Fishing for Trout: An Introduction

Trout fishing is at its absolute best in the mornings and evenings of spring and fall. Trout prefer cool, clean water with lots of protective cover like logs, rocks, and vegetation. In summer they seek out deeper and thus cooler waters in ponds and lakes, and cold flowing, oxygenated water in streams. The “personality” of the trout as compared to other fish is often described as “shy” or “sneaky” by anglers.

The most easy-to-use and thus popular fishing kit for starting your trout hobby is a spincast reel like the classic Zebco. These enclose the reel (or spool of fishing line) and have a button on the front that releases the line during your cast. Spinning reels, where the reel is unenclosed, offer more finessed casting ability, but also require more skill to effectively use.

Pairing either of these with a bobber and sinker/weight allows you to set the bait depth, meaning you can adjust for how close to the floor or surface of the water you want your bait to be. The two most common techniques of bait placement are either to have your bobber between 1 ½ and 3’ above your hook, or to sink your hook down to about 1 ½’ above the floor of the waterbody. Because of trouts’ preference for cool water, when the surface of the water is significantly above 60° F, going deeper is the best strategy. When the surface of the water is around trouts’ preferred 50-60° F, then staying near the surface is just fine.

The other option is to cast an artificial lure, like a spinner or fly, rather than edible bait. Lures mimic moving targets that trout like to bite, such as minnows and leeches. When an immobile bobber and worm isn’t working, the attention-grabbing movement of casting and reeling in a lure can elicit a bite. Lure fishing takes more technique, but is also more action-packed. We’ll also discuss fly fishing further on, because it is considered to be a more complicated technique.

As for where to scout out a fishing spot and cast your line, trout gravitate to cool flowing water. In other words, finding the inflow or source of a body of water is also the best way to also find its trout.

As for hooks, we typically stock size 6 for trout. That leaves bait, perhaps the most experimental and opinionated aspect of common fishing gear. For beginners, Berkley PowerBait has become very popular because it is specifically designed to be enticing to trout, but many a trout has been caught by the most classic choice of them all: a hooked worm.

Species of Trout

Trout are from the Family Salmonidae. If that name sounds a lot like “salmon” to you, you aren’t wrong for thinking so—salmon, char, and trout are all a part of the Salmoninae subfamily. Indeed, steelhead salmon and rainbow trout are the same exact species, just with different biological histories. Among other characteristics, members of the Salmonidae Family all share an adipose fin, round scales, and lateral line sensory system in common.

There are four major types of trout that American anglers pursue, especially in stocked lakes:

• Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), are identified by having a dark green colration on its back with heavy black spots over the entirety of their bodies and a red stripe running from their gills to their tails.
  • including the golden rainbow trout, which is a brilliant yellow variation of the rainbow trout
• Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), are dark green-brown and have a speckled or marbled pattern of multi-colored dots and halos on their scales, with the belly and low fins appearing red especially during spawning season.
• Brown trout (Salmo trutta), the fish our “Big Brown” name comes from, are identified by a yellow or “buttery” color on their sides interrupted by black and red dots.
• Cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii), aptly get their name from the scarlet coloration on the bottom of their lower jaw.

In Pennsylvania, only the brook trout (our State Fish) and lake trout are native; the others were introduced, such as the brown trout during the late 1800’s.

In total, there are at least 14 different species of trout, with some honorable mentions including the redband trout and bull trout. Trout can be further distinguished from one another by their ecotypes, with lacustrine trout predominantly living in lakes and riverine trout permanently remaining in rivers. There are also anadromous trout, who are born in rivers, migrate to the ocean, and annually return to their river birthplaces to spawn.

Regulations Around Trout Fishing

Most States have a considerable amount of continuity with each other when it comes to trout fishing regulations—but you should always double check the laws and rules of the specific state you’ll be fishing in.

To use our great state of Pennsylvania as an example, our basic fishing regulations concern the so-called “fishing season” or time of year restrictions, and “bag limit” or creel limit on how many fish an angler may keep. The time of year restriction is primarily to protect fish during their spawning season so that their future generations are not endangered, while the creel limit aims to prevent exhaustion of a particular body of water’s fish population. From these basics, the regulations progress to more complex matters such as environmental protections for fish habitats, special designations for certain waters or certain periods of time, and the necessity of having a fishing license.

