Top Five Trout Lures
John Merwin

Defined Tag: Trout Lures.

So quit with the chuck-it-and-chance-it already. Instead, take a hard look at the five basic categories of trout lures. Each has its own brand of subtlety and technique. Each has a prime time and place. And each can help you take more trout more often.

1. Spoons
There are thick spoons. There are thin spoons. Never the twain shall meet, at least in trout fishing.

Thick spoons run deep and as such are best for reaching down to early-season trout in fast water. Examples include the Little Cleo and the Krocodile (shown at left), both available in a variety of sizes down to 1/8 ounce or less. These and similar spoons are comparatively thick in proportion to their overall surface area; they cast like rockets and are great lures for covering lots of water in a hurry.

Use the smallest available sizes on small to midsize streams. Go up to 3/8- or even 1/2-ounce models on really big water. Basic colors are silver or gold, often with colored stripes or spots added. You can also customize your own spoons (see "Doctor Your Lures" sidebar).

Cast up and across in deep, fast water, but don't use a steady retrieve. The art of trout fishing with spoons is in reeling just fast enough to keep a tight line while pumping the rod tip to give a darting, tumbling action to the lure. A steady retrieve will catch some fish, but an erratic retrieve will catch more. Thinner spoons -- meaning less thick in proportion to their surface area; standard Dardevles are a good example -- don't fish as deeply. They work better later in the spring when the water is shallower, a little warmer, and trout are more aggressive.

2. In-Line Spinners
Deep-running is the key. Heavy-bodied, in-line spinners include the likes of Mepps, Panther Martin (shown below), Blue Fox Vibrax, Roostertails, and C.P. Swings. Each brand has its partisans, and there are some differences among them, but fundamentally they run deep -- and in the cold waters of spring, that's where the trout are.

First, use these lures in sizes suited to the water you're fishing. I routinely throw tiny 1/32-ounce Panther Martins with gossamer 2-pound-test nylon in tiny creeks when chasing high-country brook trout, for example. Midsize streams can take midsize (1/16- to 1/8-ounce) spinners. For really heavy water and serious fish, like the brushpile browns along Montana's big Jefferson River, you'll want to go heavier with line and lure -- meaning 8-pound-test and a 1/4-ounce spinner.

Fish in-line spinners either upstream or up and across in deep, fast water. The object is to reel just fast enough to keep the spinner blade rotating as the spinner sinks and travels back toward you along the bottom. Too slow a retrieve means you'll hang up on the bottom; too fast means the lure will ride too high in the water and you won't catch anything.

3. Minnow Plugs
Okay, here it is right up front. Rapalas are the kings of minnow plugs, and that means they're the kings of trout plugs, too. But there are some other very good minnow plugs that are worth a shot. Regular Rebels, both jointed and solid, work well on trout, as does Rebel's excellent new Ghost Minnow. Small Storm ThunderSticks are great for trout, and the interesting -- and expensive -- new Pin's Minnow from Yo-Zuri (shown above) comes in nifty colors with a weighting system to prevent tumbling during a cast.

The smallest of these plugs -- at 2 to 3 inches long -- are fine for small to midsize waters. Don't go above about 5 inches long on the top end, even on big rivers. That's because these are imitative lures, and the size you're fishing should match the prevalent baitfish, most of which are relatively small.

Use sinking (so-called countdown) versions in the early spring to get deep. A twitching, stuttering retrieve usually works best when casting upstream. Sometimes, though, a major-league brown trout will come explosively to a minnow plug that's cranked through a run just as fast as you can reel. Floating versions come into play by late spring. Fairly fast, twitching retrieves are key; try to work the lure along the edges of cut banks, logjams, and other structure that's prime cover for the biggest browns.

4. Flatfish
Flatfish are unique, which is why they're the only brand-name heading in our five lure categories. This lure drives trout -- especially rainbows -- absolutely nuts.

Fish the so-called fly-rod sizes (F4 at 11/2 inches, and F5 at 13/4 inches) in both large and small waters. (Larger Flatfish have the potential for larger trout but will lower your overall score.) My most productive color over the years has been perch scale, followed by orange with black dots, and silver with a black back.

These little plugs are too small to cast on spinning gear without added weight, so place two split shot about 1 foot apart on your line starting about 1 foot above the lure. If you use only one split shot, casting tangles will occur. A pair of size BB shot will do for an average-size stream, but go up or down in size as needed to get the lure deep.

Once again, fish up and across in faster, deeper water and at the heads of pools. Allow the lure to sink and drift with the current as you keep a tight line, barely bringing action to the plug. The Flatfish's distinct vibration when retrieved is easily felt at the rod tip and means the lure is working correctly.

5. Baby Crankbaits
These are generally scaled-down versions of the fat-bodied, diving-lipped plugs used by bass fishermen. As a lure category, they're often overlooked by trout anglers, who are missing a good bet.

Trout forage on crayfish, for example, wherever the two coexist, which makes a midget crankbait like a 1/10-ounce Rebel Crawdad (left) a logical choice. Or suppose you're fishing a trout tailwater in which alewives or small shad are washed down from an upstream reservoir. In that case, Storm's Wee Shad is a dead ringer for the prevalent natural bait.

It can be argued that the trout-appeal of such lures has more to do with their tight wiggle than their imitative shapes and colors. That's certainly true with Yo-Zuri's new Snap Bean, a little fat-bodied plug with oversize eyes available in sizes down to 1/32 ounce. Snap Beans and others can be fished deep with added weight on the line, which is best in early spring, or shallower with no added weight later in the season when trout will move farther to take a lure.