Fishing For Rainbow Trout When They Are Spawning

The other day my buddy and I headed out for a little spring trout fishing and quickly discovered that

the rainbow trout that we were fishing for were actively into their spawning routine on the particular lake that we were fishing.  How did we figure this fact out?  It was pretty darn easy seeing as how we could see some nice rainbows not more than 10 feet from shore circling in and around each other.  In fact one of them was actually protecting her bed from any would be evil doers. 

I had no interest in fishing for the trout that I could see, as I assumed they had more pressing business on their minds than eating, but I know from experience that rainbows that have recently spawned are are going to be spawning in the future are usually susceptible to being caught, so I rigged up a drop shot rig and got to work.  After forty minutes or so with nary a nibble, I decided to try a simple technique that had enabled me to catch spawning rainbows in the past, still fishing with eggs.

Eggs are often a good trout bait choice for spawning rainbows, so I figured this would do the trick? Since the bottom of the lake was quite weedy, I rigged up a single # 10 hook with a small egg sinker and a two foot or so leader.  I then baited the hook with a couple of pink Berkley Power Eggs and casted the rig out for a little still fishing.

Although the trout weren't biting like crazy, with a couple of hours I had caught and released a nice seventeen or so inch rainbow trout, fought and lost another that felt the same size, and missed multiple trout that were nibbling at my eggs.  This made me remember the fact that the best bait to use for rainbow trout in and around spawning time are eggs, and although I was using artificial power eggs, I'm sure salmon eggs would have been effective as well.