If you want to be king stringer in the parking lot on the first day of trout season, you’re going to need a vest full of good bait. Here are five must haves for the first day of the season.
M&M – Not the candy-coated chocolate, but the trout-killing combo of a mealworm and a tiny marshmallow. Use it in the stream or in the pond. The mallow floats the bait off the bottom into the trout’s line of sight, and the mealie seals the deal.
Waxworm – This soft, juicy larvae of the wax moth is a trout-stream staple. The key with the waxworm is to fish it with just enough weight to sink it to the bottom, but not enough to anchor it to the stream bottom. The waxworm works best when it tumbles downstream at the same speed as the current.
Berkley PowerBait – You’ve heard the adage, “match the hatch,” and for freshly stocked trout that grew up on a diet of pellets, Berkley PowerBait does just that. So in this case, you’re matching the hatchery. As for colors, look no further than yellow or brown.
Grass Shrimp – A true “secret weapon” on Opening Day, especially late in the day after the trout have seen in all. Hook a fresh grass shrimp or two on a size 10 baitholder hook, and keep catching when other anglers are coming up empty.
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1″ mud minnows are killer too
Damn you guys are killing me. I was gonna show up with just night crawlers.
Meal worms are the way to go
Sounds great, Where can I get meal worms?
you can get them at “that fish place that pet place” if you have one but if you dont go to yor local tackle shop
Single salmon eggs
Never leave home without a gold Thomas Boyant with yellow, red, and black spots. That thing catches everything.
Killer Combo
LIVE TAIL NYPH
Try bead headed nymph (copper john, pheasant, prince) and rig a wax or meal worm to the hook to create live tail.
I prefer to fish this rig with ultra light spinning gear and a turn over bobber.
ellbo macaroni
Corn is also a good bait.
When in doubt, Power it out.
When I was a kid we tie a line to a paper bag with a rock in it and a handful of grass shrimp and lower it to the bottom. Just off the bottom we would give the bag a sharp tug and the rock would rip the bag open providing a nice chum layer of grass shrimp right below the boat just off the bottom.
Berkley Gulp floating salmon eggs, any color.
Geeze ! I thought my dog was picky eater, but always do well using meal worms
Berkley PowerBait or Gulp on a size 12 or 14 eagle claw treble
Suspended 16 inches off the bottom
The size 12 or 14 treble holds onto paste or nugget and allows the bait buoyancy
Size 10 treble on wood.
Corn. Yellow, whole kernel. Size 18 egg holder hook. 2lb test flourocarbon.
Try cheddar cheese
Gold Phoebe
Gold phoebe in the am /silver in the afternoon.( FOR OVER 50 YEARS) lake hopatcong.
Love my 1/4oz kastmaster, silver with with white buck tail.
Gold works well also, 1/12 oz light tackle
I’ve used Powerbait in the past, but stopped using it because I gut hooked every trout I caught. Any ideas on how to use Powerbait without killing the fish? I used to use #10 Salmon Egg hooks.
1. If you choose to fish power bait/drown a worm, you have decided to keep and eat that fish.
Fishing a bait weighted to the bottom is closer to trapping than fishing it’s like setting a snare in the woods.
2.CIRCLE hooks. They make them very small now. But even with circle hook be prepared to take trout home and eat it. They are delicious!!
Try Bigger hooks like #6 or #4 and put on 2 nuggets .Makes it harder for them to swallow ..
Treble hooks are best because they are rarely if ever swallowed.
You can also just, pinch the barb on the hook, down…if you’re worried about the fish…
live 2″ Crawfish
Me
meal worms,gold phoebe 1/12 oz change size 14 treble to size 10 Last yr I lost 2 large browns that bent the size 14
Trout Magnet Jigs !!!!
Rainbow pb. Panther Martin spinners.
Gold 3/16 bluefox vibrax spinner limits past 5 years
Gentlemen just use Swedish pimple, pink holographic Side in the morning, change to blue midafternoon. After that ? Good luck
The Butterworm is unbeatable!!
Gentleman opening day trout season you ought to try some Wonder Bread sprinkled with cinnamon and I sometimes use Jell-O for a coloring affect then roll them into pellet size morsels. I lean towards the red color for maximum effect.
You got it that and 2 wax worms
Gentleman opening day trout season you ought to try some Wonder Bread sprinkled with cinnamon and I sometimes use Jell-O for a coloring affect then roll them into pellet size morsels. I lean towards the red color for maximum effect.
Check your local laws on bait corn is illegal in Pa cause the fish you don’t hook can’t digest it and it kills the fish