Happyshort

As trout anglers, many times the way in which we rig our bait can mean the difference between a great day fishing and a day simply standing on the edge of the water enjoying the scenery. Not that enjoying the scenery is a bad thing, but as anglers we want to catch fish, right? In this article, I’ll explain how to rig trout bait, whether that bait be live or synthetic, to help you catch more trout.

Before I begin, I do want to mention that when trout fishing it is extremely important that you use fishing line that’s as light as possible. My personal preference is four pound test, and in my opinion no line heavier than six pound test should be employed in most trout fishing situations. I realize that this advice may sound sophomoric, but every time I go trout fishing I see discarded fishing line that’s heavy enough to land small sharks, so I figured this should be mentioned. Trout live in clear water and have very keen eyesight, so you should always use fishing line that’s as light as possible.

If you want to know how to rig trout bait, the first thing you need to familiarize yourself with are gang hooks. Gang hooks are simply a pair of small hooks tied in tandem, which enables live bait (especially live worms) to be presented in a totally natural manner. This makes a huge difference in the amount of bites that you receive. Not only are gang hooks great for live bait, but they are also great for synthetic bit such as Powerbait. Imagine having two chunks of Powerbait floating from your trout rig rather than just one? Believe me, it makes a difference!

So now that we know that we need light line and gang hooks to learn how to rig trout bait, let’s get down to the details. Begin by grabbing the end of your line and tying on a small barrel swivel (size 10 or 12). If you are still fishing with trout bait such as Powerbait, slip an egg sinker onto your line before tying on the barrel swivel. Now tie a set of pre-tied gang hooks onto the opposite end of the barrel swivel. If you’re fishing in a river or stream, split shot sinkers are added above the barrel swivel for weight. This is your basic trout rig.

Read the rest of this entry »