However, Big Brown Fish & Pay Lakes is exempt from many standard restrictions due to holding a regulated fishing lake permit from Pennsylvania’s Fish & Boat Commission. No fishing license or creel limits apply to our stocked fishing ponds.

States often provide official literature to help would-be anglers understand the What’s and Why’s behind their specific fishing regulations. For example, please click here to read:

• How to buy a fishing license in Pennsylvania
• The specifics of Pennsylvania’s 2023 Trout Season
• An entire ebook summarizing fishing in Pennsylvania in 2023

Trout Fishing Licenses

In Pennsylvania, anglers 16 years and older need a fishing license and a trout permit to fish for trout in most public areas. These can be purchased at fishandboat.com, or through the FishBoatPA app (we hear the website is preferable to the app), or any of the 700 license-issuing agents throughout the state.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) does not receive tax revenue from the state’s General Fund. Therefore, the fees that anglers pay in order to legally participate in public fishing go towards funding conservation efforts, biological studies, and recreation programs including infrastructure improvements.

Regulated fishing lakes like ours do not require a fishing license in Pennsylvania. The same is true of private property, where “landowners and their family members who reside on their land throughout the year may fish on that land without a license.” The same is not true, however, of homeowners associations or private clubs; homeowners and members within these organizations still need a fishing license.

Finding Places to Fish for Trout

Knowing the adaptations of trout helps us to spot where they will tend to congregate in any given body of water. At their most basic, trout spend time in cool oxygen-rich waters, and will feed whenever they are hungry and the opportunity arises.

Their characteristics lead them to congregate around converging currents, bends, riffles (a shallow but fast-moving section),broken waters, undercut banks (where the top of the bank continues to hang over the water where the lower bank has eroded away) and stream- or plunge- pools, overhead coverage including log jams, tree limbs, and foam lines, and underbelly coverage such as weed beds. They also like lighting transitions, such as water that suddenly changes from bright to dark or shallow to deep, and any straight run with deep structure, such as a lot of sunken boulders and tree roots offering them a maze to traverse.

Best Times to Fish for Trout

Spring is the preferable time of the year to fish for trout. This is when water temperatures are “just right” for trout to feel comfortable and be active in waters of varying depths. During the heat of summer, trout will retreat to the coolest and most oxygen rich waters of their habitat. Cooler water is more dense, so is deeper in the waterbody, and colder water can hold more oxygen. Trout are not equipped for waters over 70 F.

Early morning and late evening are the preferred hours for trout fishing, although it can be and often is done all day long. Bugs, one of the preferred prey of trout, are usually on or near the water at dawn and dusk hours, when it is also cool. In other words, the best time to fish for trout is when the trout are hunting for themselves—their hunger and anticipation makes it more likely that they will take your bait.

The water temperature at which trout are most active (and thus best to fish for) corresponds to the optimal temperatures hatcheries like ours set for growing them. For example, our rainbow trout grow best at 59° F; our brook trout grow best at 55° F, and our big browns prefer around 57° F. These temperatures are where their bodies are in the best homeostasis with the environment.  Colder, and they will be less active and less hungry, warmer and they will be using energy for maintenance rather than eating and growing.

Trout Fishing Gear

The best fishing gear for trout is whatever tackle you’re comfortable with and enjoy using. If it’s a rod with a line through it, a weight on it, and some hooked bait or a lure on the end, it can catch a trout; the rest is up to personal taste to refine. We recommend not worrying too much about buying the perfect setup when you’re just starting out. There’s always something new and “better” to try—that’s part of the fun.

A classic and affordable choice to start with is a spincast Zebco 33 paired with a bobber so that you’ll have a visual cue when a fish begins to nibble at the bait. Another example, requiring more casting skill and offering more flexibility in exchange, is an unenclosed (meaning you can see the spool of line) spinning reel like this Shakespeare rod.

Finally, let’s discuss some of the most common terminologies when it comes to fishing gear so that you can get a glimpse of all the possibilities.

Tackle / Line & Leader

“Tackle” is a catch-all term for any and all kinds of fishing equipment. This is why many anglers call the container sitting next to them a “tackle box.”

