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If so, what success have you had please and how?
Has anyone on here targeted brown/rainbow trout with hard minnow lures?
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Yes James hundreds of times up in the Scottish Highlands,loch and river,with great success although small (but 'propper' wild) fish upto around 3lbs+ from Loch and loads smaller from river.
I have dozens of small plugs and even more spinners from tiny size 0 up to size 4 for this sort of fishing.
This is what I call ultralite fishing that includes 5' 6" rods and 3-4lbs mono lines.
One of my best plugs is a little 'catapillar' jointed plug thats about 1" long and bright green in colour,DEADLY especially in small highland rivers (flicked under bushes).
I have dozens of small plugs and even more spinners from tiny size 0 up to size 4 for this sort of fishing.
This is what I call ultralite fishing that includes 5' 6" rods and 3-4lbs mono lines.
One of my best plugs is a little 'catapillar' jointed plug thats about 1" long and bright green in colour,DEADLY especially in small highland rivers (flicked under bushes).
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I do quite a lot in the season for wild brownies in the local chalkstreams. Mostly ultralight, i find it hard to beat the good old rapala F-5 in a variety of colours but the GFR seems particularly effective at 1st light. Have had brownies to 5lb+, similar sized sea-trout. It's also tough to beat small spinners (mepps 0 and 1 sizes) and they'll pick up the odd grayling too. I always cast plugs across/downstream and spinners upstream.
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now untill i was in labrador i had never user spinners of any type for trout. Though then on the rivers i was using a 4wt and my brother in law was fishing spoons and he outfished me 4 to 1!!!
5 of diamonds spoon in small sizes was the killer there going to start doing this in the uk now aswell.
5 of diamonds spoon in small sizes was the killer there going to start doing this in the uk now aswell.
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[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Hi James, I've been fishing with ultralite lure's in the upper River Severn and a few smaller Welsh rivers specifically for Brown Trout for the past 3 years. I have also found it to be the most productive method, I regularly outfish both bait and fly fishermen on the same stretch of river. The most productive lures I have used and come to love are the Rapala F5 floating in light silver and rainbow trout colours. I have also found over the years that setup is very important for these minnows to work properly so this is what I now use; I tie a 12” to 18” 4lb leader directly to the lure (no clips or split rings) its very important to use a Rapala knot or the action of the lure will be severely affected. The other end of the leader is tied onto a small swivel (as small as you can get) I then use a small lure clip on the end of my main line to attach the leader, I currently use 10lb PowerPro but will be going much thinner and lighter for next year with some of the new 8 strand braids coming out. I find my most productive results have always come from casting either up stream or across the flow but the real key is finding flow and structure, there's loads of good books out on freshwater water craft which are well worth tracking down. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Wild Brownies are great sport on light gear as well, they never get much above 3.5 to 4.5 lb in the upper Severn and most being much smaller but have never seen a feed pellet in their lives and are truly wild.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The most productive times I tend to find are in late summer and a few days after a heavy fall of rain, this tends to get the river level up and washes smaller fry down stream where the Trout just pick them off. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]Wild Brownies are great sport on light gear as well, they never get much above 3.5 to 4.5 lb in the upper Severn and most being much smaller but have never seen a feed pellet in their lives and are truly wild.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]The most productive times I tend to find are in late summer and a few days after a heavy fall of rain, this tends to get the river level up and washes smaller fry down stream where the Trout just pick them off. [/FONT]
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Brilliant, some great advice there.
The main reason I was asking was because of a friend I had a chat to over the weekend which kind of blew my mind because I never even knew you could target wild trout with smaller minnow lures. Anyway, this friend was fishing with a Japanese angler who works with Tackle House and a few other well known brands and instead of me trying to relay what he said, I thought I would copy and paste what he emailed me after I asked for more info:
"Hi James, one of the lures he was using was this one http://www.tacklehouse.co.jp/freshwater/tw/tw_en.html
They have a very distinctive action, a very wide roll, if you cup your hand slightly, turn it over so you are looking at the back of your hand and then rotate your wrist (mmm this is getting dodgy) it will give you a clear picture of the action. Not at all like bass-type minnows - they are designed for cherry salmon and trout. My mate Takahashi has caught lots of salmon & trout this way in Alaska and NZ. Absolute key is 7-9cm sizing and pretty bright colours he reckons - also he doesn't stick around long in one spot - if no strikes or follows he changes lure and then moves on. He calls it 'run and gun' fishing or 'catching fish with your feet'. He attaches minnows directly to bright orange hi-viz mono (bimini twist - doubled line of 60 odd cm then small clip - he tried fluoro but it messes with plug action - double line needed for brown's teeth, fins and snags). He reckons fish do not associate the lure with the line and the bright line certainly helps with casting accuracy. He is a very good caster, popping minnows under bushes and into snags. As a method for winkling out big browns below the classic flywater I reckon this must be worth a go in UK and Eire. Rod is 6'2" boron (Souls Explorer) with moderate tip and some backbone - reel Stella 2000. Retrieve is mostly wrist - pop, pop, pop, pause, sweep with vigorous left and right jerks to get minnow to change direction. Amazing!
