Catch Trout Without Fly Fishing

I have a lot of people ask me the question: Can I catch trout without having to fly fish?

Yes. You can catch trout without fly fishing. There are many ways to catch trout. In fact there are probably more trout anglers using bait or lures than there are using flies. Here are some tips from the tips to get you started.

I can totally understand why people would think that fly fishing is the only way to catch trout. Growing up, my dad had me convinced that although there are many ways to catch a trout, fly fishing was the only really successful method. He had been fly fishing all his life and had no interest in any other type of fishing. This was passed on to him by his dad, who learned it from his dad.

Although I too love fly fishing, I’m not what you would call a purist. I branched out from fly fishing, because there are other methods that in certain situations prove to be more productive.

I hope to make fishing more accessible to all. And in this post I would like to give you some tips to get you not only fishing sooner, but CATCHING fish sooner.

There is a lot of general trout fishing information on the web. I may cover some of this here, but I want to get into some more specific lesser known tips that will help you out.

Get Your Fishing License

This is easy, but very important. Getting caught without a fishing license is considered about as serious as driving without a drivers license. It’s a misdemeanor and requires you to appear in court. In some places they may even have the right to take away all your fishing gear.

You can get a fishing license at tackle shops, Walmart, and sometimes gas stations or ranger stations.

You’ll usually just need to bring your drivers license.

Find a Trout Fishing Hole

I actually wrote an entire post just about finding good trout spots near you. Check it out if you are interested.

Basically there are a few ways to get started.

Ask someone you know who is into fishing. The better your relationship, the more likely they are to help you get started and show you their favorite spot.

Ask your local tackle shop. Local tackle shops are becoming fewer and fewer. But if you find one, they will likely tell you a few spots to get started. If they can get you addicted to fishing with a good experience, then they have won a new customer!

You can also use Google maps to find new bodies of water to fish. This is one of my favorite methods, because I can often find places where few people go.

Start With a Good Rod and Reel

You don’t have to spend a ton of money here, but having a good rod will help you cast more accurately and be more enjoyable to use throughout the day.

Big box stores sell ok combos for around $20. If you want to go cheap then that is a good place to start.

However if you are willing to spend around $40 you can buy a good step up. If you are ok with spending around $100 then you can get an awesome rod and reel. Personally I don’t see a need to go more expensive than that for a trout rod and reel.

If you want some guidance on choosing a good fishing rod, check out this post on choosing a trout rod.

Choose The Right Tackle and Bait

There is a lot to consider when choosing what bait to use.

The reason why fly fishing is so popular for catching trout is because the wild trout’s main diet is aquatic insects. These insects hatch out of eggs on the river or lake bottom and eventually swim their way to the surface where they emerge out of their worm-like body with wings.

However, generally speaking, trout aren’t too picky about what they put in their mouth. If it looks or smells like food, and they are in an eating mood, then they’ll try it.

Stocked trout are a little different. They were raised on fish food pellets. Sure they’ll eat bugs, worms, and other natural baits, but something like PowerBait will also work.

For all trout, I recommend starting with a worm under a bobber. If I’m fishing a new location, that’s usually where I’ll start.

The other option is to use a lure. My Favorite is the Rooster Tail. The way you fish lures is to cast them out and reel them right back in. Reel just fast enough that you see the blade of the lure spinning through the water.

Check out this article for or more info on trout fishing bait.

Keep It Simple

When you walk into the fishing section you will see hundreds if not thousands of different baits, lures, hooks, bobbers etc…

They all catch fish, but they have to be used in the right way and in the right situation. A problem with buying a large variety of baits and lures is that you may be tempted to switch between them so often that you’ll never master any one method.

Here is all you need to get started.

1. Size 10 baitholder hooks
2. A foam bobber with built in weight
3. Worms

These three combined should cost you less than $10

If you don’t want to deal with worms, then I recommend using the Trout Magnet. You can buy a pack of these including hooks for about $2 then all you need is a foam bobber with built in weight.

