Trout Overview
Timothy Kusherets
Trout in general prefer cool clean water and feed on smaller offerings that
traditional fishing gear cannot offer. Drift-fishing gear offers an alternative
that all trout love to hit. Properly presented, drift-fishing these fish can
feel like shooting monkeys in a barrel. It’s incredibly easy to get them
to strike; as a matter of fact, these fish will bite so often that they can
appear to be rather stupid animals when in it’s simply in their nature
to compete.
Some species of trout can get so huge that they could be mistaken for mutant
forms of salmon; they get that large. Other species are so small that fishermen
who prefer to go after larger prey would swear that they’re only good
for bait that they “might” buy in a bait shop. All of them are worthy
of drift-fishing and all of them will battle to the end whether that means a
release or a good fish fry. These species of fish satisfy the need of the outdoorsman
wanting to get fish on the hook.
As a general rule of thumb it’s best to match offerings with the size
of each species of fish, that is to say, fishing with as number 2/0 spinner
will scare the life out of a two pound fish. Get to know what you want to fish
for and the proper gear to use and these fish will keep any angler happy from
sunup to sundown. When holding trout become skittish enough not to bite just
change lures, corkies, baits, and flies and they’ll start biting again
immediately.
If you’re ever in the field without a regulation handbook and you don’t
know if the fish in your hand is a trout or salmon simply count the rays on
the anal fin. With the exception of an Atlantic salmon, trout have between ten
and twelve rays making it easily identifiable.
© Timothy Kusherets 2004/10
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