Early Spring Trout Fishing Tips

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Trout stocking has been well underway in the Berkshires and throughout the rest of the Northeast for several weeks now which means that it’s time for you to get out there and do a little trout fishing! These tips for trout fishing in the early spring will help to ensure that you go home with a full creel.

Use An Ultralight Rod And Reel Combo

Although trout in the early spring are a little less “finicky” than they will be in the forthcoming weeks it is still important to understand that you can’t just throw any old lure or live bait out there and expect to get a bite. Water temperatures are often not much warmer than 40 F and visibility is often very poor due to rapid spring currents. Knowing this, you’ll want to equip yourself with an ultralight rod and reel combo and use 4-6 lb test monofilament. Lighter weight test monofilament is more difficult for trout to see and helps to reduce drag in rapidly moving water. As far as rod and reel are concerned, I personally use a 5 foot long Ugly Stick with an Orvis No. 1 Spin reel. The ultra light action Ugly Stick is sensitive enough to feel even the most subtle of strikes from timid spring trout.

Spring Trout Bait

As far as using live bait to catch early spring trout is concerned, you can’t go wrong with using either trout worms or small live minnows hooked to a single size 4 – 8 fishing hook. I’ve also had a great deal of success using Berkley Powerbait to catch trout in the early spring as well as throughout the entirety of the trout fishing season. I have found that the Chartreuse Power Nuggets seem to work the best. You’ll want to use just enough split-shot sinkers to submerge your bait between 12 – 18 inches above the bottom of the water body in which you are fishing. Don’t use too much weight however as you want to allow your bait to have as much natural movement as possible.

Spring Trout Lures

You’ll want to be sure that you have a wide variety of shiny and brightly colored trout fishing lures on hand before you head out. Ice melts and rainstorms cause spring water to move rapidly and appear murky so the shinier the lure the better. I am mostly familiar with trout fishing in the Berkshires as well as trout fishing in the Farmington Valley area of Connecticut so I am going to tell you what lures work best in these particular areas. It could very well be that these fishing lures will work well for you throughout the rest of the country, when in doubt, just go down to your local tackle shop and ask around! I have had the best luck by far when using the following trout lures;

  • 1/32 – 1/8 Ounce chartreuse Rooster Tail
  • 1/4 Ounce gold Thomas Buoyant
  • 1/4 Ounce Daredevil, the original red and white one

I have also had some degree of luck with different colored variations of the above mentioned lures and before you throw stones at me for not mentioning the Panther Martin, let me just say that although the Panther Martin trout lure has worked well for others, it has not worked well for me!

When fishing for trout in the early spring using lures I tend to cast and then reel in the lure at a medium to somewhat slow pace. If I’m using a spoon such as the Thomas Buoyant or Daredevil then I will gently pulling back the rod tip as I reel in the lure in order to produce a wounded minnow-like effect.

I’ve just shared with you some tips that I have used to successfully catch trout in the early spring. If you have any additional tips or suggestions then I would encourage you to become a member of our forums and share your knowledge with others!

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