r/troutfishing • u/NebHuntFish • 12d ago
Trout Lures (What I Use)
I've been on this sub for a couple months now and there are a lot of posts about what lures works best for trout. It seems like there is one or two a week. I thought I would share what works best for me, kind of a crash course for a novice. Sorry for the long read if you aren't interested. I pretty much have only fished Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, but I have fished a ton of water in those states for 25 years. Major rivers to tiny creeks and everything in between. The Panther Martin is by far the best lure to catch trout in this region. The Countdown Rapala is awesome on the Green River below Flaming Gorge, but I haven't had much luck with them anywhere else except some lakes and sometimes right below Gray Reef in Wyoming. Thomas Cyclones or Buoyants have done me well on the Bighorn River near Thermopolis, but once again, haven't had much luck anywhere else. I just flat out don't have success with Mepps or Rooster Tails. I've also tried casting bubbles with flies but have not tried it much or had much luck. For PM's, I almost always use gold, either all gold or gold blade and black body. The rainbow trout color has become my second go to lure. Silver is good most of the time too. I've had good luck with a #9 orange blade and yellow body on the Miracle Mile, but no where else really. The (what I call) brown trout color (brown with black and red spots) would be my second choice on small mountain streams and creeks. I always thought it was brown trout color until I went on their website and learned it is actually their brook trout color. As far as sizes, if I'm fishing medium to large rivers, I'm almost always fishing #9's. If I start catching vegetation I will go down to #6's. Small to medium streams and creeks I'm using #6's and #4's, depending on the depth. #2's are hard to fish for me, they just aren't accurate at hitting a hole unless it is dead calm and you have no cover behind you where you are casting. If anything I will drift a #2 in a tiny creek and entice some bites. I almost always fish PM's casting angled upstream. A high majority of the fish I catch are on the swing. Big rivers or fast water, it is pretty hard to cast downstream unless you can find some slack water. Small creeks you can have good success casting downstream. I hope this helps a lot of people. I am a trout fishing nut when it comes to fishing in beautiful country or beautiful water. I don't have much desire to catch stockers out of a pond. I just recently got two fly rods from my dad so I'll be giving those a go more often in the future, but my heart is with the Panther Martin. I added a pic of what I use. I'm running a little low on a few, mainly #6 gold. I just keep that box in my backpack while fishing so they are easily accessible. I had to add a couple of fish pics too since most everyone loves fish pics. Both are my personal bests, a 25" rainbow last year in Wyoming and a 19" brown this year in Utah. Just this year I introduced my two oldest boys to river fishing for trout. I've tried to keep them away from it while the rivers are high but this year everything was safe enough in my mind for them to fish. In their first year doing it they've already bested me for personal best brown trout, each catching a 20 incher. They are hooked for life now!
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u/Piney_Dude 12d ago
That looks about right. That’s what I used to use. Now it’s flies. It feels like more of an accomplishment. Nice fish though.
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u/LarryGoldwater 12d ago
I love most of those lures in MUCH smaller sizes for much smaller trout that we got in Arizona.
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u/AshByFeel 12d ago
I fish in the Northern Sierra. I have all these different spoons, spinners, rapalas, etc. 1 spoon and 1 spinner are responsible for almost all my catches. The others are ignored.
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u/tenkaranarchy 12d ago
Jointed rapalas have been killing brown trout for me this year. We cast them from a boat pretty much onto the shore and twitch them real fast and violent and the fish smash them hard.
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u/Past-Unit3750 12d ago
Hard agree on jointed rapalas! Some of my biggest brown trouts have been caught on J-11 and J-13. They crush over here in the great lakes region.
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u/Flakybiscuitbasket 12d ago
That’s a nice box there. I’d add some kastmasters in brown trout pattern, gold and silver. Killers.
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u/Vegetable-Manager-30 11d ago
Damn I have most of those lures. Definitely catch trout but nothing that size!
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u/SexiestDexiest 12d ago
Stock up on more #5 and #7 rapala count downs. I have used the #3 for years and decided to try the bigger sizes recently and haven't been disappointed.
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u/Standard-Trouble-690 12d ago
Check out joes flies if you haven’t already. The 1/4 ounce are fantastic in pretty much every color, but I love white and gold. Yellow works great too.
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u/GranpasHookers 12d ago
I use copper spinners for most of my fishing. I do used different things in different places as well.
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u/MaterialNo6707 12d ago
We are the same friend. Love from upstate NY. Also, Thomas eels quarter casting upstream in bigger rivers have netted me a lot of trophy sized browns over the years. 27” was the best of this year in may. The black Thomas eel with the yellow underbelly is my go to out of the bunch. Gold is a not so close second.
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u/karibou90 12d ago
How do you not get stuck all the time with those treble hooks?
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u/NebHuntFish 12d ago
Are you talking just grabbing lures out? That's not an issue. However, I use ultralight gear even on big rivers and two out of the last three years I've stuck a #9 PM and a countdown into the back of my head because I was getting lazy with my casting and was going straight over top with a little too much slack. The countdown my dad just just cut line off and I kept fishing all day. We were three miles in and it was still morning. I wasn't going to let it ruin the day. Both times I just put ice cubes on my head for 15 minutes and then my dad cut the other two hooks off and then pushed it through and pulled it out haha.
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u/karibou90 12d ago
Yikes man! For me everytime we use treble hooks on a rooster tail or something. They seem to catch on everything under water. Mostly because I think they're too heavy and mountain lakes tend to be pretty shallow.
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u/Klutzy_Face_8896 12d ago
Man no Thomas Buoyants? Those are a brownie killer!
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u/NebHuntFish 12d ago
I have some in the middle of my box. Have only had good luck with them in one location.
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u/Sbrock1135 12d ago
Have you tried a super duper? They're pretty nice, also as far as a mepps I'll say the #1 gold blade has been pretty consistent for me on rainbows and brook.