It seems to me he mixes it up, the left sweep / right sweep is to trigger a follower - he says the sudden change in direction is a very strong trigger. The best of all would be if you are fishing a push of water is to cast across it into the calmer water, pop, pop the minnow across into the flow (rod downstream of you) and then as you get above the holding place (a rock or snag) sharply pop the minnow upstream (rod upstream of you now) so the retrieve path is a 'V'. Pop, pop upstream, let it drift, pop, pop, drift etc. If you see a follow, he suggests you also try a short stop and then a longish sweep - to quote T - 'like when you play with a cat'.
Agreed on the pike - this action will be deadly on them. I don't think I ever mentioned it but I got my first chub in the Beds Ouse on a Megabass Baby Griffon - see pic. Also it's a great perch bait - see pic. Get a Baby Griffon & fish it on 12 or 15lb Drennan 7 strand wire - it's lethal. Sorry I've digressed. Also attached pics of cichlids on topwater - very strong fish!"
You welsh boys are sooooooooooooooooo lucky. You have places like the gower, lakes like bosh and rivers like the severn. Makes me sick with envy.
![IMGP2214_1280.jpg]()
The main reason I was asking was because of a friend I had a chat to over the weekend which kind of blew my mind because I never even knew you could target wild trout with smaller minnow lures. Anyway, this friend was fishing with a Japanese angler who works with Tackle House and a few other well known brands and instead of me trying to relay what he said, I thought I would copy and paste what he emailed me after I asked for more info:
"Hi James, one of the lures he was using was this one http://www.tacklehouse.co.jp/freshwater/tw/tw_en.html
They have a very distinctive action, a very wide roll, if you cup your hand slightly, turn it over so you are looking at the back of your hand and then rotate your wrist (mmm this is getting dodgy) it will give you a clear picture of the action. Not at all like bass-type minnows - they are designed for cherry salmon and trout. My mate Takahashi has caught lots of salmon & trout this way in Alaska and NZ. Absolute key is 7-9cm sizing and pretty bright colours he reckons - also he doesn't stick around long in one spot - if no strikes or follows he changes lure and then moves on. He calls it 'run and gun' fishing or 'catching fish with your feet'. He attaches minnows directly to bright orange hi-viz mono (bimini twist - doubled line of 60 odd cm then small clip - he tried fluoro but it messes with plug action - double line needed for brown's teeth, fins and snags). He reckons fish do not associate the lure with the line and the bright line certainly helps with casting accuracy. He is a very good caster, popping minnows under bushes and into snags. As a method for winkling out big browns below the classic flywater I reckon this must be worth a go in UK and Eire. Rod is 6'2" boron (Souls Explorer) with moderate tip and some backbone - reel Stella 2000. Retrieve is mostly wrist - pop, pop, pop, pause, sweep with vigorous left and right jerks to get minnow to change direction. Amazing!
It seems to me he mixes it up, the left sweep / right sweep is to trigger a follower - he says the sudden change in direction is a very strong trigger. The best of all would be if you are fishing a push of water is to cast across it into the calmer water, pop, pop the minnow across into the flow (rod downstream of you) and then as you get above the holding place (a rock or snag) sharply pop the minnow upstream (rod upstream of you now) so the retrieve path is a 'V'. Pop, pop upstream, let it drift, pop, pop, drift etc. If you see a follow, he suggests you also try a short stop and then a longish sweep - to quote T - 'like when you play with a cat'.
Agreed on the pike - this action will be deadly on them. I don't think I ever mentioned it but I got my first chub in the Beds Ouse on a Megabass Baby Griffon - see pic. Also it's a great perch bait - see pic. Get a Baby Griffon & fish it on 12 or 15lb Drennan 7 strand wire - it's lethal. Sorry I've digressed. Also attached pics of cichlids on topwater - very strong fish!"
