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Born in Florida i was raised to fish for bass in freshwater and various other fish in salt but, i don't have any experience with rainbow trout and one of the predominate fishing spots by me is stocked almost monthly with rainbow trout. after several attempts to go it on my own and watching those around me reel in fish after fish i have realized i know nothing and am wondering if anyone has any good beginner guides or any tips to trout fishing. Any help is appreciated.

I've done a lot of trout fishing in Montana and Arkansas. Trout have good vision, I use fine mono line, 4 lb for slow water and 6 lb for fast water. I like using spinners like Rooster Tails, 1/8 oz, and tie directly to the line. You can go smaller if needed. Fish them slowly. Mash the barbs on the hooks down, it will make releasing fish much easier. I carry forceps, trout have narrow mouths.

Trout are also finicky, they will chase a lure and turn away. I've also bumped spinners into trout and watched them ignore it. Bait can work when lures don't. You can put a small hook and split shot under a bobber and use a piece of earthworm, canned corn, or Berkley Power Bait.

Below are my go-to spinners.

Thanks for the info, i noticed people using some bait from little jars and corn, any info on this and how to rig it?

Wacky rigging an orange powerbait trout worm works amazing. Use a #10 hook and 2 splitshots about 18 inches above the hook and hook on the worm wacky style. Then throw up stream and let it move down until it holds on the bottom. Then just dead stick it. I've been getting limits doing this method.

I grew up trout fishing in WV, but I assume it should be similar here.

My favorite spinner brand was Panther Martin - it was easier to get a good spin. I don't know how much that matters, but we caught fish. I preferred the gold blade with a tail, but you could try any. I'd use 1/16 oz or 1/8 oz depending on the size of the water (I was typically in creeks). In the picture the other user posted with his favorite spinners - the one on the right is a Panther Martin.

If you're doing live bait or power bait just put a small split shot on about 18 inches above the hook and let it flow through the natural current. Watch for the places where the water pools slightly with a good current coming into the pool and work that. Having said that, don't ignore those holes no matter how small. I've caught a lot of trout from areas I thought for sure wouldn't hold one. Pink, orange, and white power bait seemed to be the most popular where I'm from. For live bait we usually used meal worms or wax worms, but any worm should work alright.

bentron wrote:Thanks for the info, i noticed people using some bait from little jars and corn, any info on this and how to rig it?

IIRC a lot of the trout that are stocked are used to corn and other pellet foods.

I think people take the canned corn, add a drop of vanilla and place several kernels on a hook.

I Carolina rig corn color powerbait with 1/4 oz egg sinker, snap swivel, and the smallest hook I can find (e.g. salmon egg hooks) on pre-made leaders. Ball up the bait and completely submerge the hook in it. The trout will swallow it - just be patient when they first start nibbling at it. Once I feel the first nibble I just very slowly reel in until they really take it. I gut hook them all the time - that's why I use snap swivels - I just unhook the leader and get a new hook/ leader and then recover my hooks when cleaning the fish.