3 Of The Most Effective Baits For Catching Rainbow Trout Through The Ice

For many people fishing through the ice is a ton of fun, but for the novice ice fishing can be a challenge to say the least. No where is this more true than when it comes to fishing for rainbow trout. Let's face it the act of standing on a frozen lake, drilling a hole in the ice, and attempting to catch a few rainbows can seem like an exercise in futility, especially if you don't know what you are doing. This is especially true if the wrong bait is employed and in this article I will outline 3 of the most popular and effective baits for catching trout through the ice so that you don't end up having a cold and unproductive outing on your next ice fishing excursion.

Although there are many types of baits that can be used to catch rainbow trout through the ice, the following 3 baits are considered "go to" ice fishing baits by many seasoned rainbow trout chasing ice fishermen. You should have at least one if not all of these baits available to you the next time that you head out onto the ice in search of rainbow trout.

1. Swedish Pimples - This bait has been used in Sweden for more than 100 years, and delivers exceptional results when jigged for rainbow trout under the ice. Just use a sharp vertical jig motion to mimic an erratic injured bait fish which hungry trout find hard to resist. Try to match the color of your Swedish Pimple with the predominant bait fish in the body of water that you are fishing.


2. Wax Worms - Live wax worms (or "waxies" as they are often called) are excellent little baits for ice fishing for our colorful friends. They can be fished by themselves on a small fishing hook or set of gang hooks or they can be used to tip the hook of a small buck tail jig or Swedish Pimple. However they are employed, wax worms are hard to beat as bait whenever you are ice fishing for rainbow trout.


3. Powerbait - As strange as it might sound, using Powerbait as bait whenever you are ice fishing for trout is actually a good idea. This is especially true if the rainbows that you are fishing for have been stocked (which almost all of them have been). Powerbait fished under a tip up can be hard to beat anytime that you are ice fishing for rainbow trout.

The next time that you head out onto your local frozen lake in search of rainbow trout make sure that you have one or all of the aforementioned baits available to you and you will experience more success, I promise you.