You welsh boys are sooooooooooooooooo lucky. You have places like the gower, lakes like bosh and rivers like the severn. Makes me sick with envy.
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ok this has got me thinking again about targeting trout with lures next season, so i have a search around and there are several Rapala F3, F5, F7 lures available through www.fishingmegastore.com just search for "Rapala".
About half way down the page not bad for £9 each i guess.
Tight lines all
About half way down the page not bad for £9 each i guess.
Tight lines all
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My mate has been recanting the days when he used to walk the local rivers armed wih a jar of worms to target the wild Trout. I'm keen to have a go on some tiny SPs I bought on a whim from Poland. I wondered if anyone had had any luck with this kind of thingf?
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you'll get some trout on small sp's but you'd be better of using smal plugs or spinners, imho. The SP's will get you some perch though (if they're in the water your fishing). I had a nice rainbow and a small brownies today, both on an 1/8oz sonic roostertail in silver/flame
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The Japanese fish for trout with lures as much as they do fly. There is a shop in Shibuya which is part of the Sansui chain. The downstairs of which sells nothing but trout spinning kit. Rows of boron rods by Evergreen, UFM etc costing the equivalent of £500+, Stellas, Exists etc all with custom parts available too. Then rows and rows of plugs ranging from about 1cm upwards. Anybody who believes fishing for trout with a fly is the only way to do it should set foot in one of these shops. Some of the UL lures I bought there would likely attract a mate if left in a river they are so realistic!
A lot of the fishing is done in trout lakes and known as 'area fishing'. They also create artificial weirs in their rivers creating a series of pools to fish in the running water.
A lot of the fishing is done in trout lakes and known as 'area fishing'. They also create artificial weirs in their rivers creating a series of pools to fish in the running water.
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Hi Adrian
Don't usually post, too little time. Not allowed to PM you. Rapala F5 offer got my interest though. What have you got?
Don't usually post, too little time. Not allowed to PM you. Rapala F5 offer got my interest though. What have you got?
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Reservoir Trout - My experience so far
Had a reasonably successful season using small 'suspending' plugs for reservoir trout. Used a combination of trial and error and similar tactics other members post re. plugging for Bass. 3 things have stuck out & made a difference to catches -
1. Really light 0.6PE Japanese Braid. Would go lighter but cannot find any.
2. Don't use a lure clip
3. Really slow, gentle retrieve, increasing no. of takes when plug is dropping through the water.
![DSC00959.jpg]()
Had a reasonably successful season using small 'suspending' plugs for reservoir trout. Used a combination of trial and error and similar tactics other members post re. plugging for Bass. 3 things have stuck out & made a difference to catches -
1. Really light 0.6PE Japanese Braid. Would go lighter but cannot find any.
2. Don't use a lure clip
3. Really slow, gentle retrieve, increasing no. of takes when plug is dropping through the water.
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Hi Keith
Sorry for the late reply Keith, I was down in Cornwall for the bumble over the weekend (catch report to follow). When I get home this evening I'll have a look at what I've got and PM you with the details.
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Hi James, I have had a lot of fish (brown trout) with a rapala countdown cd3 (3cm) but only in the silver colour in low clear water conditions with a slow to medium retrieve hope this helps
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I'm a bit late on this thread, but I recently had a nice ferox whilst trolling for pike. He was 3oz under 10lb and was released again. Caught on a savage gear lip lure.
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Thats awesome, I would so love to hit into one of them. Good effort
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Nice brown Abe, something that size we only dream of here.
To answer James's question- over here we use bibbed minnows a lot for browns, mainly trolling---Rapala trout pattern CD's and floaters are legendary, but anything that will get down near/in the mud, wheather shallow or deep works here, mainly late Winter/ early Spring any size up to about 4"-5" (10- 12Cm)- also have a Google at 'Tassie Devils', cheap and dynamite on any trout but mainly Rainbows, they love them.
To answer James's question- over here we use bibbed minnows a lot for browns, mainly trolling---Rapala trout pattern CD's and floaters are legendary, but anything that will get down near/in the mud, wheather shallow or deep works here, mainly late Winter/ early Spring any size up to about 4"-5" (10- 12Cm)- also have a Google at 'Tassie Devils', cheap and dynamite on any trout but mainly Rainbows, they love them.
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Cheers Peter.
Nice fish Abraham!
Nice fish Abraham!
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Thanks. I agree with Peter there, I have not used them much myself but alot of the trout trollers over here rely on the Tazmanian Devil to produce the goods.
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