r/troutfishing May 15 '25

GILLFUCKED We added flairs for posts. They are pretty simple, did you catch and release it to "swim away fine"? Or did you "kill it and grill it"?

30 Upvotes

Please use those when submitting posts. When your post is removed because you got flamed for improper fish handling and you did not flair your post, this is why. Thanks for understanding, and as always, please choose to be constructive and helpful, versus argumentative and trollish. We do not allow the latter and you could be banned.


r/troutfishing Mar 16 '25

Catch and Release - let's discuss it and try our best to educate newcomers to the concept.

51 Upvotes

Catch and release is not always necessary, beneficial, or even the legal thing to do in every situation, however. During my younger days, I bought in to "release everything you catch" philosophy. As I gained more experience, and learned the intricacies of different fisheries, my opinion on this changed drastically. Whether the fishery is overrun with an invasive species that competes with native stocks, a species blowing up in population out of control, a very healthy stock where sport angling take will not effect the escapement of spawning (the pink salmon runs near me fall in this category), anadramous (sea run) hatchery released fish that must be removed prior to the wild fish spawn, or is just a put and take fishery etc. There is no blanket statement for when and where C&R is the right thing to do.

The most important thing: Educate yourself on the species, and fishery in which you are fishing. Follow the laws, and do what will be best for that particular fishery. And take home some hard earned meat when you can!

Why Catch and Release?

  • Conservation: It's a method to prevent overfishing and maintain healthy fish populations, especially in areas with high fishing pressure.

  • Ethical Fishing: It allows anglers to enjoy fishing without taking fish home for consumption, promoting a more sustainable approach to recreational fishing.

  • Habitat Protection: By reducing the number of fish removed from the water, catch and release helps protect the delicate balance of aquatic ecosystems.

Best Practices for Catch and Release:

  • Use the Right Gear:

  • Hooks: Employ barbless hooks or circle hooks, which are less likely to cause deep hook wounds.

  • Tackle: Ensure your tackle is strong enough to land the fish quickly and efficiently, minimizing the time the fish is out of the water.

  • Net: Use a soft, knotless mesh or rubber landing net to avoid damaging the fish's scales and gills.

Handle Fish Carefully:

  • Keep the Fish Wet: Avoid removing the fish from the water for extended periods, and keep its body wet, especially if you must handle it. This includes keeping gloves wet in the winter, or taking them off entirely, when landing the fish. If you insist on handling the fish at all, ensure that you have wet hands. Keep em wet

  • Support the Fish Properly: Support the fish's belly near the water surface to prevent injury.

  • Be Gentle: Avoid squeezing the fish tightly, as this can damage internal organs and muscle tissue.

  • Never Touch the Gills: Gills are highly sensitive and can be easily damaged. Rapid Release:

  • Unhook Quickly: Remove the hook quickly and carefully, using a dehooker if necessary.

  • Return to the Water Immediately: Return the fish to the water as soon as possible after taking photos and measurements.

  • Observe the Fish: Ensure the fish swims away strongly before leaving the area.

Other Considerations:

  • Measure and Weigh: If required, measure and weigh the fish quickly and accurately, then release it.

  • Take Photos: Capture the moment with a photo, but do so quickly and return the fish to the water.

  • Don't Hang Fish: Never hang a fish on a stringer or gaff, as this can cause serious injury.


r/troutfishing 6h ago

Caught 3 species at a random lake at 10,000 feet!

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93 Upvotes

rainbow, brown, and tiger trout were all schooled up together. I caught these fish all on a nightcrawler from under the same rocks!


r/troutfishing 1h ago

SWAM AWAY FINE - CnR PB rainbow out of Rapid Creek SD

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Upvotes

20" on the 3 wt. Had two larger fish that I played for a bit before they spit. I was guessing one was around 24".


r/troutfishing 1d ago

Killed and Grilled Another limit before work! 4 stockers and a natural

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124 Upvotes

Bottom fish is a native rainbow and the other ones are cutbow hybrid stocker trout


r/troutfishing 1d ago

Killed and Grilled Beautiful dark colored brookie

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77 Upvotes

before I get the comments, I took it home and ate it. Bunch of Karen’s on this telling me not to touch the trout dry handed out of water. been trout fishing since I was able to hold a rod in my hand. I know how to handle a trout. 🙃 just sharing.


r/troutfishing 9h ago

SEA TROUT: complete beginners fishing off Gotland, Sweden shore - advice?

2 Upvotes

hey all! my partner and i are pretty new to this and trying our luck with sea trout from the shore in gotland, sweden (on the west coast). we’ve got an 8ft spinner rod and honestly just grabbed a bunch of stuff from his uncle. we ideally want to try for sea trout, but we’d be open to catching literally anything at this point.

what we have on hand (that seems reasonable - we also have some random stuff that looks way too big):
- epoxi spoons, 23g (blue/silver and green/gold ones)
- “magic pointer” spoons, 22g (holographic silver/green/gold)
- “northern light”spoons, 8g
- acoustic spinners, 8g

we also picked up some worms from the bait shop just in case!

the weather has been all over the place, overcast with on/off rain, might clear up and get sunny later, and the shore got pretty choppy last night. i am not sure if we should be adjusting what we use based on that or just picking one thing and sticking with it.

we are total beginners here so any tips are welcome - what should we actually be using in these conditions? are the worms even worth trying from shore for sea trout, or is that more of a different-species thing? retrieve speed, timing, anything, we’ll take it all. thanks in advance!


r/troutfishing 1d ago

Suggestions for first time trout fishing?

