Lures are often a good choice for trout. Whether fishing in a lake, stream or river, lures can be used to cover a lot of water and catch a lot of fish. It is not much different than fly fishing with streamers or bass fishing with crankbaits.
Most species of trout are piscivorous, which means they eat other fish. For the most part lures imitate small fish. That’s why a lot of lures catch trout. Of course some lures are a lot better than others. So you don’t necessary have to weigh your vest down with tons of lures. Here’s a short list of great lures for trout.
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Little Cleo
The Little Cleo is a great spoon for trout of all kinds. While other spoons can also work well, the Little Cleo is one of the best. Available in a wide range of colors, the lure has a fantastic wobbly action on the retrieve. It can also be jigged or even ripped like a jerkbait.
Due to its compact size and density, the Little Cleo can be cast very far with little effort. It can be fished in still water lakes or fast moving rivers. It has a lot of applications.
Good colors for trout include gold, orange and gold, and blue and nickle. Other colors like nickle and rainbow trout can work good too.
Floating Rapala
The Rapala company needs no introduction. Their lures are known around the world. They make what are probably the best crank baits to be found and it all started with the original floating Rapala. The original Rapala floater continues to be a great lure for trout of all kinds.
Floating Rapala lures can be used in lakes or in moving water. In lakes you can fan cast to cover all of the water in front of you. In moving water you can cast upstream and retrieve the lure across or even against the current. You can fish it slow, do a rip and pause retrieve or crank the lure fast and hard. Different techniques work in different situations.
Rapala floaters come in a range of sizes and colors. The inch-and-a-half long Size 5 and the larger Size 7 are great for trout. Some of the best colors include brook trout, perch, gold and silver.
A lot of big trout have been caught on the floating Rapala. Big brown trout especially seem to be partial to the lures. They are a must have if you want to fish lures for trout.
Trout Magnet Crank
If the Rapala floater is the original some might think the Trout Magnet Crank was just a crude imitation. The fact is, it is more fine tuned specifically for trout. The Trout Magnet company made their name with a type of jig for trout so their crankbaits aren’t as well known.
But the Trout Magnet Crank is the perfect size for trout. It comes in a lot of different colors and they’re all effective. It’s also a sort of suspending bait that works well in streams and rivers but really comes into its own in still water lakes and ponds.
When you cast out the Trout Magnet Crank you can give it a few cranks to get it down to where you want it in the water column. Then you can manipulate it accordingly with the situation. It gives you a lot of flexibility.
The Trout Magnet Crank has a ton of action too. If you crank it fast it has a tight wobble like a Rapala. If you crank it ultra slow it has a wide and tantalizing action that can bring bites when nothing else will work.
Panther Martin
There are a lot of inline spinners on the market. Most of them will work at least once in a while. Some work often on stocked trout, but they’re hardly the only option. The Panther Martin spinners are an exception in that they work in a wide variety of situations and can catch everything from naive stocked rainbow trout to wily wild brook trout and lakers.
The Panther Martin is a compact spinner with a flashy blade. You can cast these lures very far and then retrieve them at different speeds and depths until you see what works. The Panther Martins work really well in ponds and lakes that hole trout, but you can also fish them in moving water to great effect.
Good colors include yellow body with black dots, black body with yellow dots and gold. It’s good to have different sizes and colors for varying conditions. Dark body spinners seem to work best on cloudy and overcast days.
Blue Fox Flash Spinner
The last lure on this list is another spinner. I am actually not a fan of the old round Blue Fox Vibrax spinners, but the Blue Fox Flash Spinners are a different story. These inline spinner and dense and hydrodynamic. So you can cast them way out yet they quickly get down deep.
I have caught a lot of trout on the Flash Spinners. All sorts of trout will hit these spinners whether they are fished in deep stream holes or big lakes with lots of water to cover. For the most part you just have to cast out and retrieve.
The Flash Spinner comes in a lot of colors. Some of the best include the blues and yellows, but the best bet is to grab an assortment back. That way you get a discount on your purchase and have a variety of lure colors to chose from.
