Trout fishing is a favorite activity for many anglers.
There's something that's literally spiritual about standing in the flowing water of a river or stream, and attempting to catch a trout.
I've never been able to figure out whether it's the flowing water, the trout, or just nature itself that conjures up these feelings, but the point is that trout fishing does, at least for me.
To me, trout fishing is much more that just tying on a hook, slapping on a worm, and calling it "trout fishing".
It's also much more than tying on a rooster tail and tossing it around.
To me, trout fishing is much more of a process, a system if you will.
This article is about a few trout fishing tips that will make you much more successful trout angler.
Especially when it comes to fishing for these beautiful fish in the flowing waters of both rivers and streams.
The first tip is to use live bait for trout fishing.
I know many anglers like waving feathers in the air, but twenty years ago my fishing mentor taught me some live bait tips and tricks that I still use to this day.
My fishing mentor was the best trout angler that I've ever seen.
His walls were full of flat out trophy trout all caught from central Pennsylvania Rivers and streams that thousands of other anglers fished in as well.
But no other angler ever had the success fishing for trophy trout that my mentor had, he was the best river and stream angler that I've ever seen.
When I use the term 'live bait', I'm referring mainly to live worms, because live worms were my mentors' favorite bait.
But keep in mind that other live baits work for trout fishing as well, including live crayfish, which my mentor always said was the best trophy trout bait.
When using live bait, and especially live worms, for trout fishing gang hooks should be employed.
What are gang hooks?Gang hooks are simply a pair of small hooks (usually size 6, 8, or 10) that are tied in tandem, thus enabling the angler to present live worms in a totally natural manner.
With gang hooks live worms are presented outstretched, the way God intended, rather than being "threaded" onto a single hook like some sort of worm ball.
Gang hooks are attached to your line using a small barrel swivel and weighted down with split shot sinkers.
When a rig such as this is allowed to drift naturally with the current, as it bounces along the bottom, I the rig id deadly for trout fishing.
This is the exact rig that my fishing mentor taught me twenty years ago, and I'm teaching you know.
The second trout fishing tip that will make you more successful is to be as efficient as possible.
This means that when you're trout fishing, you want to spend as much time as possible with your line in the water, rater than searching for things like your container of worms.
That's why my mentor created his own bait bag.
What's a bait bag?A bait bag is simply a little bag that hangs off of your fishing vest and holds your live worms while you fish.
This way your live worms are always literally "at your fingertips", rather than being in your vest somewhere.
A bait bag is also nice for keeping live worms lively in hot weather.
Simply remove the bag from your vest and dip it in the water to cool off your worms and keep them lively.
These simple trout fishing tips were taught to me by my fishing mentor twenty years ago and have been helping me catch more and bigger trout ever since.
Begin using these tips and the same thing will happen to you.
Never forget what Steven Wright said of us anglers, "There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore, looking like an idiot.
" The tips in this article will help you avoid the 'looking like an idiot' part of that wonderfully true quote.