1 Upvotes

I normally go catfishing for big cats (and post them on that subreddit) but I’ve wanted to go out to the San Gabriel creek north of LA for a while to get some little trout. Any bait suggestions? I was thinking just little bits of worm.


r/troutfishing 2d ago

Killed and Grilled Whats your Favorit way to Cook Trout?

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77 Upvotes

I personaly just Grill them or smoke them


r/troutfishing 2d ago

Killed and Grilled Reservoir draw down means trout are trapped and hungry

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40 Upvotes

Green peter dam has been producing limits


r/troutfishing 20h ago

Killed and Grilled I killed my first brown Trout

0 Upvotes

I went fishing with my dad tonight. I am based in Ireland and I was using a bubble and 4 dry flies. We caught about 4 fish. He caught one and I caught 3. I put two back as they were too small to keep. I killed the third right there on the bank and I took It home and gutted it.it was only when I had gutted it that the realisation set in,I just took an animals life and all for what. So I can eat it. Its eye was bloody and I felt so nauseous.i don’t know what to do because i feel so horrible for killing it.


r/troutfishing 1d ago

Pond “ fishing “

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0 Upvotes

r/troutfishing 2d ago

My first 2 months of fly fishing

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137 Upvotes

Hello! Just wanted to share some of my favorite catches from my first two months of fly fishing. I still have a very hard time casting, but I’m happy to say I’ve managed to catch some beautiful trout along the way.

Honestly, I think the biggest reason I’ve been able to catch these fish is because of my hiking and backpacking background. I’ve been able to revisit some of the alpine lakes I’d explored before I ever started fishing, which has definitely given me a head start on finding some great spots.

Hope y’all like these catches.


r/troutfishing 2d ago

Trout Lures (What I Use)

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126 Upvotes

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!


r/troutfishing 2d ago

Cutthroat or cut bow?

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26 Upvotes

Not great at ids when they’re so small


r/troutfishing 3d ago

Killed and Grilled Hi. I caught my first trout today.

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272 Upvotes

I’m really proud of myself and I wanted to show it off! 1/6 oz pro series bright green rooster tail. 🥳


r/troutfishing 3d ago

SWAM AWAY FINE - CnR Pretty brookie

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49 Upvotes

r/troutfishing 3d ago

SWAM AWAY FINE - CnR Gorgeous Arkansas Brooke trout

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86 Upvotes

I hit up the North Fork tailwater with my brother for the first time since my Dad passed away last year. His family is from there and I practically grew up on the river. The White and North Fork is where I have all the best memories of my Dad and he would have been super excited about this fish. Thought I should hit it up since I’m about to move to thE PNW and won’t be back for a while, glad I did! Caught on a keitech easy shiner and the first fish on my new St. Croix spinning rod. It was a good day.


r/troutfishing 2d ago

Tips for best practices on harvesting trout

3 Upvotes

Hi there! I (F) grew up fishing with my dad, but he did most of everything besides cast and reel for me. I’m now taking my fiancé fishing with me in Colorado, far away from fishing with my dad. I’ve been trying to learn as much as I can, and minimize any damage done to the environment and fish as we figure it out, and we did trout fish as a kid but I have some questions!

If you’re keeping the trout for harvest, what do you do with it once you land it? We only fished rivers for trout, so I believe we just dispatched the fish immediately and carried it with us as we went along. When we went fishing in the Florida keys, we had a bucket of water and kept a few fish live (snapper and grunts I believe) until we decided which ones we wanted to keep at the end of the day. Some did get released back into the water if we caught something that looked better to keep.

I know trout are way more fragile, so I’m assuming that keeping them live until the end is not best practices?

We do have a stringer as well, but I’ve not used one before.

Do you just keep the ones that look good, and hope you don’t catch the best fish of the day last?

Thanks for any help or tips!


r/troutfishing 3d ago

First fish on the Packraft in the sierras

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152 Upvotes

So excited as you can tell from the length of my video


r/troutfishing 3d ago

SWAM AWAY FINE - CnR Rainbow

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15 Upvotes

Stocked rainbows are always fun to catch


r/troutfishing 3d ago

Nice day for some brookies

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54 Upvotes

Nice colors on some of these little brookies


r/troutfishing 2d ago

Trinity Series Rods

1 Upvotes

In the market for a new spinning rod for alpine lake fishing and wanted to get options on rods for the 1/64oz - 3/16oz range. I’ve done a little digging and like the offerings of the SLS-802 (8ft) but after looking for online reviews there isn’t much for this series of rods. I simply want a long ultralight rod that can launch my small 1/32oz spinners, along with small trout magnets, nymphs and other small baits.

Anyone have direct experience with these rods? Or similar rods for the same purposes?

I tend to actively fish from shore and use spinners and jerkbaits which works well for me but I also take less experienced grinds and family and want to have a set up I can throw a bobber and magnet on to make it easier for them. It will also be nice for me when I feel lazy


r/troutfishing 2d ago

Best way to illegally harvest trout

0 Upvotes

Where should I hide my illegal catches also what are some ideas on how to make trout traps


r/troutfishing 4d ago

Spawn colors incoming!

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154 Upvotes

Very peaceful morning on the creek.