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What are the best lures for early season stocked trout?

While my expertise is primarily in bass fishing, I can certainly share some insights that might help you with early season stocked trout as well. Many of the principles of lure selection can be somewhat similar across different types of freshwater fishing.

For early season stocked trout, you'll want to consider a few key types of lures:

Spinners: These are very effective for trout because they create a lot of flash and vibration in the water. Trout are often attracted to the reflective light and movement, which mimics small baitfish. Brands like Rooster Tail and Mepps have a variety of spinners that work well in different water conditions.
Spoons: Similar to spinners, spoons wobble and reflect light, which can entice trout. They are especially good in deeper or murkier water where their flash can stand out. Look for smaller sizes as stocked trout can sometimes be wary of larger presentations.
Soft Plastics: Small worms or grubs can be very effective, especially if rigged on a light jig head. These can mimic aquatic larvae and worms which are natural prey for trout.
Fly Patterns: If you're fly fishing, small nymphs and streamers can be very effective. Stocked trout haven't developed the wariness of wild trout and can often be caught on brightly colored and attractor pattern flies.
Jerkbaits: Although more commonly used in bass fishing, a small, light jerkbait can be effective for trout as well, especially in clear water conditions where their erratic movement can trigger strikes from aggressive fish.

When fishing for stocked trout, especially in the early season when the water might still be cold, it’s important to keep your presentations slow and deliberate. Trout are often less active and less aggressive in colder water, so a slow, steady retrieve with occasional pauses can be more effective.

Remember, the key with stocked trout is often to attract their attention in environments where they are still acclimating. Bright colors and reflective lures can be particularly effective right after stocking events. Adjust your tactics based on the specific conditions and behavior of the trout in your local waters. Happy fishing!

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Top 5 Baits For Early Spring Bass Fishing! by TacticalBassin → you know this light trout color doesn't really look like anything but the fish smash it and i think it's because they can see it you know recently i did a video on how to catch fish in ultra-clear water maybe you have ultra clear water and and take that advice this time of the year as we get those storms coming in you got the tributaries coming in the the rivers whatever feeds the fishery you're on typically muddies up the water or at least stains it and that is where those bright colors really come in so glide bait i like that light trout if you're on a clear water fishery go with go with some kind of ghosty color i know tw has an exclusive ghost trout that is awesome for clear water and uh go natural again like i said in that video but as i get to these other moving baits the square bills and lipless cranks and stuff we'll talk about throwing red because you guys know how important throwing red in the spring is but one and two the alabama rig and some kind of glide bait now you big bait fisherman you can jump it up you can throw your eight ten inch glide baits if you want but if you're trying to find the fish you're going to get more baits with a 168 sized glide bait now that was one and two i'm going to kind of

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Top 5 Baits For Early Spring Bass Fishing! ( How To Fish Them ) by TacticalBassin → very bright we throw it in lakes that have trout we throw it in lakes that have no idea what a trout even is it does not matter it's just a bold color with a lot going on and it will pull fish from a great distance especially with that s that glide manoeuvre that it does fish see that and are just entranced and they come long distances to the bait so a glide bait is a dynamite option next up is a jerk bait the jerk bait phenomenal fall winter and spring what's nice about a jerk bait again is you can cover a ton of water makes a ton of ruckus it's got good drawing power but what I really like about it is that triggering reaction that ability to get fish to lash out because in spring sometimes you have days like this or it's beautiful but then you've got those nasty storms that roll through and it'll get freezing cold or windy or to snow and then it goes back to being nice so the fish in spring go through a lot of these highs and lows as a result they're not always in a feeding mood even when they're moved up even when they're shallow and up against cover and up there to feed those weather patterns will come through and really mess that up slow those fish back down and the jerk bait is one of those baits