Bobber fishing is the easiest method for beginners and is still my favorite method when bait fishing for trout.

Next I’ll go into how to fish with a bobber.

How To Use a Bobber

As I said above, bobber fishing is easy. The bobber keeps your bait floating suspended in the water. This reduces your chances of getting snagged on the bottom.

I highly suggest using foam bobbers with a built in weight. The foam bobbers are much more durable than the plastic ones. The weight will help you to cast farther, and although you can buy weights to pinch onto your line, that is just one more step, and thing to buy.

The bobbers I buy are designed with a metal hook in the top and bottom. by pinching the plastic part, you can expose the hooks one at a time. Simply hook each of the hooks onto your line and you are ready to go. You can easily adjust the bobber up and down your line by just pinching the plastic and sliding the bobber.

Start with your bobber about an arms length away from your bait. If the bait is too close to the bobber, the fish will see it and stay away. If the bait is too far from the bobber, then it will be difficult to cast.

You do want to adjust the depth of your bait until you find the level at which the fish are most comfortable feeding.

How To Fish With a Sinker

Sometimes the fish are feeding deep and you need to get your bait down to their level.

For the most part I’ll only bottom fish for stocked trout with PowerBait. PowerBait floats, so while your sinker is pinning your line to the bottom, the hook and PowerBait will be floating a foot or two up.

Generally speaking, trout don’t pick their food off the bottom of a lake. I have caught trout with bait on the bottom, but I have better luck if I can float it up even just a few inches.

When bottom fishing, I always use what’s called a sliding sinker rig. It’s pretty easy to set up.

You’ll need three things:

1. 1/2oz. sinker with either a hole through it, or a wire loop
2. Medium sized swivel
3. Size 10 baitholder hook

To fish the sliding sinker rig, cast out, let it sink, then reel in the slack so the line is somewhat tight. It’s fine if it sags a little bit, but you don’t want a bunch of loose line to be laying out on the water.

Be Observant

The first thing I do when I show up to a new fishing spot is I walk around for a bit. I want to see where other people are fishing, and if anyone is catching fish. If so, what are they using?

However, you don’t want to fish too close to someone. If there are a lot of people fishing then get a sense for how much space they are giving each other. Some ponds may be crowded and have people set up every 20 yards or so. I usually try to leave at least a casting distance between me and the next angler. If I’m fishing somewhere remote, I’ll try to stay out of sight. People go to remote places to fish alone.

Another thing to look for when you show up is fish. Are there any fish jumping out of the water? Feeding on the surface? Is the water clear enough that you can see fish swimming? (Just know that if you see a fish, it most likely sees you too. If it sees you than you will have a hard time getting it to bite.)

Be Stealth

I just touched in this above but it is a very important topic that I have learned through many experiences.

As a young fisherman, I didn’t really comprehend how important it was to be stealth. I would walk around until I see some fish, then throw everything I had at them but couldn’t get them to bite.

In my brain I thought that if they saw me and were scared, they would just swim away. But that wasn’t true. Often times fish will see you, but still feel safe in the water. However, they will keep an eye on you and be warry. If there is anything slightly un-natural about your bait or lure, then they won’t touch it.

I come across this a lot in community fishing ponds. A pond will be stocked with trout and crowds will gather to catch them. I see people practically chasing the fish all around the pond thinking that if they could just get their hook in front of its face enough times, eventually it will eat it.

This never works however, and everyone starts commenting on how the fish just aren’t biting today.

I’ve seen it over and over again.

I don’t blame them. They’re just out having fun, and if I’m going to fish for stocked trout in a community pond then I know what to expect.

But if you are in this situation, or are lucky enough to be one of the only people fishing that day, then you will have much better chances it you just be stealth.

Whether you are fly fishing or bait fishing, these are universal keys to catching trout.

• Stay low.

• Don’t make sudden movements.

• Don’t splash in the water.

• Stay back from the edge of the water.

