hooks with a lump of powerbati molded to them. If you can, move around till you find the fish and with any luck, you'll be on a hot bite.
My hot tip: Don't always listen to conventional wisdom. I've had some real hot bites on trout at 3 in the afternoon when I was told a certain lake would be totally shut down. Any water in Tassie will hold trout, even if you can step over it. Fish everywhere! Rainbows go crazy once the ice melts, you have about 2-4 weeks to get at them before they'll be fished out of most lakes.


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

Yeah baby

Place marker for some fly fishin goodness


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

curse of the occy


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## anselmo (Aug 26, 2008)

..


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## spork (Jan 21, 2012)

Pics? OK StevenM.
Here are a few.

One I got earlioer this year


Lachie (mates son) and (yet another) good trout


Double hookup while trolling cobra type lures.


Drowned timber in a hydro lake.


More of same.


Can be cold and wet sometimes chasing trout.


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## koich (Jul 25, 2007)

'spose I should

*Name/UserName*: koich
*Where I fish: *
rivers/lakes - mostly rivers though
*Area I fish :* 
Snowy Mountains-NSW plus the occasional trip to Wanaka NZ.
*Rod/Reel I use*: Spin : Depends on the river, anything from a 1503 Daiwa Presso and 1-2kg rod for small streams to a 2500 Ci4 Stradic and 2-4kg rod for big rivers and lakes. 
Fly- again river and season dependent. I like to fish as light as I can. Anything up to a 7# for the brown spawning run.
*
Hard Body Lure/Soft Plastic:*
HBs: Nilsmaster Invincible5 and 8cm, Rapala Originals 2-5-7-9, Rapala Count downs 3-5-7-9, Rapala Husky Jerk- 5cm, various in line spinning lures

Bait I use: Powerbait and scrub worms if I ever use any.

Technique: Cast upstream same as Scott during the day. I do a lot of spinning at night and at change at light. I fish downstream here and retrieve ultra slow. Dominates. You can really have your lure in strike zone for the maximum period here. All my biggest fish have fallen to this method.

*My hot tip: *Trout aren't nearly as difficult as made out as long as you stay out of sight. They are aggressive as hell. Don't be scared to upsize lures on big fish to get a territorial swipe out of them. The bigger the fish, they bigger the lure needs to be for this to work. But it works.
For steven









Greg Lewis went after this fish with a pissy sx40 for 30 minutes and couldn't land it. There were three this size in a bank of them. I put one cast in with a 9cm rapala and nailed it. Greg swore at me.

Trouty pics

NZ brown









Another brown- I think this one is Threbdo river









EUc River special


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

Trout in here.


Brownie

Trout here too.


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## Junglefisher (Jun 2, 2008)

Trout in here.


Brownie


Trout here too.


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## soloyakka85 (Sep 19, 2012)

Doesn't anyone bar me still actively chase trout on mudeyes and other natural baits? 
When I get a chance ill put up some details. I'm only on my phone now. 
Phil


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