woodguru Loc: El Dorado Ca

I met a guy back about a dozen years ago that fishes Trout tournaments professionally, we were talking about lures that are the go to hot tickets for trout in Commanche, Don Pedro, New Melones, Pardee, Berryessa, etc.

He was telling me there are two ways to go, catching lots of fish consistently, or catching fewer but bigger fish that will win the money, he was saying he won a lot of tournaments by consistently putting the biggest fish of the tournament in the boat.

I was all onboard with the lures and techniques he used to catch bigger fish, so I bought the spoons and colors he recommended. He said that with ten lures you will have something that will work on most days, and there are the ones that are the first to go to that are the most likely.

So the lures I got are 4 to 5 inch spoons, like hammered big Needlefish, in greens, blues, pinks, purples, and combos, also a sleeper favorite of his which is a black and white cow pattern. I also got some with a little gizmo on the back hook that is like a little round cylinder with shrink tubing holding it in place that supposedly imitates the exact micro voltage that a dying fish puts off that fish can feel as they look at something, those little buggers were $10 bucks apiece, and I buy lures in pairs so if something works I have another for my wife. He is of the opinion that scents tend to make a big difference.

Oh, and these are trolled a bit towards the faster speeds spoons are generally trolled, 2.6 up to lower 3's. He said you can put a torpedo weight ahead of a 2 to 3 foot leader to get them down a bit deeper, so I have torpedo weights in smaller increments, and 1oz, 2oz, 3oz, 4oz. It's really easy to change up the weight or lure on snap swivels on the leader, so an array of change ups can be done really easily.

Talking about strategies, I am going to make a point to have one of these on out of the four lines we pull when my wife and I are at Berryessa the last weekend of April...no point in having wasted $200 bucks on something that seems like it can be a winner.

woodguru Loc: El Dorado Ca

I have a friend that has a collection of big German Brown pictures (7 to 14 lbs) on the wall at the store across from Jenkinsen Lake...he trolls really fast, like up into 3.5 to 4.5 mph. He said he might troll all day without catching anything, but when he does it's a big Brown.

Oh, he uses big Rapalas like the triple and four segmented ones

Fishing Fool Loc: redding, ca

I would also bet that he checks tempertures at different depths as rainbow like the ideal temperature of 54-56 degrees. Always catch many more when we drop over the auto reader tool that checks depths to 300 feet in increments of 5 feet and gives you a record of them.

ranger632 Loc: Near Yosemite Park Ca.

Like us know how they work, good luck

RuffplayOR57 Loc: Klamath Falls, OR

Interesting Post guru, info was nice to know. Don’t know if I’d ever have a chance to use it. Only trolled for trout a couple times in my life. Most the time sit on a bank with bait, or walking a stream or river and casting spoons or flipping a fly. Biggest I’ve ever caught was about 8lbs while trolling, and about the same from a bank. With that being said, most were never that big. Most averaged from pan friers to 3lbs. I’ve never been in a tournament, but I’ve caught a lot of trout for eating. Good luck for you and your wife when you get out chasing them, and send pics!

Treblehook Loc: Placerville, CA

I caught a 10 lb. Mac Lake Trout this time of year at Bear resort about 3-4 years ago. I remember because it was In Early April, and I caught him in close to the bank on a larger Gold Kastmaster than I normally use. I generally use that gold kastmaster on all the lakes up here when fishing off the bank.