• Hide behind bushes, rocks trees, or tall grass.

• Wear clothes that blend in with your background.

Know Your Target

There are many species of trout, however there is no need to change techniques between species.

There is one major thing to consider though… Are you fishing for wild trout or stocked trout?

If you are fishing for wild trout, then, like a fly angler, you need to consider what they eat naturally. Wild trout are almost always more difficult to catch. (The exception is if they are in an area with very little food and are therefore starving.)

In the wild, trout will eat bugs, worms, and smaller fish. This means that you should use worms, bugs (like grasshoppers or crickets,) minnows, or lures.

If you are fishing for stocked trout then consider what they grew up eating. They were raised on floating greenish-brown fish food pellets.

There are many baits that mimic the smell of fish pellets such as PowerBait, and salmon eggs.

Stocked trout still have some natural instincts and will also eat bugs, worms, and smaller fish.

So if you are fishing for stocked trout, you can use just about anything.

If you are fishing for wild trout, then you probably won’t have very good luck with dough baits like PowerBait.

Present The Bait

Presentation is one of the things that fly anglers obsess over. And they are totally right to do so.

When fly fishing, some of the most simple flies will out-fish the most realistic and beautiful ones. The thing that matters most about an artificially tied fly is that it gets in front of the fish.

If you are trying to catch trout without fly fishing, this is still an important point to take note of.

How this applies to bait anglers, is that we need to figure out where the fish are feeding and at what depth.

Sometimes trout will feed on the surface, sometimes they’ll feed near the bottom, and sometimes they’ll be feeding somewhere in-between.

If you see fish jumping out of the water, or just sticking their nose out as they slurp down flies, then you know they are feeding on or near the surface. This is when you would want to use a bobber to keep your bait in the top two feet of the water column.

If you don’t see any surface activity, then you know the fish are in the mid to lower water column. Unless you have a fish finder (which I never have) then you will have to experiment. I’ll usually start from the bottom with a sliding sinker rig, and move up.

Extreme Focus

If you’re a more intense angler like me then you’ll enjoy the feeling of focusing all your senses. I think it’s some natural hunter instinct that’s built into our DNA.

Fly fishing takes extreme focus. Trout are very quick to spit out a fake fly so the fly angler needs to be ready to set the hook within a split second.

Having this extreme focus will help you to catch more fish as a bait angler as well.

When bottom fishing you will be holding the rod in your hand feeling for even the slightest tick in the rod which tells you a fish is checking out your bait.

When fishing with a bobber you will be focused on watching that bobber for the slightest twitch.

This helps you to never miss a bite. (Don’t set the hook on these smallest indications, but detecting them will have you ready for when they really do eat the bait.)

Sit Back, Relax, and Have a Drink

On the other hand, many people have kids running around, food cooking on the grill, or maybe just want this chance to sit back and relax.

This isn’t a bad thing. You can still catch trout this way. Just make sure you have your rod secured in a rod holder so it doesn’t get pulled in.

I also like to use bells that clip onto the tip of my rod so I can hear when a trout gets hooked.

Find a Small Creek or River

Many Fly fishing anglers prefer fishing in rivers and small streams. But even if you aren’t fly fishing, you can catch a lot of trout in streams.

What I like about fishing in streams is that the fish will usually be piled up in certain spots. If you learn to read a river, you’ll be able to find these spots pretty easily and not waste time fishing unproductive water.

If you are fishing a small stream, this can be pretty easy. Just look for deeper holes in the creek. Most of the creek may be too shallow for fish, so that means they’ll be crowded into the deep holes that are few and far between.

Deep holes are often found where the stream makes a bend. They could also be behind or beside big boulders or trees that have fallen into the water.

Fishing in in rivers and especially small streams can be more difficult as far as casting and presenting the bait goes. You are also more likely to snag on rocks and trees in the water. But it’s a good way to practice your casting and develop the skill of reading a river.

