LURE FISHING

Lure fishing is far more hands on and gives you the ability to cover a lot more water. The general rule is to use lures that are natural colours, ie. green, brown, olive and yellow are very popular. Many fishers use lures that closely resemble trout themselves and are proven catchers, along with patterns that resemble resident bait and crustacean species. Standard bream combos are perfect for trout spinning, with braided line and light leaders proving to be the popular choice.

Lures in the size range of 2 to 5cm is usually all that is needed, the easiest lures are small floating hard bodies. Make short searching casts across and up current and wind fast enough that the lures swims with a wobble. However, its best to change your retrieve every now and then, speed up or slow down till you find what works best.

For streams and rivers, a smaller lure is generally better but for dams and lakes, a larger lure can often be used so that you can cast it further and cover more ground. Another favourite for lakes and dams are bladed spinners. These are made of metal and allow you to make long casts. While they might look odd to many anglers, they are very effective when the right retrieve and or colour combination is found.

If fishing in a dam or lake, the best approach is to keep moving around the bank casting and retrieving. The theory is that eventually you will cover enough ground to come across a fish. It also helps to concentrate your efforts on areas that may hold more fish than just open plain banks of dirt. Places worth putting in extra casts are, areas of rock, points or headlands, areas with lots of weed, places where rivers or streams flow into the waterbody as well as banks with deeper water close to shore and submerged riverbeds.

If you fish hard bodied lures, it is also a good idea to vary the retrieve often, fast, slow twitchy, steady and so on. You can never vary your retrieve too much. Eventually you will find something that gets the trouts attention and gets results.

Soft plastics are pretty much the same deal, soft plastics fished on a lead head jig are very versatile as you will be able to fish, shallow, deep and everything in between, obviously in areas of heavy timber or rocks you might get a few snags, so keep an eye on what is happening in the water and vary your retrieve depth accordingly.

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