You do not have to be a flyfisher to catch trout

© Othmar Vohringer

A few weeks ago I received what seemed to me a somewhat puzzling question from a newcomer to the angling sport: “Is it true that you only can catch trout with flyfishing gear?” I had to read the email twice and then again to make sure it was not a much belated April fools. joke. I even did a search on the internet just to try and find out where the writer might have got the idea from that led him to the question. Sure enough, when I searched “trout fishing” on the internet over 90 percent of the information pertained to fly fishing so no wonder that the e-mail writer was under a false impression.

Of course you do not have to be a flyfisherman to catch trout.

Spinning reel set ups provide an angler with a lot more options to catch trout than is possible with flyfishing gear. “Lure and bait chuckers”, as we’re often referred to, have a huge arsenal of rods, lines, lures, baits and tactics at our disposal that lets us fish from dawn to dusk. On a typical day on the lake I have as many as five rods with me in the boat, each one being set up differently and ready to be used for a specific tactic. In the early morning I may cast spoons, rooster tails and Panther Martins at fish I can see just under the water surface or explore underwater structures like submerged rocks and trees where big trout lay in wait for prey to swim by.

Such lures come in various sizes and colours that let you match the food source that the trout are eating in a specific body of water. If you do not know what the fish eat try a variety of different lures, sizes and colours until the fish start to hit them. When it gets warmer and the fish head deeper down in the lake trolling a wedding band or Lyman plug can yield great results.

During midday hours and early afternoon when the sun is heating the water’s surface the trout head for the deepest holes at the bottom of the lake. In this case I make use of an electronic fish finder. Once I’ve found them it is time to try some jigging with small shiny spoons just of off the lake bottom. The rod for this job is spooled with braided line that has no give whatsoever. In deep water , like in Nicola Lake where 80 to 100 feet depths are common, you need that type of line as the regular monofilament line will act far too slow to set the hook on the fish.

And then of course there is the simple yet very effective fishing method of worm and bobber fishing. Countless trout have fallen for this very simple tactic which works particularly well on the many stocked lakes around the Nicola Valley. So you see, it does not matter whether you use a fly rod or spinning reel rod to catch trout. What does matter is that you go out and have fun fishing. In this regard I wish you always tight lines.