Fishing creeks and rivers can be the most frustrating, and the most rewarding.

Take a Trip

Sometimes you may have to travel a little ways to get to some good trout fishing.

If you are getting frustrated and struggling to catch trout near you, then maybe do some research and find somewhere that is known for excellent trout fishing.

Maybe you can take the family, or some friends and make a weekend trip out of it.

Just know that fishing licenses might be expensive if you aren’t a resident of that state.

Take a Friend

Do you have any friends who are experienced anglers? If so ask them if they could help you get started. I know if a friend asked me, I’d love to take them out and get them on some fish.

Growing up, I actually didn’t have any fishing buddies. In fact my friends made fun of me for it. If you are like me and don’t know anyone willing to teach you the ropes, then do what I did and go fishing, read books, do research online. I’m trying to get everything I know about fishing out on this website to help you.

Take a Hike

Some of the best fishing holes are the ones that take a little extra effort to get to.

For whatever reason, it’s mostly only fly fishing anglers that use this technique. But even if you aren’t fly fishing, you can still catch a lot of trout in these hard to reach places.

I like to use Google Satellite to find these lakes and streams.

Sometimes you can find about these places online, but if they are plastered all over the internet, then they may be over fished.

Besides, it is so rewarding to find a stream on Google Maps, get there to see it in person, and catch fish.

Fly Fish without Fly Fishing

This is a technique that is talked about a lot, but I don’t see it used very often.

Basically, you just use a bobber with a fly. The bobber is there to help you cast the fly since the fly weighs basically nothing.

It’s not a bad idea to use a clear plastic bobber. This will appear to the fish to just be a bubble on the surface.

If you don’t have a clear bobber, it’s not a big deal. In fact fly fishing anglers use bobbers too (they prefer to call them “strike indicators”). These are usually made of foam and painted bright colors like orange, yellow, or red.

There are so many thousands of fly patterns out there and I can’t get into which ones to use where, when and how. But here are a couple flies to start with.

Beadheads – This is a type of fly rather than a specific pattern. Choose any fly that has a metal bead to shape the head. These will sink.

Grasshoppers – There are many flies that are tied to mimic grasshoppers. These will float and work best on rivers during the summer.

Use a Trout Magnet

This is practically the same as what I talked about above in regards to using a fly with a bobber. But the Trout Magnet blows my mind with how effective it is at catching trout.

The name itself sounds gimmicky and I didn’t want to try it at first. But my friend who was just getting into trout fishing bought it and told me I had to give it a try.

I could not believe how many trout I caught with that little jig!

I went through my whole tackle box testing the Trout Magnet against a number of lures, baits, and even very similar jigs. But nothing could compete.

I’m not sponsored and don’t make any money from Trout Magnet, they just work so well. I’m going to drop the link to their site right here incase you are interested. They even have some great videos explaining how to use it.

You can buy Trout Magnet products at big box stores as well if you are like me and don’t want to wait for shipping.

Try a Lure

I mentioned at the beginning of this article that I really like the Rooster Tail lures. Mepps, Blue Fox, and Panther Martin also make some great lures, but they are a little more expensive.

With lures you get to be a much more active angler. You cast out the lure then reel it back in just fast enough to get the blade to spin around the body of the lure.

Lures are very attractive to trout because they mimic a minnow with the flashiness and the vibration of the spinning blade.

One of the downsides to fishing with these spinning lures (spinners) is that they can cause a lot of twist in your line. This usually happens when the shaft of the lure gets rusty, or bent causing the spinning blade to turn the whole lure along with it and that twists the line.

Even using a swivel doesn’t always help. It’s better to just avoid using a lure that is spinning your line. Eventually it will put so much twist in your line that you’ll get big rats nest tangles when you cast and you’ll have to cut out a lot of line.

Catch Trout With Eggs

Fish love eating fish eggs. They are bright, easy to find, and packed with nutrition.

