taking my niece fishing. she'd like to catch a trout.  they stocked a local lake with stockers - mid april?  we're going tomorrow.....  my questions - where do those trout hang out? i'm guessing they're just sort of out in deeper water.   and are trout loners? so, you're not trying to find a group of 'em,  we're going to use trout dough and small spinners.  is it hard keeping the trout dough on hooks?  sorry for the dumb questions.  

Fresh stockers usually will school up, and are extremely easy to catch. I find large schools of them cruising in shallow-ish water. They aren’t weary of humans anywhere near the degree that wild trout are. Stockers will readily bite nightcrawlers, inline spinners, dry flies, and some people even use dog food as hatchery trout are fed pellets not too dissimilar from dog food kibble. I would use a peice of the dough just like a peice of night crawler on a small hook, under a slip bobber. Throw out the small inline spinner while the dough sits. If there are stockers in the area, you will see them all following the spinner. 

4 hours ago, Jar11591 said:

Fresh stockers usually will school up, and are extremely easy to catch. I find large schools of them cruising in shallow-ish water. They aren’t weary of humans anywhere near the degree that wild trout are. Stockers will readily bite nightcrawlers, inline spinners, dry flies, and some people even use dog food as hatchery trout are fed pellets not too dissimilar from dog food kibble. I would use a peice of the dough just like a peice of night crawler on a small hook, under a slip bobber. Throw out the small inline spinner while the dough sits. If there are stockers in the area, you will see them all following the spinner. 

thanks so much.  hopefully we will catch something!

Velveeta or canned corn works well in Texas. Light line, split shot and a small hook.

FM

Worms with a little shot of air work well. I usually use a light slip sinker with a tiny swivel and about a foot of line tied to a # 8 Aberdeen hook. If I’m fishing off the dock, live minnows a crank off the bottom gets the job done. Corn , power bait, little kastmaster spoons , rooster tails , stocker trout will eat them all. 

They swim in circles 😂 

 

no kidding, I’ve seen them do it . Eventually they might find a place or 3 they prefer but by then they might be all caught or dead and burned up 

@fishhugger,

Your location shows Bay Area, CA.  If you're in the Easy Bay, the latest Fish Sniffer magazine (April 25) has an East Bay Lakes Roundup in their freshwater reports.

Rainbow colored power bait and Panther Martin spinners is all I ever used.

on april 14, they planted 1000# of trout in lake temescal.....   today is the 28th.  could those 1000# of trout be ------- uh, gone?  in two weeks? the reason i wonder is because there were hardly any guys fishing, plus those guys fishing all looked very bored.  i didn't see anyone with any fish.

in any event, we tried various light spinner baits, and power bait. no action.

but thanks guys, as always, for the timely advice.  my niece and i had a pretty good time - got time to chat and talk, and got her working with a slip bobber and power bait.  she tried the other rod with small spinners. 

 

It's not usually that easy. Maybe try again at dusk they might get active and have a rise. 

Just use pwerbait with number 14-20 treble hook with 2-4lb flour leader and use garlic deep and just wait for them to bite. If kids getting bored, spool 6lb line with spinner or rooster tail and let them cast till they catch. Much better to do both together to increase the chance of catching. ill recommended color for your area for you. Also that micetail always catching. If it is cold water and chocolate color use very short leaders and catch them shallow. If water clear and water wormer  then use long leader and go deep by casting farther. Good Luck

Been very lucky with white power bait this year. I use a #8or10 hook, 18-24" leader, then a small swivel, add worm weight to the main line, then a bead. If current is too much may add a small split shot to the leader. There are other rigs you can use  but this is mine for power bait.

will give it a try............... also, i guess i'll check when they stock again...................

They won't be gone that fast. They stocked the lake I fish for trout occasionally back in March and guys are still catching limits of trout from that stocking now in May. 

 

If I'm really targeting them, an 1/8oz Little Cleo in gold or copper or a micro jig under a bobber just floating on the waves are my favorite baits, but I can usually catch my limit on a Ned rig just about as fast.