Jumping into the trout world and starting to assemble an arsenal of trout lures, I know jerkbaits work great for trout so I’m starting to stock up on jerkbaits and in-line spinners, I was wondering if anyone has used small underspins like the cool baits and  small swimbaits like keitechs or sparks Shad’s or even the dark sleepers to target trout? I’m thinking the dark sleeper in the smaller sizes could be deadly in current as they get down quick and have a great action, are there any other bass lures you guys like to use for trout? Im also going to stock up on neds and micro finesse plastics, seems like it would be hard for them to resist those.

Keitech 2 inch, I prefer jackal tidebeat 1.5" it's jdm.  In my experience, I have found 1-2 inch baits work best. Small crappie jigs also work really well, I've switched from in line spinners to minnows in fast streams as they resist line twist well, don't have as much luck with them in stillwater lakes. My go to are tiny trout magnet bodies. Easy for trout to swallow, Nikko floating worms I also like, and Berkley mice tails with tiny 8-10 size mosquito light. With the floating baits I use splitshot rig. 

 

Natural wild trout like natural tones

 

Stocked trout are stupid and dog fed fish and will fishing brightest colors works great so they can find it well like white and yellow. 

 

Small blade baits are also good.

Where will you be fishing for trout?

I'm asking more about river (stream) size, and general location than specifics.

If your trout are predatory, small swimbaits might do well. I’d match the size of the baitfish. For small streams go with a 2in Keitech easy shiner or similar, larger streams might call for larger swimbaits. I’ve also wanted to try suspending jerkbaits for winter trout, but I haven’t gotten to that yet. I might pick up a couple of Rozantes in the smallest size

31 minutes ago, Further North said:

Where will you be fishing for trout?

I'm asking more about river (stream) size, and general location than specifics.

Utah so tons of different species, ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, stocked and native ?

25 minutes ago, BlakeMolone said:

Utah so tons of different species, ponds, lakes, rivers, streams, stocked and native ?

Sorry, I wasn't clear:  I was asking more about river/stream size and conditions to tailor the response to how you're fishing.

My bad, poorly asked question.

Every situation has it's own best answer...

You can add spoons of the appropriate size to your Arsenal but as @Further North asked what environment meant are you going to engage them? 
 

Also, whether you plan of catch and keep or release. If your plan to keep you will be amazed at how effective dough (eg power bait) can be at catching trout, especially planters (stocked trout). 
 

Power bait fish is ideal with a long light to ultralight spinning set up. 

When I winter fished for trout I caught most on a fly rod with 2# test leader using 1/100 oz black, brown, or green maribou jigs.

Rapala Original Floater and Countdown.  

2 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

Rapala Original Floater and Countdown.  

Indeed!! I meant to but forgot to mention that in my thread. I love both of those. 

What he said⏏️ ( @roadwarrior)

Between a few of those and some Roostertails in ‘Grasshopper’, it’ll keep you busy.

When I fish for trout, I always think, "Big brown trout eat little brown trout."

That's never let me down.

Rooster tail works great

Great info guys, just discovered panther martin makes a spinner that already has a swivel built in so I’m gonna stock up on some of those! Haven’t been this excited about a new fishing adventure in a while and thankfully moving water doesn’t freeze up as easy ? 

5 hours ago, Jig Man said:

When I winter fished for trout I caught most on a fly rod with 2# test leader using 1/100 oz black, brown, or green maribou jigs.

Gonna grab some spro phat flies, they look good at a fair price and I bet they will be great for just about anything that swims.

On 12/24/2022 at 10:36 AM, BlakeMolone said:

Great info guys, just discovered panther martin makes a spinner that already has a swivel built in so I’m gonna stock up on some of those! Haven’t been this excited about a new fishing adventure in a while and thankfully moving water doesn’t freeze up as easy ? 

Gonna grab some spro phat flies, they look good at a fair price and I bet they will be great for just about anything that swims.

Panthers are trout slayers for sure.  When I make inline spinners, I also incorporate a good swivel if I have them. 
 

I can’t quite put a finger on it, but imho, as a bass angler at heart, there is an awesomeness for lack of a better word when fishing for trout with artificial lures. Maybe it’s their torpedo shaped body that might flash a streak silver during the fight or their incredible colors, regardless of trout species — and the natural ones seem to me at least, even more brilliant. Or perhaps throwing your spoon or spinner out and using the current to drift it to them in a river. Heck even the chuck and wind for them in a stocked lake/pond can be fun. 
 

One last thing. If possible, I’d switch out trebles for appropriate sized single hooks. My experience tells me hook ups seem more positive. If I don’t plan to keep, I will use barbless hooks. Hooks that I buy already barbless OR I crimp the barb down. Primary reason is that it makes release way easier and  unfortunately imho, trout are not as hardy as bass and they have what we call in the Pacific NW, “soft mouths”.  A lot of damage can be done to then during the process of removing a hook if it is barbed. 
 

Sometimes when I am in catch and release mode, I bring them in as close as I can during the fight until I deem I won the battle, then I let the line go very slack. Because there is no barb, even small trout can shake off my spinner or spoon. A — they free themselves and I don’t have to touch them to unhook them and B — As a result, no fishy hands for me. It’s a win-win deal for both of us. 

Panther Martin, gold blade, black with chartreuse dots is my VERY best 

producer for numbers of rainbow.

Wiggle Warts catch monster trout.

3 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

Panther Martin, gold blade, black with chartreuse dots is my VERY best 

producer for numbers of rainbow.

Yes sir good stuff! I’ve always been a big fan of the little Cleo also

 

Miss Cleo???

39 minutes ago, VolFan said:

Miss Cleo???

Psychic trout lure? 

My area is known for big trout and lots of them, but that makes them highly pressured.  I swing for the fences with Megabass 110's and the magnum sizes as well.  Works for me and ups the average size fish.  

8 hours ago, Tackleholic said:

My area is known for big trout and lots of them, but that makes them highly pressured.  I swing for the fences with Megabass 110's and the magnum sizes as well.  Works for me and ups the average size fish.  

I’ve got some nice browns with jerkbaits as well as hard jointed swimbaits , they are a hungry breed 

Trout are not shy, they will readily hit d**n near anything.  The most common misconception is that trout need tiny lures.  Tiny lures usually gets you tiny fish or tank scrubbers.  Rapala F5, F7, CD5, and CD7 are my go-to trout lures.  Flicker Shads are also highly effective.  In general, bigger trout will hit a minnow style lure more readily than a small spinner.  Bigger meals mean more energy gained for less energy used.  Spoons also work very well like Little Cleo and Mepps Silver Wolf.  

2 hours ago, redmeansdistortion said:

The most common misconception is that trout need tiny lures. 

Spot on.  I've used streamers to about 6", brown trout patterned Rapalas, & #3 Mepps.

40 minutes ago, Further North said:

Spot on.  I've used streamers to about 6", brown trout patterned Rapalas, & #3 Mepps.

Trout patterns usually work best for me.  Steelhead spawn in my local creek, during summer rainbow trout patterns produce a lot of big browns for me since they're feeding on rainbow fry and parr from the March/April spawn.