Even fly fishing anglers will tie flies out of yarn that imitate eggs. If you aren’t fly fishing, you can just buy a small jar of cured fish eggs at a tackle shop, or big box store.

The easiest and probably most effective method to fish an egg, is under a bobber.

You’ll want to use a special egg hook. It isn’t a requirement, but since fish eggs are so small, it’s good to use a small hook that will be fairly well hidden in one or two eggs.

You can buy egg hooks in the regular fishing section, but I like to go to the fly fishing section and get a small curved nymph hook. Usually a size 12 or 14 will be good for one or two eggs. Fly fishing hooks are usually better quality and sharper.

I like to fish with eggs in small streams. If the water is deep or moving fast, I’ll add a splitshot or two about 12 inches up from the hook, this will make sure the egg stays deep where it would naturally be.

I have also caught trout in ponds with eggs. Sometimes I’ll use a bobber, but other times I’ll fish it on the bottom with a sliding sinker rig.

Since the eggs are so tiny, I recommend using them in clear water, when you can feel confident that the trout will be able to see it from at least a short distance. They do put off a little bit of a scent, but it may still be difficult for a trout to find in a muddy pond.

Try PowerBait

Being the son of a fly fisherman, I was taught that PowerBait was the worst thing you could possibly use.

However, as I grew up, I started experimenting with with just about everything. It turns out that PowerBait, and dough baits in general, actually do work very well on stocked trout.

PowerBait has a similar scent to the feed pellets that stocked trout are raised on. Trout are more likely to eat something that is more familiar and associated with food to them.

Almost all PowerBait is designed to float. Since it floats, It should be used with a sliding sinker rig.

When bait fishing a new spot, I’ll usually start with worms, but if I don’t have any, PowerBait is next on the list.

A lot of trout ponds can be a little murky. PowerBait puts off a lot of scent which will help trout to find it in such situations.

Use Worms

Surprisingly, one of the most productive “flies” that fly fishing anglers use is called the San Juan Worm. It’s basically a piece of red yarn tied onto a hook.

Many fly fishing anglers are against using this “fly”. They see it as being too close to bait fishing. But the fact is that there are a lot of worms in the water. And fish love them!

So, even if you aren’t fly fishing, you can still catch a lot of trout on worms.

However, there is a big difference between the fly anglers San Juan Worm, and the live night crawler worms you can buy in the bait section.

Besides the fact that real worms are alive and wiggly, store bought night crawlers are usually pretty big. This is good if you are fishing for catfish or carp, but you’ll hook a lot more trout if you use a smaller worm, or at least cut the big worms up into 3 inch pieces.

Your average trout doesn’t have a very big mouth. If the worm is too big, then it may only get half the worm in it’s mouth as it swims off. This will make you think that a trout has eaten your worm, but when you set the hook and reel in, you’ll see that the fish just ripped your worm off the hook.

To fix this problem, cut the worm up into bite-sized pieces. Or, better yet, dig up your own worms. You can usually find smaller worms in the wild, and these will be much more lively, and you don’t have to cut them up.

Fish With Bugs

This is sort of like fly fishing but without fly fishing.

As we have said throughout this article, the trout’s diet is made up mainly of bugs. Some of those bugs are aquatic, and some are terrestrial (live on land).

To cover the aquatic life, I have explained how to use worms and lures. Another type of worm/bug that you can use is called the mealworm.

Mealworms are like worms but with a soft, segmented shell. If allowed to mature, they will turn into beetles. These are similar to a lot of the aquatic insects, which spend the majority of their life in the larva stage underwater before maturing and hatching into flies. This is why mealworms make such a great bait.

You can buy meal worms at most pet stores because they are a popular food for pet reptiles. They are also very cheap at around $2 for 100 worms.

Now for the terrestrials…

At those same pet stores you can usually buy crickets. Crickets and grasshoppers will often end up in a river. Sometimes they are blown in by the wind, or just hop the wrong direction.

