In this video, Nick Nault breaks down everything you need to know to take advantage of this incredible bite, trolling boards for super-sized brown trout.
Trolling for Spring Brown Trout (FULL Breakdown)
The winter brown trout bite in the harbors has garnered a lot of popularity in recent years, but don’t sleep on the springtime bite shortly afterwards.
The key to finding these trout during spring is to find warm water.
Warm water is going to attract baitfish and in return the trout follow. Usually in spring the warmest water is going to be shallow. Look for shallow flats near creek mouths or river mouths and near warm water discharges like power plants.
Generally you’ll be fishing in less than ten feet of water.
Gear
The gear for springtime browns is pretty simple. Trolling rods, line counter reels, planer boards and a few stickbaits and you’re good to go.
The St. Croix Eyecon Trolling Rod in a 8’6″ medium power moderate action is perfect for these big brown trout. Designed for trolling it’s long blank loads up well and handles both planer boards and big fish.
Pair that with a Daiwa Lexa Line Counter reel spooled with some ten pound Sufix Advance mono and you’ll be ready to go.
We prefer to run monofilament because it has enough stretch to keep these big browns on the line and in my experience it has worked better than braid in shallow water.
Another important piece of equipment when trolling for spring trout is planer boards. Planer boards allow you to spread your baits out and cover a lot of water.
Choosing baits is very simple. Start by putting out a variety of spoons, stickbaits, and crankbaits. All of those baits will all work when trolling for spring trout.
Switch and mix up body styles, depth range and colors until you find what the fish are keying in on that particular day.