Fishing “line” is the spool of line that you put on or in your rod’s fishing reel. It is most commonly then pulled through the circular “guides” of the rod to keep it in place. A “leader” is a thicker, stronger piece of line that connects your hook or lure to your main line. It’s used mainly for fish like pickeral, pike, or muskellunge, who have large sharp teeth that could cust your line. Many packaged fishing hooks now come with a leader already attached. The leader can either be connected to the main line by tying a knot, or the two can be connected by a “swivel,” a small, pivoting piece of metal that looks a bit like an earring with a paperclip on the end.

Bait Fishing

Bait fishing refers to putting edible fish food, such as worms or minnows, on a hook to entice the fish to bite.

Lure Fishing

Lure fishing refers to putting fake fish food, such as plastic minnows or leeches, on the end of your line. Such lures have one or multiple fishing hooks attached or embedded. Different lures have different “actions” or movements, that are all designed to elicit a predatorial reaction from fish.

Fly Fishing

At its most basic, fly fishing is a form of lure fishing that uses extremely light-weight lures called “flies” or nymphs to imitate aquatic insects near the surface of the water. Flies usually consist of a small hook with feathers tied to it in the shape of a particular insect. However, because of their near-weightless nature, the fly isn’t the only specialized equipment that fly fishers use. Fly fishing uses unique rods, reels, leaders, lines (far thicker than standard fishing line), and tippets (a thinner piece of line at the very end to which the fly is attached). These are necessary in order to cast a delicate, unweighted fly, which would go nowhere on the end of a regular fishing line.

Some other unique elements of fly fishing include the traditions of tying one’s own flies (although mass-produced options are available), and conducting the fishing in the water, such as using neoprene chest waders to stand in the middle of a stream.

Trout Behaviors

Trout are often accused of being a “shy” or “sneaky” fish. Some anglers ascribe this to the keen eyesight of trout rendering them more line-shy than other fish. However, we believe the stealthiness of trout is due to ecological adaptation just as much as exceptional vision. Trout are preyed on by many accomplished predators, including but not limited to blue herons, osprey, eagles, mink, and otters. Therefore, trout are just as often a prey animal as they are a predator,  even though human anglers may mostly view them as predators seeking bait. We fish farmers tend to sympathize with trouts’ paranoia, as our job requires carefully accounting for every predator that may try to make a meal of our trout.

To this point, most wild trout die before their first birthday. The mortality rate of a trout during its first year is 95%+, but it falls to 40-60% from its second year onwards. Trout (all fish at that) are “r-selected”, meaning they produce a high number of young and give little or no parental care.  It’s a method in contrast to “k-selected” animals such as humans, which produce relatively few young with extensive parental care.  A mature female brown trout produces between 500 and 1000 eggs when spawning.

Trout can be picky eaters, especially when food is consistent and abundant. The less they like the flavor or nutritional contents of a food, the less they eat of it. There are comparables to this in angling, where a particular lure or bait goes a day or days without a nibble. If it doesn’t suit their taste at the time, trout will not bother biting it.

It is a commonly repeated myth that trout scales have growth rings (“annuli”) that can be read like the rings of a tree to determine age. However, like most fish the trout does have the free-floating bone-like structures called otoliths in its head.  These small white crystalline “bones” do exhibit yearly and even daily growth rings when dissected with a delicate saw and viewed under a microscope.

Trout Fishing for Beginners

After acquiring whatever license or permit(s) the jurisdiction you want to fish in may require, pick out a portable cooler and some basic tackle (we provide some great tackle options in our Trout Fishing Gear section above). We recommend blocking out at least a few hours in the spring (or a cool morning in summer or fall) to begin your new angling hobby.

For those of you accompanying young children or boisterous adults, don’t worry about staying silent to “not scare the fish.” So long as you’re not being obnoxious to nearby anglers who may be seeking peace and quiet, noise from out of the water won’t often scare off trout.  Disturbing the water however, will cause you some trouble.

Learning and practicing the basic fishing knots ahead of time, such as the uni, palomar, and FG knot, are also excellent skills for a beginner to begin honing immediately.

Tips for Intermediate Trout Fishing

In our opinion, the skill which separates the beginner and the intermediate angler is the ability to locate fish in sizable bodies of water. Learning how to spot areas where trout are more likely to be is the perfect next step to take after an angler has become comfortable with knotting their line, baiting their hook, and casting with their rod. For example, knowing that trout like cover and a combination of light and dark water might lead a discerning angler to cast near overhanging foliage where a hover of trout might be loitering. However, such a cast comes with a greater risk of snagging on some of that foliage and losing a favorite lure.

