On 10/18/2025 at 9:18 AM, Further North said:

What's that bottom set up?  It looks very interesting.

That's stream UL set-up, Aioushi offset grip (from blank), Japanese Kuramochi Limbs ferruled rod blade seats in the grip chuck.  Casts 2 to 9 g, and casts the 2 g farther than you need to fish.  

The reel is a 50s Langley StreamLite direct-drive, narrowed on bench by NK Maker in Japan.  (he also converts old RH Langley to LH)

 

I added a mag brake on my bench.  

(If you find an old Langley Target or Lurecast, I charge $35 to install tailplate magnets, and my mag-brake mods have competed in ACS vintage casting competition)

The cork grip was too heavy for the light rod blade, and I couldn't feel the lure until I swapped in a carbon grip, made from LureSport parts.  

biggest problem with Czech nymphing is hitting your head with the anchor on the end of your tippet.  

I bust the river and go out of my way to swing a BWO dropper.  

 

The spinning combo in my first post, worth a closer look, is a Japanese ferruled spinning blade, Hitotoki Works Wickman, $40 grip kit from LureSport, and Tica Cetus 800.  Casts 1 to 10 grams.  

3 hours ago, bulldog1935 said:

That's stream UL set-up, Aioushi offset grip (from blank), Japanese Kuramochi Limbs ferruled rod blade seats in the grip chuck.  Casts 2 to 9 g, and casts the 2 g farther than you need to fish.  

The reel is a 50s Langley StreamLite direct-drive, narrowed on bench by NK Maker in Japan.  

 

I added a mag brake on my bench.  

(If you find an old Langley Target or Lurecast, I charge $35 to install tailplate magnets, and my mag-brake mods have competed in ACS vintage casting competition)

The cork grip was too heavy for the light rod blade, and I couldn't feel the lure until I swapped in a carbon grip, made from LureSport parts.  

biggest problem with Czech nymphing is hitting your head with the anchor on the end of your tippet.  

I bust the river and go out of my way to swing a BWO dropper.  

 

The spinning combo in my first post, worth a closer look, is a Japanese ferruled spinning blade, Hitotoki Works Wickman, $40 grip kit from LureSport, and Tica Cetus 800.  Casts 1 to 10 grams.  

Very cool casting set up!

I have a few BFS rods rigged - all bass sized - but nothing that'll go that light.

Our limestone headwaters have endemic bass - Texas Brook Trout.  

(he flipped water on my lens)

 

18 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

Our limestone headwaters have endemic bass - Texas Brook Trout.  

(he flipped water on my lens)

 

Guadalupe jumpers. So fun!

FM

On 8/16/2025 at 3:30 PM, MontanaBasser said:

Now I've decided I just don't like trout. 

I think a lot of people that get skunked fishing for trout are giving up too easily.  The very, very first skill you need to learn is reading the water.  Learn how trout feed and you will learn to read the water.  Second, learn the body of water you are fishing, and this can take time.  It isn't like bass fishing where you can go to a lake, drop bait, and yell "fish on!", it's much more nuanced than that.  You aren't going to learn your stream if you don't put the time in.  Each one is different, and if you've learned to read water in general it will make your time learning your stream much easier.  Streams are hardly ever a constant.  Flows change and bring with them changes to the underlying topography which removes some pools, makes new pools, or makes existing pools larger and/or deeper.  Trees fall which also changes the underlying topography.  Pro tip, if you're a river smallie guy, the same logic applies.  Smallmouth occupy the same niche in warm water streams as trout do in colder streams.  Their feeding habits are very similar in that regard.

 

If you're after big trout and are a fly fisherman, streamers like @Further North suggests are your ticket.  If you're using spinning or casting tackle, use jerkbaits as they serve the same purpose.  Bigger trout have a much higher content of fish in their diets than smolts.  I don't fly fish, but use jerkbaits near exclusively.  My local stream is highly pressured as it runs through a large urban area, and I seldom get skunked.  It's because I took the time to learn the water, what works and what doesn't.  Being that this stream has little natural runoff left, the topography changes much faster more frequently and I have to relearn a lot of it every single season.  These are wild fish, too.  The fish in this picture was 1 of 8 I caught that morning, he came on a 5g Tiemco Laks 50S.