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Top 5 Baits For Early Spring Bass Fishing! by TacticalBassin → multiple fish at once you can really figure out those fish where they're staging as they're trying to make their way to the backs of the coves my number two bait if someone asks me right now what are my two favorite baits this time of year to throw i'm gonna have an a-rig tied on and i'm gonna have some kind of glide bait tied on you guys that have followed the channel for a while know that we like to throw swim baits we like to throw big baits but uh this bait right here the s waiver 168 in this color light trout has produced so many double digit fish so many giant spotted bass giant small mouth you can't go wrong with this guy right here this is what i really like about this this is actually the bait sand of the antidote and this time of the year these fish start transitioning they start getting the backs of the cuts they start getting up up shallower this actually is available in a super slow fall you know there's a lot of glide baits that that shine in current you know you need to fish them deeper off long tapering points but this is a bait right here that you can slow down and fish in super shallow water and not worry about it getting hung up colors i'll talk about colors real real quickly i like to go with bold colors

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Top 5 Baits For Early Spring Bass Fishing by TacticalBassin → area and that is when reaction baits shine that's when when there's a high concentration of fish if you can trigger them and fire up the entire school because there are so many of them in small areas you can really get them to act aggressive when they wouldn't later in the year when they're out by themselves they wouldn't get that aggressive a jerkbait is another one of those baits that is very very good at triggering those fish you only need one of them to bite you're not trying to get every fish in a school to bite if you can get the smallest fish in the school the fish that's the least intelligent and a whole lot to eat that jerk bait and get revved up it gets the school going then you catch another one and another one and pretty soon the biggest fish in the school will start biting on a regular-sized bait on normal bass tackle you're not throwing a $500 lure you're throwing a little jerk bait catching the biggest fish in the school that wouldn't bite another time of year yeah spring time to close it up guys spring time is a great time get on the water yeah you sure fisherman you kayak fishermen the fish are coming to you right they're coming to the shore so this is where you guys can sit there and sneak up on it and pick them off you

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Top 5 Baits For Early Spring Bass Fishing! by TacticalBassin → temp starts warming up these fish are going to be more active and actively feeding so throwing that a rig out there as you try and progress your way back to the backs of the coves backs the cuts that a-rig is like i said my number one search bait but it also catches them really really well if there is a little bit of a stain in the water that's when you can go with the bladed rig but the a-rig the alabama rig is my number one number two is going to be the glide bait now i say the glide bait because i have three or four different ones down here depending on your confidence level and your gear but if you're looking to just get started or you're an advanced glide bait fisherman it's really really hard to beat for the price and for the fish catching the s waver 168 in light trout now this has been a bait that we've thrown for i don't know eight ten years something like that uh it's a great it's a great bait to cover water it's not going to be as quick as the a-rig because it doesn't fall as quickly but anything in the area especially if you're fishing an area or a fishery that doesn't get a lot of glide bait or big bait pressure anything that's in the area that you're fishing is going to show themselves to

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5 Best Lures For Spring Bass Fishing | How To | Bass Fishing by Bass Fishing Tips & Techniques by BassResource → So, I'll use a jig, starting out at the beginning of the season out on those deeper main lake points and secondary points, fishing it very slowly. And I'll use a larger-sized jig with a bulky trailer on it because I want it to look like a nice, big meal for them. That's an easy target because it's moving super slow. It's hard for them to resist that in this time of year. So, I'll fish that way early in the season, and then as I move shallower, as the season progresses, I'll start targeting every kind of cover that I can see, usually, with a 3/8-ounce jig with a Rage Craw trailer on it. I'm targeting stumps, laydowns, pockets of weeds, points in weeds, docks, and I'm also looking at the creek channels. If the creek bend swings up right next to the shoreline you got that steeper drop, that's a great area to fish jigs, or on the inside bends of creeks back in the coves when it's kind of a flat...if it's got cover on it, especially, like stump field, or chunk rock, or maybe some weeds on it, that's a great place to target jigs during the spring. And then, even during the spawn, you can throw jigs on top of beds and get bit that way. And even during the post-spawn, I like to throw jigs right up into balls of fry, and a lot of times, there's bass that are guarding those fry, and they'll come up and smack me, and you can catch them that way.

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