rat-l-trapper

The river I'm fishing is the upper Rogue River in southern Oregon. It may be misleading to some how I call it a river. It's like 20-45 ft. wide in most spots, so depending on where you live you may call it a creek or stream. For Oregon it's a river. It's a high mountain river. it's very cold year round, and most spots have strong current, although there are slow stretches.

In a river I fish, there are cutthroats, rainbows, brookies and browns. My problem is that I always catch only stocked rainbows. I really want to catch some brown trout. I've talked to guys up there that say that there are some big brown trout in the river, but they aren't very abundant. I need some suggestions on lures and fly's to use for the browns. I normally fish with inline spinners, spoons, and small crankbaits. The only fly's I've gotten bit on have been wooly buggers and small nymphs. I also don't really know what kind of area's to fish for browns. I know for rainbows if there isn't a medium to fast current I usually wont catch them. Is this true with browns as well? If anybody could give any tips on catching some brown trout I would really appreciate it. I haven't caughten one in years and would really like to.

Last year I got like 2 over five and this year i've got 1. I expect to catch at least one more in the fall. A five pounder's a big one for Oregon, but they're around.

You defenitly need to learn to use a bait caster. There are many techniques that you will be able to do with a bait caster that you couldn't do with a spinning rod. It seems intimidating at first, but bait caster's really aren't hard to use. Another thing, I wouldn't be fishing crainkbaits, spinnerbaits and carolina rigs on the same rod. For cranks you need a rod with a soft tip. You want it to flex very easily. I also wouldn't use the rod with braid for spooks. I would suggest using all baits with treble hooks on a cranking rod.

Zara Spook and super spook junior by far. Especially during the fall, the smallies just crush em.

Never, but I'm hoping that will change this season.

Mine has been an x-rap.

I like crankbaits and lipless crankbaits. Jigs work too. Pretty much anything with a lot of rattles works fine.

I fish from the bank and I use everything guys in boats use. Cranks, jerkbaits, t-rigs, jigs etc. The only lure I can think of that you really need to be in a boat to use is a jigging spoon.

Nice. Sounds like a good day out.

I really can't blame the game warden for thinking you were trout fishing. I live in Oregon and people are really into trout here, I've never seen anyone use a kastmaster for bass. If you were fishing something like a crank that's a diffirent story though. I catch trout all the time on crankbaits, but with a kastmaster it seems like you would catch more trout than bass. I say get the trout stamp if you're fishing trout waters with trout lures. I'm glad I don't need to worry about trout stamps here, sounds like a lot of you guy's do, though.

I highly recommend this bait. Last summer I was fishing and found one on the bank. It looked new, so I tied it on and started catching fish left and right. It seems to be more effective for smallies to me, but I've caught a lot of largemouths on it as well.

I defenitly think senkos are overrated. They are great baits, but some people seem to think they are the best bait ever. When I first started bass fishing, I used them a lot. Once I learned other techniques, I stopped using them so much. I feel like in most situations I can catch more fish and cover the water quicker with other lures. There are situations where senkos are the best thing to throw, but I rarely run into those situations. This is just me though, I know a lot of people swear by senkos.

So far my year has been very slow. I caught my first bass in March, it was a 5 pound largemouth. Unfortunately I haven't gotten another largemouth since. I'm starting to catch smallies pretty consistently, though. I went out today and got 5, which was better than a lot of guys fishing a tournament there. The waters in the mid 50's and the weather has been unseasonably cold. I just wish I could get some largemouths to bite, I don't know what happened to them :-?

In clear water I'd pick watermelon red. If the waters really clear I'd pick an even lighter color though.

For cougars make yourself big and loud. Same with black bears. Grizzlies play dead. There has never been an attack on a human by a wolf, unless they're rabid. I'd be more worried about freezing to death or getting killed in a lightning storm if I were you though. Good luck.

Well I went to my tackle shop yesterday. I still wasn't totally sure, but they didn't have the smoking rooster so it was an easy decision, and I got the space monkey. I'm gonna go fishing in a couple hours and I plan on throwing these a lot today. If I catch any good ones I'll try to get some pictures and post them.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I would get both but I told myself I was gonna stop buying softbaits for a while. I have way more than I can even use in one trip. Knowing me I'll get to the store and get both plus a few more packs, though ;D

My favorite summer bait last year was a Rat-L-Trap. They stopped producing for me about november. I've heard they're a great cold water bait, but that hasn't been my experience. My experience is pretty limited though. I've only been seriously bass fishing for a year now. Lipless cranks will produce a lot of fish though, so make sure you throw them.

I've decided to pick up a pack of rage tails to try out. I can't decide between the space monkey or smoking rooster. I plan on using them on a texas rig. I'll mostly be fishing around brush and some rocks. I'm not looking for size with this bait just numbers. Which one do you guys recommend? What size hooks should I use with these baits?

I always have a knife on me, not just when I'm fishing. There are a ton of uses for a knife, I'd say i use mine at least once a day. The self defense factor is another good reason too carry one. Some places I fish have a lot of drunk people and tweakers that like to mess with people, especially teenagers like me. I've only had to take it out in warning thankfully.

I really like Worden's timber tiger. http://www.***.com/Wordens_Timber_Tiger/descpage-WDTMTGR.html

I'm in.

Wow, those are some nice smallies. Good job and good luck on your tournament.

Seems like the weather's usually wrong where I'm at. I was finally starting too catch bass and then it got cold and rainy for the past two weeks. I hate it, the weather's worse now than in winter.