 

 

 

 

 

Suggest you hire a good fly fisherman to properly teach you the casting mechanics and how to reed current breaks. Fly fishing in streams is the way to go. 

Harry Thomas lives near you and builds T&T custom fly rods and is a tournament level bass angler.

Tom

8 hours ago, redmeansdistortion said:

I think a lot of people that get skunked fishing for trout are giving up too easily.  The very, very first skill you need to learn is reading the water.  Learn how trout feed and you will learn to read the water.  Second, learn the body of water you are fishing, and this can take time.  It isn't like bass fishing where you can go to a lake, drop bait, and yell "fish on!", it's much more nuanced than that.  You aren't going to learn your stream if you don't put the time in.  Each one is different, and if you've learned to read water in general it will make your time learning your stream much easier.  Streams are hardly ever a constant.  Flows change and bring with them changes to the underlying topography which removes some pools, makes new pools, or makes existing pools larger and/or deeper.  Trees fall which also changes the underlying topography.  Pro tip, if you're a river smallie guy, the same logic applies.  Smallmouth occupy the same niche in warm water streams as trout do in colder streams.  Their feeding habits are very similar in that regard.

 

If you're after big trout and are a fly fisherman, streamers like @Further North suggests are your ticket.  If you're using spinning or casting tackle, use jerkbaits as they serve the same purpose.  Bigger trout have a much higher content of fish in their diets than smolts.  I don't fly fish, but use jerkbaits near exclusively.  My local stream is highly pressured as it runs through a large urban area, and I seldom get skunked.  It's because I took the time to learn the water, what works and what doesn't.  Being that this stream has little natural runoff left, the topography changes much faster more frequently and I have to relearn a lot of it every single season.  These are wild fish, too.  The fish in this picture was 1 of 8 I caught that morning, he came on a 5g Tiemco Laks 50S.

 

 

 

 

 

Great advice.

@CybrSlydr just curious, do you still bass fish? I used to read your fishing reports and root for you to catch a fish while you were trying to figure things out. 

Spinning tackle is your choice sonI recommend clear casting bubble that you add water for more weight and use 2 lb leader with standard size flies for your area. Trout have excellent close vision so:light leader is necessary for smaller flies.

Lure you can 4 lb to 6 lb mono or FC line and cast direct no bubble.

Any ML spinning rod should be OK.

Tom

On 11/16/2025 at 1:39 PM, WRB-2.0 said:

Spinning tackle is your choice sonI recommend clear casting bubble that you add water for more weight and use 2 lb leader with standard size flies for your area. Trout have excellent close vision so:light leader is necessary for smaller flies.

Lure you can 4 lb to 6 lb mono or FC line and cast direct no bubble.

Any ML spinning rod should be OK.

Tom

Good advice, but you are very undergunned if you hook a big trout, especially in current, around snags, or on a short string. I have cut open some big trout that have snap swivels and light mono inside of them. I use 15lb trilene big game in green.

On 10/21/2025 at 5:43 PM, MassBass said:

And 8 days a week, every stream has perfect flow on every run. There was a drought all summer. I'm not dismissing nymphing, but you can't say it is the best way to catch trout all the time. Maybe you are just thinking streams, but when you try ponds and lakes, spooning shines even more over Nymphing.

I am talking streams.

With nymphing you can run two flies and cover two layers at once. It's almost a perfect imitation. Those euro rigs can catch every fish in a riffle.

A while back my brother and I tried an experiment on a big run on the Housatonic below the upper TMA that always has lots of holdovers. We had my son work a large spot with a rooster tail and catch as many as he could. Then my brother took over and caught a few more until the bite died.

Then we waded through with Euro nymph rigs and caught all the fish that wouldn't hit the rooster tail. Flies caught more. Not a big sample size but the more tactical set up didn't disturb the fish as much I think.

Having never fished for trout, but finding myself living near some pretty good trout streams, I decided a few years ago to give them a try on UL and ML spinning tackle occasionally (I don't fly fish either). I have only been a few times, but applying what I know about Smallies in rivers, I've been able to catch a few small browns on in-line spinners (rooster tails and mepps) and small curly-tail grubs.

The jerkbait recommendation is something I've come across before, especially for bigger browns and rainbows, although I haven't really tried it.