Trout rigs: three setups that cover stocked lakes, ponds and streams

The three rigs

Trout rigging is not complicated, and the reason it feels complicated is that lake trout fishing and stream trout fishing want almost opposite things. Here is the whole field.

1. The sliding sinker rig with floating dough

This is the rig that catches most stocked trout in North America, and the thing that makes it work is that the bait floats and the weight does not.

Egg sinker on the mainline, bead, barrel swivel, then 18 to 36 in of light leader to a small hook with a pinch of dough bait on it. The sinker holds position on the bottom; the dough lifts the hook up off it, into water a trout is actually looking at.

The leader sets the height. 18 in in a weedy pond, 36 in over clean bottom in a clear lake. That is the adjustment that changes your day, and almost nobody makes it. If you are getting bites you cannot hook, shorten it.

Berkley publishes its PowerBait Trout Dough assortment as four jars totaling 7.2 oz, on the PowerBait scent-and-flavor formula, in a moldable dough, with the published claim that it “helps fish hold longer after the strike.” Berkley does not publish a buoyancy figure for this assortment, which matters: if your dough sinks, the rig does not work and you need a small float on the leader instead.

Hooks. Size 8 to 12, and a baitholder shank helps dough stay on. Eagle Claw publishes its 139H snelled baitholder in high carbon steel with a bronze finish, six to a pack, with barbs on the shank to hold bait. Eagle Claw does not publish a snell length or a line rating for it, so if you fish light line, check the snell before you trust it.

Weight: 1/8 to 1/2 oz. Enough to cast and hold, no more. Our sinkers page covers the shapes, and egg sinkers in an assortment is the cheapest way to own every size you need.

2. The slip float rig, for moving water and shorelines

A slip float does one thing no other trout rig does: it holds a bait at a chosen depth while the current carries it downstream at the speed of the water.

Bobber stop, bead, slip float, one or two split shot, hook. Thill publishes its Pro Series slip floats at 7/8 in (PS120) and 1 in (PS125) on balsa, with a brass grommet through the body — the grommet is what lets the line run freely instead of catching.

For a stream, set the stop so the bait rides 6 to 12 in off the bottom and let it drift through the run. For a lake shoreline, set it to the depth you think fish are holding and let the wind push it. Our bobbers and floats page covers slip float mechanics; the short version is that a fixed bobber cannot fish deeper than your rod is long and a slip float can.

Bait: a worm, a salmon egg, a small piece of dough, or a single waxworm. On a stream, a worm drifted at the right depth outfishes most hardware.

A small net matters more than people expect with light line and a size 10 hook. Frabill publishes its Teardrop Floating Trout Net at 13 × 18 in, which is the right size for stocked fish.

3. The spinner, for covering water

Not a rig in the terminal-tackle sense: a spinner or a small spoon tied straight to the line, or to a short leader behind a swivel.

The case for it is that bait rigs wait for trout to find you and a spinner goes looking. In a creek, a pond or a shoreline you can walk, that is usually the faster way to find fish.

Acme publishes its Kastmaster from 1/8 oz at 2 in up to 1 oz at 3 5/8 in, machined from solid brass — the 1/8 and 1/4 oz sizes are the trout sizes, and the solid body is why it casts a long way for its size. Our trout lures page covers the spinners and spoons, and inline spinners page covers the category.

Use a swivel. An inline spinner puts twist into light line faster than anything else you can tie on, and twisted line is the real cause of most “bad casts” on light tackle. Our line twist page works through it.

Line, and the one place trout fishing is fussy

Light. 4 to 6 lb mainline, and a leader a step below that if the water is clear.

Berkley publishes Trilene XL at 0.009 in for 6 lb, which is thin enough for stocked trout and limp enough not to fight a 1/8 oz spinner. For the leader, fluorocarbon: Seaguar publishes InvizX at 0.009 in for 8 lb and it is genuinely less visible in clear water. Our spinning reel line page covers the capacity side.

The rod is a 6 to 7 ft light or ultralight. Our trout rods page and complete trout setup cover the whole outfit, and our creek setup is the one where a shorter rod wins.

Where these rigs are the wrong answer

Wild stream trout in clear low water. These are bait rigs for stocked fish. Wild browns in a small clear stream are a different problem and a fly rod or a very small spinner fished upstream is the honest answer. Our fly fishing gear page is the start of that.

Anywhere bait is prohibited. Plenty of trout water is artificial-lure or fly-only, and some is barbless. Check the regulation for the specific stretch, not the state — these rules are set water by water.

If you intend to release. Dough bait on a small hook gets taken deep. If release matters, fish a spinner with the trebles pinched, or a single hook. Our catch and release page covers the rest.

What we have not told you

Every spec on this page is a manufacturer’s published figure, linked below. The hook sizes, leader lengths and weights are the standard ranges this tackle is sold against, not test results, and we are explicit where a maker does not publish something — Eagle Claw publishes no snell length or line rating, and Berkley publishes no buoyancy figure for the trout dough assortment. Both of those are things you would want to know, and neither is available to quote.