Fishing tips

What is carp stalking, and what makes it the go-to method for catching a lot of carp on warm days. Carp fishing is essentially the practice of tracking carp using your eyes and catching them when there is an excellent opportunity. While you can stalk carp in all waters, you can usually see more of them if the water is clear. Since carp come close to the surface to feed on warm and sunny days, you can also see which bait they prefer or are more attracted to. So, the next time you decide to go carp fishing, you can take the bait that yielded the best results.

This tip is similar to the fish density tip. You want to fish where the fish are, so where have the rainbow trout been stocked? Are there areas where water move in or out of the body of water you’re fishing? Stocked trout will remain in the stocked area for 3-10 days depending on the species. So this means you will find a higher density of trout where these fish were stocked. Normally this is by a boat loading dock since hatcheries typically stock fish using a truck. Trout tend to hang around inlet and outlets of water since these bring nutrients into the water. Trout also like to swim up and down moving water so be sure to try fishing these areas.

Trout have great eyesight so you will want to change up the presentation of your bait and lures. This is a fancy way of saying hook your bait differently or try different setups. For example, you can hook a worm in the middle or through one end. This will change how the worm moves in the water. You can also use a 1 foot leader and a weight which will cause the worm to be suspended from the bottom. All of this changes how the bait is presented to the fish. Another thing to keep in mind is that stocked trout grew up on fish pellets in the hatchery. This is one of the reasons why PowerBait works so well since you can mold it to look like a hatcery pellet.

Trout have a very good sense of smell by using special holes called “nares” to sniff in the water. So this means you can increase your chances of catching rainbow trout by using smelly bait. I’ve gone through an entire jar of garlic scented PowerBait before I’ve used any of the other colors because it simply works the best. The color is a mild yellow so it’s definitely the garlic smell that gets trout biting. You can apply these garlic scents to your bait and lures. Nothing smells better than some garlic PowerBait dipped in garlic fish attractant. I’ve also heard anise attractant works well for trout as well as other fish.

Once you get setup with your bait you should bring a few trout fishing lures. Personally lures are the most fun to catch trout with versus bait fishing where you’re waiting for a bite. This is where people can start to go crazy with the amount of lures they have. You can have different styles, colors, weights, and hook sizes, but keep it simple in the beginning. Just pickup 3 lures to start with and you will find your favorites. Here are the Top 10 Best Trout Fishing Lures to help you decide which ones to get.

Have I mentioned that trout can be picky? Well these fish have great eyesight and some days a green bait will work while other days a brown one will do better. You just never know so bring options! When selecting your bait colors make sure to choose something that will stand out in the water. You want your bait to get noticed so choosing a green PowerBait when the water is murky and has a ton of seaweed is not a smart choice. Using a neon orange PowerBait will be a better option. Remember that if one color is not working to just switch it up before changing spots.

Trout can be really picky eaters so what works at one lake may not work at another. Heck what works one day may not even work the next at the same exact spot! So you need to have different options. I recommend having a form of natural bait such as nightcrawlers, eggs, minnows, etc. You should also have some artificial bait such as PowerBait just in case the natural bait isn’t working. It’s all about presenting different options to see what the trout are liking that day. Think about yourself, some days you want pizza and other days you want a burger. Fish are the same way. Be sure to checkout this list of the best bait for trout fishing so you can see when and why you should use each one. This will help you determine which bait options you want to carry with you when you go fishing.

Weather plays a crucial role in how deep fish are in the water column. Trout might be near the surface on a cloudy day, but once it turns sunny the trout will be deeper. There are a couple reasons for this. Remember trout are cold water fish so they tend to like cooler water. Sunny days mean warmer water near the surface so they go deeper. So when its overcast or raining you can fish for trout at the bottom, middle, or top of the water column. Sunny days mean you’re limited to the bottom or middle column. That means on sunny days you need to let you bait go lower in the water. I have also noticed that before a storm the trout seem to go into a feeding frenzy. Something about cold weather changes get the trout all riled up.

Simply put, fish where the fish are! Your best odds of landing a fish is to make sure that you’re fishing in the right body of water. So research ahead of time which ponds, lakes, and rivers are stocked with fish. If you’re fishing for wild fish then research when and where these fish travel during the different seasons. The same fishing hole may not be a good spot year round. If you are fishing for stocked rainbow trout then be sure to research in advance how to find trout near you. The best tip for increasing your chances of catching rainbow trout is to check the stocking schedules. They usually stock thousands of trout so your odds increase drastically when you fish at those spots.