Advanced Trout Fishing Techniques

The quality that separates the average angler from a great fisherman is passion. A true passion for fishing–not just catching fish, but the entire process and pursuit–is what keeps even the most naturally talented angler coming back after those unavoidable but discouraging days with not so much as a nibble. The truth of it is that there is considerable continuity between one’s first outing to catch a trout and one’s last, even when many years separate the two. This dependability and constancy is what makes many people come to love it. So, advanced techniques are rarely done for their own sake; rather, they are the product of honing one’s preferences over the months and years.

While competitions are less common than with other fish like bass, the competitive trout angler certainly has the option of taking part in derbies and tournaments. Such competitions in the trout category are rarer for adults, but prize-offering derbies for the biggest trout are common for kids.

Storing Trout (During & After Fishing)

Every catch requires a decision: whether to release the fish or eat it. This is often a decision determined by regulation; small fry should generally be released so that they can continue to grow and fill someone else’s plate later on, and regulations provide a minimum size limit.

Once you have decided to keep a fish, you should remove the hook if possible and quickly kill it with a knife. This is done for flavor—if a fish dies slower it releases more stress hormones and can cause off flavors in the meat. It is better to insert a sharp knife-tip just between and behind the trout’s eyes. The tip of the blade passes straight through the one side and out the other side, effectively killing the fish, even if it continues to move from nerves.

The internal organs should be removed as soon as possible to help reduce the chances of spoilage.  After that, the fish should be kept cold for the same reason.

To start cleaning a fish, literally clean it off with clean water. Then, if the fish is heavily scaled, use a scaling tool to remove these. Trout have small scales, so this step can usually be skipped in their case. Now it’s time to use a sharp fileting knife. Fish are slippery, so be especially careful with your knife, and consider using a dry towel or filet board to help grip the fish. Lay the fish on a cutting board and make a shallow cut with the tip of the blade from the fish’s anus to its head. Then, insert your knife through the gills of the fish and slice these to separate the gills from the rest of the head. With these two cuts made, the fish’s body can now be spread open, allowing you to remove the gills and entrails entirely. The kidneys will likely still be intact along the entire backbone of the fish; these can be scraped out with a tool or a fingernail. Finally, cut off the head of the fish and remove its fins as desired. It should then be rinsed with clean water again and kept cool or frozen until you’re ready to cook it.

You may also decide to skin and filet the fish before cooking it. In this case, find its backbone nearest the head, set your knife on it horizontally, and cut through the ribs towards the tail as though you are tracing the length of the backbone. Then, turn the fish over and make the same cut on the opposite side. You can then remove the rib cage. To skin the fish, place it skin-side down on your cutting board, insert your knife a half-inch or so from its tail, hold the tail firmly, and run the knife blade between the skin and the meat to separate the two.

How to Prepare Trout For Eating

After consulting our storage and cleaning instructions in Storing Trout (During & After Fishing) above, we recommend the beautiful simplicity of applying butter, lemon pepper seasoning, and a foil wrap. Grill this at 400° F for just a few minutes, and plate it up as soon as the filet begins to easily flake with a fork.

After trying this, the culinarily adventurous should feel free to also consult the American classic Joy of Cooking (1997 revision) by Irma S. Rombauer for the mouthwatering Grilled or broiled whole trout with bacon recipe, or any other recipe that sounds delicious to you.

Health Benefits of Eating Trout

Trout are loaded with healthy nutrients such as calcium and zinc. They’re bountiful sources of protein for muscle growth  and Omega-3 fatty acids for brain health. Omega-3s are also known to lower the risk of heart disease and arterial plaque, and to help regulate triglyceride and blood pressure levels.

For those concerned with calories, three ounces of rainbow trout offers 20 grams of protein, or 40% of your daily value, for just 143 calories, with almost all of the fat content in trout being from their healthy Omega-3 fatty acids. A serving of rainbow trout, for example, contains over 100% of one’s daily value of the cell-generating vitamin B-12 and over 90% of one’s daily Vitamin D.

Eating fish such as trout is also associated with lowered inflammation, improved eye health, reducing heart disease and stroke, and even slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s.