Trout love grasshoppers. They work especially well in the summer months right up along a grassy bank. Remember to be as stealthy as possible. Trout are very wary when eating off the surface.

I haven’t seen grasshoppers for sale in the pet stores, but crickets work great too!

Pink Worm Method

The pink worm method is one that I learned in the Pacific Northwest from steelhead anglers.

If you don’t know, a steelhead is basically a giant rainbow trout that is born in the rivers, spends it’s life in the ocean, than returns to the rivers to spawn. Just like a salmon.

The pink worm itself is just a bright pink rubbery worm. It can be fished on a jig head under a bobber, or drifted along the river bottom with a drift rig.

Both rigs work well, but bobber fishing is much easier for beginners. If you want to drift fish, it is very productive, but you risk getting a lot of snags, and losing a lot of gear.

Try Bread

Bread is one of my secret baits. I have never seen anyone fish for trout with bread. Yet, I have caught a lot of fish this way.

Bread isn’t good in all situations. I save it for when I’m fishing stocked trout in a small duck pond.

The reason it works so well is because when people go to feed the ducks, some of the bread is bound to sink. The trout will learn this, and when they hear the noisy ducks feeding, they’ll head over there to join them.

I have written a lot about fishing with bread on this website.

One good thing about bread is that all fish in that pond will eat it. So, if you don’t catch any trout, you’ll probably still catch something so you don’t have to go home skunked.

Make Your Own Bait

Experimenting is fun and can be extremely rewarding.

This is something I love about fly fishing and tying my own flies. I can try different patterns and even make up a lot of my own. It’s so rewarding to catch a fish on something you designed yourself.

Even if you aren’t fly fishing, you can still experiment with different trout bait recipes, and even come up with your own. It is also a lot of fun to make your own lures. You can buy lure making supplies online, then start trying out different color patterns, hooks, and blade shapes.

I learned that trout love bread by mistake. I was actually using bread to catch carp with bottom fishing, but when I tried fishing the bread under a bobber, I began catching trout left and right!

Have Faith

I know this one sounds a little weird… but sometimes it just seems to work.

I think it has to do with focus more than anything. When I show up to a spot truly believing that I’m going to catch a fish, I will be ultra focused on every cast. I’ll notice every twitch of the bobber, or tick of the rod.

It’s when I loose that belief, that I get surprised by a random bite and miss the hookset because I wasn’t paying attention. often times it’s the only bite in a long day of fishing. That makes it even more frustrating.

This is also similar to having confidence in your bait and method. When you are just getting started it’s hard to know what to have confidence in. If you have read this whole article, you’ll have seen my recommendations. These are all baits I’m confident in, so just choose one to get started with and try to master that technique before moving on to another.

It May Take Some Time

It took me a long time to consistently catch trout. And every body of water is different, so even today it can take me a few trips before I figure out a new lake or river and start catching fish.

You just have to put in the time. Hopefully fishing is fun for you whether or not you catch fish. Of course catching fish makes it way better, but try to enjoy the overall experience.

Don’t Give Up!

After high school, I went off to college in another state. There was a small river that ran right through town just a couple miles from my apartment. I knew there had to be trout in that river, but I rarely saw anyone fishing it, and never saw anyone catch anything.

I tried over and over and over. I tried worms, lures, fly fishing, and the first year I didn’t catch any trout.

The second year started off very much the same. Later that year I got lucky and caught a couple little trout, but nothing to brag about.

Then the third year, I tried a certain method in a certain spot at a certain time of year. All by chance because I had used Rooster Tails throughout the river, I had also fished this spot, and I had fished in early spring. However I hadn’t fished a Rooster Tail in this spot in early spring.

This time I did, and I quickly hooked into the biggest trout of my life which was a 21 inch cutthroat!

The very next cast I caught an 18 inch trout in the same spot. I couldn’t believe it!

Since then, I have gotten this river dialed in. I became the river where I could go to catch monster trout every spring. And can catch many smaller trout throughout the year.

It’s all about patience, and persistence.