Fishing For Trout Early In The Season

As the weather begins to change with the approaching spring season, those of us who enjoy fishing begin to get a little excited. Especially if you enjoy the act of fishing for trout, because the spring of the year is when the "trout season" starts in many area's. Trout fishing in the early season offers some unique challenges to anglers, some of which would include; unsettled weather conditions, high and/or muddy water conditions, and crowded waterways, just to name a few.

As a person who has been fishing for early season trout for more than a quarter of a century, I not only understand the challenges that the early spring presents to fishermen I have also discovered a few tactics that can be employed that enable me to experience a ton of early season trout fishing success. In this post, I will outline a few of these tactics so that you can use them to your advantage as well.

The first word that you need to remember and understand, no matter what trout tactic you choose to employ in the early season, is the word SLOW. Your retrieve, blade motion, and drift speeds need to be slowed down as much as possible during the early season. The word slow also goes for the river flow as well, as trout will often hold in area's of a river, stream, or creek that have a slower current than the main river flow.

Early in the season feeder creeks and small streams that flow into larger rivers often have the most productive trout fishing and these area's are a great place to focus your fishing efforts. One of the most productive early season trout tactics is drifting live bait such as live worms, wax worms, minnows, or even salmon eggs (if you are fishing in a stream or creek that contains spawning rainbows). When "drift fishing" with live bait try to keep your bait as close as possible to the bottom while it's drifting, as this is where hungry trout are often looking for a meal.

Trout lures, such as small spinners, can also be extremely effective early in the trout season. Again, remember that the keyword is slow, so make sure that you use spinners with good action at very slow retrieve speeds. One name brand that comes to mind are Panther Martin spinners. In the cold water that the early season inevitable give us, trout will not move very far to chase a spinner, so accurate casts are a must, as well as working the area's that you are fishing very thoroughly.

Add these simple tactics to your arsenal this spring and you will inevitably experience more early season trout fishing success, there's no doubt about it.