3 Tips to Help You Catch More Rainbow Trout This Summer

The summer can be a difficult time to catch rainbow trout due to a myriad of reasons, but if you change your approach a little bit, they can be caught consistently. In this post I will outline 3 tips to help you catch more summer rainbow trout. The first tips involves fishing at night, which is something that trout fishermen often don't even consider. As we all know rainbow trout are a cold blooded fish that prefers cold water, and during the summer what time of the day is the best for cool temperatures and thus cooler water? That's right, the nighttime.

We have found that the best bait to use at night when fishing for rainbow trout is a live worm. A live worm rigged on a set of gang hooks or even better a jig w/ a trailer hook is the way to rig your worm and the fishing goes a little something like this.

While fishing for rainbows is effective in rivers the logistics can be a challenge, so we prefer to fish in a lake from a boat. Begin by placing either a floating fishing light or a submersible fishing light into the water 15-30 minutes before you are ready to fish. Doing this will attract microorganisms to the light, which in turn attract bait fish, followed by hungry rainbow trout. After waiting 15-30 minutes, start casting out and slowly reeling your live fishing worm along the bottom. Before long you should be hooking your fair share of night time rainbow trout. If you don't receive any bites for 45 minutes to an hour, relocate and repeat until you locate a school or rainbows.

The next tip is to try to be on the water, whether it is day or night, when the moon is in a new moon phase. Trout tend to be much more active and thus more likely to be feeding during the new moon phase than they are during any other phase of the moon. Try to plan your summer trout fishing excursions during the phase of the moon known as "new" and you will receive more bites from hungry rainbow trout whether you are fishing during the day or under the cover of darkness.

Finally, when you do fish for trout during the daytime hours, make sure that you are fishing during the coolest parts of the day. This means the mornings or the evenings, with the mornings being more effective than the evenings. Follow these 3 simple tips and start catching more rainbow trout this summer.

Summer Trout Lures – 3 Lures That You Should Always Have When Trout Fishing During The Summer

Fishing for freshwater trout, whether you are talking about rainbow, brown, cutthroat, or brook trout is a popular summertime activity, but can be a challenge in many instances. Things like rising water temperatures, activity on the waterways where trout are fished for, and low water conditions can make catching trout consistently a difficult task. One of the ways to combat some of these problems that face the summer trout angler is to utilize the most effective trout lures.

I have been spin fishing for trout (mainly rainbow trout) for more than two decades and in that time have learned that certain trout lures are more effective than others during the summer months and these lures will be outlined in this post.

Let's begin with a very prevalent insect in many trout fishing area's and that insect in the grasshopper. Fly fishermen are well aware of the fact that "hopper" patterns are a great summertime trout bait option and it's high time that we as ultra light spin fishermen use this information to our advantage as well. During the summer months make sure that you have a Rebel Crickethopper or two in your fishing vest at all times. Twitching one of these little lures on the surface of slow moving water is deadly when you notice grasshoppers jumping along the bank.

Next we have a sort of spinner/fly combo called the Mepps Spinner Fly. These unique trout fishing lures are effective all year, but seem to be particularly effective during the summer months. Make sure that you have a couple of spinnerflies available to you as well anytime that you are fishing for trout during the summer. I have found black and brown color patterns to be effective, but there is nothing scientific about this conclusion.

Finally, we have my peronal favorite and that is any form of crayfish imitation. You can use a crayfish crank bait such as the Rebel Crawfish or a soft plastic Berkley Powerbait crayfish, but the point is that trout (especially large trout) LOVE to feast on tiny cray fish. The point is that some form of cray fish imitation needs to be a part of your summertime trout fishing repertoire.

Tricks to Catching Summer Trout

During the summer fishing for trout can become challenging due of factors such as fishing pressure, rising water temperatures, activity in and around the water that you are fishing, and lower river flows just to name a few. You see, trout are a cold water fish that usually doesn't care for human activity or higher than normal water temperatures so the summertime can be a difficult time of the year to catch any species of freshwater trout consistently. Experiencing success when trout fishing during the summer months isn't impossible however, and in this article I will outline some tricks to catching summer trout that you will certainly find useful.

