Trout Fishing With Dough Bait : Should I Use A Bait Press?

One of the most popular trout baits to employ when trout fishing are dough style baits such as Powerbait and a question that many anglers have is whether or not they should use a dough bait press to mold their bait onto their fishing hook. Well, in this article I will draw upon my twenty plus years of trout fishing experience to try to answer the question of whether or not you should use a dough bait press when fishing for trout.

It's important to point out the best manner in which this style of bait is used to catch trout. In almost all trout fishing scenarios this type of bait is used in "still" or bank fishing situations. In other words dough bait is most effective when fished on some manifestation of a bottom rig while you are still fishing in a lake or pond that has been stocked with trout. For the most part, this style of trout bait isn't nearly as effective when used in flowing water scenarios like in a river.

As I said trout fishing with dough bait is most successful in "still fishing" scenarios while using a bottom fishing rig, and the biggest key to the bottom rig when trout fishing with this unique bait is the size of hook that is used. There are three styles of fishing hooks that are best for fishing with dough style baits: a #10 or #12 salmon egg hook, a #12 or #18 treble hook, or a set of #10 gang hooks. Any of these fishing hook choices are the way to go when making a bottom rig that will be baited with dough bait.

No matter which style of fishing hook you choose to use it seems as if the best way to bait your hook with this style of trout bait is to "dig" a little bit of bait out of the jar and mold it onto your hook. While this obviously works, baiting your fishing hook with dough bait in this manner isn't nearly as effective as it could be by using a dough bait press to mold the bait onto your fishing hook.

What is a dough bait press you ask? This unique piece of fishing gear is made from non stick hard plastic and allows you to scoop the perfect amount of dough bait out of the jar while molding it into the perfect ball around your fishing hook. There are two main benefits of using a bait press; first your fingers are kept clean of smelly trout bait (which is nice) and second human scents from your hands are kept off of the bait as well, which means that more trout will bite your offering.

So, do you need to use a dough bait press when fishing with this style of trout bait? Of course you don't have to, but using one sure makes fishing with dough bait less messy and more effective which means that you will catch more trout.