When fishing for trout, there’s no doubt that you’ll want to bring in more than just a few fish. Trout are a good-sized sport fish that puts up a fun fight on the line, and on top of that, they taste great as well! In order to bring in as many trout as you can, you’ll need to know what the best bait for catching trout is!
Find out everything you need to know about the best bait for trout here!
Table of Contents
What Do Trout Eat?
Generally speaking, trout will eat anything smaller than them. Trout are opportunistic feeders, and are entirely carnivorous. Their diet consists mainly of both aquatic and terrestrial insects, mollusks, amphibians, crustaceans, and fish that are smaller than they are!
As they’re opportunistic predators, trout have no problem cannibalizing younger trout, either. Additionally, they’ll feed on the carcasses of dead trout, and during spawning season, they’ll eat the eggs of trout that are washed away from their nests.
But with such a wide variety in their diet, what do trout enjoy eating the most? We’re here to tell you.
Check out our trout guide written by a biologist: Every Thing You Need To Know About Trout in the Wild; Written By A Biologist
The Best Live Baits For Catching Trout
When fishing, you can’t go wrong with live bait. All fish love a good live bait, and trout are no different than any other fish. The next time you’re heading out to catch trout, consider some of the following live bait options for your hook.
Minnows
With trout being opportunistic predators, they’ll go after whatever food they can get. Part of that voracious hunger includes going after the food that’s going to feed them the best, and in most cases, minnows fill that need. Fathead minnows are a great bait for trout, and they’re available at most bait shops. What’s more is that they’re a hardy fish, and can live through a few casts if push comes to shove.
Grubs
Grubs are a fat and juicy snack that trout love to go after when given the chance. Grubs, also known as beetle larva, are a food that trout don’t often see, but they enjoy all the same. These can’t be found at your local bait shop in most cases, and will need to be found out in the wild. To find grubs, split open some dead logs and root around a bit under some large stones, they’ll most likely be there.
Crayfish
Trout will eat crayfish in an instant, and often crayfish will only attract the largest trout. They’re a bit harder for the fish to eat, but that won’t stop them. When fishing with crayfish, it’s best to look for smaller examples that have just molted. They’ll be easier to get on the hook, and they’re more likely to attract a larger trout to your line.
Grasshoppers and Crickets
No list of trout bait should ever exclude grasshoppers and crickets. Both of these insects end up on the surface of the water pretty regularly, and their thrashing attracts the trout. When you hook one of these up, you’ll be sure to get some bites.
Worms
No matter where you’re getting your bait, you’ll be sure to find worms there. Worms are a great bait choice for any fish, and they’re cheap and plentiful. In most cases you can get a dozen or more worms for just a few dollars. They’re easy on the wallet, and trout really do love them.
Waxworms
When fishing for trout, the best live bait option has to be waxworms, hands down. Waxworms are a fatty little insect that trout will gobble up if given the opportunity. They have a nice texture and you can put three to four on the same hook to make them really appealing. They’re harder than most other insects that you can use as bait, and they are a good weight for getting a good cast when you need one.
The Best Flies For Catching Trout
Generally speaking when fly fishing for trout, you want to fish with lures that are most similar to what’s hatching in the water you’re at. For example, if mayflies are starting to come out in force, you’ll want to use lures that look like mayflies, as the trout will be targeting them specifically. It’s always good to keep a couple ‘hopper style flies on hand, too. Trout can’t resist a good grasshopper or cricket when given the opportunity, no matter the season.
The Best Lures for Catching Trout
The goal of using a lure when fishing is to imitate the kinds of food that they’ll eat in the wild (unless you’re fishing for stocked trout, which we’ll also cover). You’ll see that the options below are very similar in shape and size to what you’ll want to use as live bait, which is intentional.
Critters
These lures are smaller, and typically represent the bugs that fall into the water that trout enjoy so much. You’ll see plenty of options that look similar to crickets or beetles, and they typically do a good job of fooling the fish you’re after.
Tubes
Tubes are lures that imitate grubs in shape and size, and sometimes waxworms. Often, they don’t really look like much of anything that a trout would eat often, but that might just be the key. Like they do with grubs, trout tend to go after these pretty aggressively, possibly because they’re unknown to the fish and are more interesting than other lures.
Soft Swimbaits
Remember how we said that trout like to eat anything smaller than they are? Swimbaits are the best representation of that. When used in conjunction with a jighead that looks like an eye, trout just can’t resist them. Most of the soft swimbaits on the market do a good job with imitating small fish like minnows, so you can’t go wrong with one.
Crankbaits
Along the same lines as the swimbaits, crankbaits are a good way to attract the biggest trout in the water you’re fishing. Crankbaits are often a bit bigger than swimbaits, and they dance around in a tantalizing manner that a big trout just can’t say no to. If you’re looking for a trophy fish, use a crankbait to really bring them in.
Spinners
Spinners are by far the best lure available when it comes to fishing for trout. They swivel and dance in any water, ensuring that you’ll get a bite no matter where you’re fishing. While you can use them in lakes, they’re best suited for fishing in deeper rivers, as they can be held in place and the water moving around them will do all the work for you. If you’re on the hunt for big trout in a river, look no further than a good spinner.
Powerbait
Powerbait is the generic term assigned to any doughy, moldable bait. While powerbait doesn’t do exceedingly well when fishing for wild trout, it does a notably good job when fishing for stocked trout. These farm-raised fish seem to have a soft spot for it, likely due to the food that they were fed when being raised to a suitable fishing size. If you know that the body of water you’re fishing relies on stocked fish, be sure to bring some powerbait along.