The first trick that we want to focus on is when you are going to head out in search of trout. As I mentioned just a second ago trout are a cold water fish, and thus prefer the water that they are living in to be cool to downright cold and during the summer months as water temperatures rise trout can have a harder and harder time finding their ideal water temperature. For this reason, during the summer months the most productive times of the day to fish for trout are the morning hours from sunrise to eleven AM or so. This is especially true in river fishing scenarios when cooler nighttime temperatures will cause water temperatures to drop a bit, which the trout inevitably enjoy.

The second trick to catching summer trout is the depth at which we fish. The surface of the water is obviously the section that receives heat from the sun first, so during the heat of the summer (when the sun is really hot) trout will tend to stay away from the top of the water column. For this reason you want to target deeper areas when you search for trout during the hot summer months. This fact is true in both lakes and rivers. For example, when you are fishing your favorite river for summertime trout, don't concentrate your fishing efforts on shallow riffles and instead focus on deep runs and pools where the water temperatures will be cooler and the trout will be more likely to be feeding.

The third trick to catching summer trout is to use the trouts lethargic behavior to your advantage by "still" fishing for them. During the summer months trout can become very lethargic because of the water temperatures and not want to eat very much. This is a great time to "still" fish for them with Powerbait or a similar dough style trout bait. Because these baits are designed specifically to release scents into the water that trout find irresistible, they can be "just what the doctor ordered" when it comes to catching lethargic summer trout.

I have been using every one of these simple tricks to help me experience more success fishing for trout during the hot and balmy summer months for more than two decades and I know that if you give them a shot, they will do the same for you.

Summer Trout Bait: The Best Bait For Trout Fishing During The Summer Months

The summer months are probably the worst time of the year to fish for trout as trout are a cold water fish and most species of freshwater trout prefer water temperature ranges from fifty to sixty five degrees with each species preferring even more defined ranges within the above temperature range. The point is that during the summer months water temperatures often rise above the trouts ideal temperature range and thus they tend to feed much less often and be more difficult to catch. Couple this with the fact that fighting and landing trout when the water temperatures are above their ideal temperature range can be very harmful and sometimes fatal to the trout and you have a recipe for fair to midland fishing.

For these reasons the bait that you use for trout fishing during the summer months can be a difficult thing to decide on. Below I will list some "go to" baits to use during the summer months so that you can experience more success when you head out onto the water. There is little doubt that the best bait for trout fishing during the summer months of June, July, and August is among these choices.

1. Crayfish Patterns - Small crayfish imitation crank baits (or fly patterns) are very effective during the summer months. In case you didn't realize it most species of freshwater trout LOVE crayfish and this is an especially good trout bait if you are looking to catch large trout. Although often overlooked as an effective bait for trout fishing, crayfish patterns should definitely be utilized during the summer months.
2. Live Worms - Live fishing worms, whether you are talking about nightcrawlers (which should be pinched in half anytime that you are trout fishing), red worms/wigglers, or mini night crawlers are a very effective summer trout bait, especially when they are fished in the lower section of the water column (right along the bottom) in rivers and streams. The bottom line is that when it comes to summer trout bait live worms are difficult to beat.
3. Artificial Flies - It is well documented that all species of freshwater trout love to eat insects and during the months of June, July, and August there are plenty of insects around for trout to feast on. Whether you are a traditional fly fisherman or a spin fisherman who fishes artificial flies with a "fly fishing bubble" there is little doubt that insects are among the best baits to during the summer months.

The bottom line is that the best bait to use for trout during the summer months will vary from fisherman to fisherman depending on his or her favorite style of trout fishing, but the ultimate answer will more than likely come from one of the three aforementioned choices.