Sometimes The Trout Fishing Gods Smile Upon You

For the past few weeks, here in Northwest Montana we have been dealing with a very strange phenomenon.  There are wild fires burning all around us and the smoke from these fires has been literally choking us every afternoon (and even some evenings).  For the past few weeks the air has looked similar to fog, with the difference being that the air smells of a burning camp fire.  It is quite annoying and quite unhealthy, but what are you going to do, right?  You just have to deal with it and wait for cooler weather and/or rain to help stamp out the fires, thus ending the problem.

Well, with a cold front on the way everyone has been quite excited, hoping that the front would bring with it some much needed rain.  While I certainly want nature to give us a hand with the fires, upon hearing this news all I could think was, "I had better get out there and try some trout fishing ahead of this anticipated cold front."  You see, the trout fishing is usually pretty good ahead of cold fronts, so even though I didn't have a ton of time, I headed out for a quick fishing trip.

For most of this fishing season I have been on a mini jig kick, using a 1/32 or 1/16 ounce jig head tipped with a Powerbait product (trout worm, nymph, or mouse tail) as bait on almost all of my trout fishing excursions.   I still drift fish, just like I always have with the difference being the bait.  And while it hasn't been as productive as when I use live worms as my trout bait, it has been plenty successful in it's own right.

So as I worked my way into position at the head of a big hole on the Swan River, I tied on a 1/32 ounce jig, tipped it with a natural colored Powerbait trout worm and began to drift fish.  After a few casts I realized That I needed more weight, so I added a split shot sinker to my line twelve or so inches above my jig.  I continued drift fishing down the hole for the next forty five minuted or so, switching to a pink trout worm and then a white mouse tail without as much as a sniff from an inquisitive trout!

I was getting frustrated, because this RARELY happens to me here in Montana, and was starting to think that getting skunked was a distinct possibility.  "Oh well", I thought to myself as I slipped a Pumpkin/Chartreuse Power Nymph onto my now 1/8 ounce jig head, "let's give the nymph a shot."  Within 2 casts I felt the familiar "tap, tap" that usually means a hungry trout and I set the hook!  My reel immediately started to buzz as the trout ran like an angry bull out of a rodeo shoot.  "This might be a nice one", I thought to myself as I adjusted my drag slightly.

With a few minutes I was admiring and subsequently releasing a very nice 17 inch cutt/bow (which is a rainbow cutthroat hybrid for the uninitiated) and was quite pleased that "the skunk" didn't happen on this particular day.  I made a few more casts, but figured that it was best to 'end on a high note' on this day.  After all, the fishing Gods were kind enough to smile upon me (even though it took whet seemed to be a while), and I was good with that.

Attempting To Catch Rainbow Trout With Mini Jigs In High Water & Wind

The other day my daughter and I headed out to my favorite trout river (The Swan River) in search of some rainbow trout. I knew that the weather had been cold and ugly for a day or two, but figured that since on this particular day we had partly cloudy skies that we would be fine. Before I made my first cast I noticed how high the water was.  Then, as my mini jig sailed through the air I noticed how windy it was.  "This might make for a challenging couple of hours", I thought to myself. 

We were fishing at the base of a small dam, so there was some water that was more than "fish-able", even though the rest of the river was very high and muddy.  And although cloudy, the water and current didn't seem too bad in the area that we chose to fish.  After getting snagged a few times using a 1/16 ounce jig head tipped with a Powerbait floating trout worm, I changed my jig head to a smaller 1/32 ounce which eliminated my getting snagged problem.  The problem with doing this was that it became even more difficult for me to cast my offering into the water with any distance, considering the wind.  Not to mention the fact that the only rod I brought fishing on that day was my 5 foot ultralight rod, which doesn't help either when it comes to casting distance. 

In the meantime my daughter was casting and retrieving a small Panther Martin spinner, which was brightly colored due to the murky water conditions.  Within 15 minutes she had landed a small lake trout.  I realize this might sound strange, a lake trout being in a small river like the Swan River, but be were fishing a couple of hundred yards from Flathead Lake.  And Flathead Lake is renowned for it's lake trout population.  You see, at this time of the year when the river is as high as it is, small lake trout will often run up the river in search of an easy meal.

I kept fishing my mini jig and although I wasn't getting hardly any bites from the area's I could reach with my short fishing rod, I did manage to hook and land a lake trout also.  And mine was quite nice, not by lake trout standards mind you, but by the size of the gear I was using.  The one I caught measured almost 24 inches and was quite heavy.  I would guess 5 or so pounds.

Although the rainbow trout weren't cooperating, at least the lake trout did and all in all it was a decent little day on the water.  And since this particular spot was new to me, I got some good reconisence in for the next time, when I guarantee you I will have my seven foot rod, so that I can cast to the really good looking trout water that I couldn't quite reach on this particular day. 

39 Pound Limit of Trout?

Mini jigs have been working very well at Lake Jennings.  Mr Garcia recently caught a limit of Sierra rainbow trout that weighed in at 39 pounds!    Check out the story.  We catch some big rainbows here in Northwest Montana, but a limit that weighs almost 40 pounds, they're not quite that big.  The trout fishing is supposed to stay good on lake Jennings through February, so if you're in the area you ,might want to wet a line!

Fishing Mini Jigs For Trout

An often underutilized trout bait is the mini jig and in this post I will discuss fishing mini jigs for trout so that you can add this unique trout bait to your trout fishing arsenal. The types of jigs that you should focus on when fishing for trout are plastic bodies with a straight or forked tail, marabou bodies and tails, or a combination of the two. These are the types of jigs that I have found to be the most effective when fishing for trout.

Next we have the size. Seeing as how trout jigs are usually called mini jigs, this obviously means that the jig heads are quite small. I prefer to use 1/8, 1/16, and 1/32 ounce jig heads for fishing mini jigs for trout, but many trout fishermen use jigs that are as small as 1/80 of an ounce, believe it or not. The point here is that mini jigs are exactly as you would imagine, quite small. The truth of the matter is that any small jig can be effective for trout fishing, so many anglers use crappie or pan fish jigs when fishing for trout and experience plenty of success.

Many people wonder what color mini jigs are the most effective for trout fishing, and while this will vary from fishing trip to fishing trip, there are a few considerations to be aware of. When the water that you are fishing is high and muddy, darker colors and florescent patterns seem to be effective trout colors. And later in the year when you are fishing water that is very clear, white, tan, and pink all seem to be effective color choices.

Finally we have the way in which your jig is fished. Because mini jigs are so lightweight, casting and "feeling" them can be a challenge even on the extremely light gear that we all use when fishing for trout. For this reason, I like to use a small Styrofoam float that slips onto my line so that the depth at which the jig "hangs" in the water column can be easily adjusted. It's usually a good idea for your jig to be very close to the bottom of the river or lake that you are fishing, so a little experimentation with depth will be necessary. A ton of movement usually isn't necessary when fishing mini jigs for trout and "twitching" your rod tip every 30-60 seconds usually does the trick quite nicely, but again don't be afraid to experiment a little bit.