Rainbow Trout Bait: What Do Trout Bite On?

I have been fishing for and catching rainbow trout for more than twenty years and in that time have realized that although rainbow trout bite on a lot of different things there are certain types of bait that are much more effective than others and in this article I will outline a few of these baits. As I said, these fish bite or feed on a variety of things and the more that we understand about the types of food "rainbows" like to eat, the more we will understand what types of baits that we should use to catch them.

Rainbow trout are predatory fish and will eat most anything that they can grab from many types of insects to bait fish such as sculpins and minnows and most anything in between. The average size of a rainbow trout will vary from waterway to waterway, but from 9-14 inches has always seemed like an average size rainbow trout to me. Depending on the size of the water they are found in and amount of food available to them, these beautiful fish can get quite large. In fact the world record rainbow weighed over forty ponds!

So what is the best way to figure out what these trout bite on so that you can have the best odds for experiencing fishing success? Let's start with one of the most well known and popular forms of trout bait, insects. Fly fishers have known about the effectiveness of insects for a very long time and practice a form of fishing referred to as "fly fishing" as an effective way to fish with insect imitations. There is little doubt that when it comes to rainbow trout bait, insects are a wonderful choice and are something that trout definitely bite on.

If you are trying to answer the question of what do trout bite on the answer could be as simple as saying the good old worm. Live fishing worms, whether you are referring to night crawlers or their smaller cousins the red worm, are an excellent rainbow trout bait. This is especially true when you are talking about river fishing in small to medium sized rivers. A live worm that is "drift fished" with the current of a river that contains rainbow trout is an excellent "rainbow" tactic.

Finally there are bait fish. Bait fish, such as live minnows or sculpins or lures that mimic small bait fish are an excellent rainbow trout bait choice. You can use a fly that mimics a bait fish or a small "stick bait" such as a Rapala with great success on most any type of water that contains these beautiful fish. In line spinners and/or spoons are also great choices when it comes to mimicking a bait fish.

Whether you are just learning how to fish for rainbows, or you are a trout fishing veteran, the types of rainbow trout bait outlined above are a great place to start. In fact there may never be a need to dig much deeper when it comes to rainbow trout bait, because trout definitely bite on all of the aforementioned choices.