What Is Good Bait for Trout: A Beginner’s Guide

Trout is one of the most popular fish for gaming or fun fishing.

It's a delicious type of fish and puts up quite a fight, offering both a challenge and taste to anglers.

Catching a trout, though, depends if you know enough about the fish.

As such, before you go out fishing, you need to know what is good bait for trout by finding out what this fish feeds on.

Simply put, in addition to other quality equipment like fishing rods, you also need the right bait to catch trout.

What Is Good Bait for Trout?

Trout is a very aggressive predator fish, so it munches on almost everything it finds to eat.

Its food ranges from bugs, minnows, crickets, other fish eggs, and more; a big trout feeds on smaller trout fish as well.

Thus, when choosing the appropriate bait, you have to select based on its natural habitat and whether or not you'll use live or dead bait.

I. According to Trout Species

A trout is most likely to feed on the things they find in routine.

Thus, you can choose the bait according to the place you plan on fishing at.

1. Farm-Fed Trout

When it comes to farm-fed trout, you can be sure they would only identify the items fed to them by the owners as food.

You cannot expect a farm-fed trout to identify minnows or other similar things as food.

In stocked ponds, owners feed their fish to cover for the insufficient supply of natural food from the ecosystem.

Also, since these fish are fed at specific times, they won't try any new items, so find out about their food and lure them in by using it as bait.

2. Wild Trout

As discussed earlier, trout is an aggressive predator fish. 

Anything mobile, shiny, or smells like food can prompt their predacious instincts, so you can simply choose between live and artificial bait.

That kind of nature makes it fun to go trout catching.

II. According to the Type of Bait

When it comes to the type of bait, you can choose from a variety of options, from live baits to dead or artificial baits.

Likewise, each type comes with different varieties that you can choose from or mix and match.

1. Live Baits

Trout has outstanding eyesight; it can focus its eyes in various directions at the same time.

Such a characteristic helps the fish detect the slightest movement in the water.

You can use this characteristic in your favor by using bait that moves; thus, drawing the trout’s attention.

Additionally, when the water is muddy and high, trout is most likely unable to see various other lures and flies; natural or live baits lure them in through their odor.

a. Worms

Worms, such as red wigglers, nightcrawlers, and garden hackle, are a preferred option for many anglers since they are easily available, cheap, and comparatively stress-free to store.

Another plus point is they stay longer on the hook and remain alive comparatively longer underwater.

They move around, twist and wiggle, and this movement doesn’t go unnoticed by any trout nearby and is often enough to catch attention.

However, these night crawlers or any other worm for that matter doesn’t leave a distinct odor.

• How to Use

You can pierce the worm on a bait holder hook.

It should not cover the whole hook; leave some of it hanging down outside of the hook.

That would allow the worm some movement in the water. 

You can also choose to use two or three worms on the hook simultaneously for extra movement.

b. Minnows

Minnows are among the most favorite foods for trout.

These are tiny fish that stay petite during their life.

You can find them in packs by the shoreline in shallow bodies of water.

Catching them is pretty simple with a small hook holding a piece of bread, or you can easily buy them from almost any fishing shop.

Minnows attract trout’s attention as they are shiny and eye-catching.

You can even hook trophy-sized trout, with this live bait!

Although these are great bait, their storage and movement from one place to another can be troublesome.

You have to carry them in a container filled with water to keep them alive, which can restrict your mobility to different places.

• How to Use

You can put a single hook, bottom-up through the fish’ mouth to allow the minnow to swim and move; thus, luring in trout.

c. Insects

You can use many insects such as grasshoppers or crickets as bait.

They are exceptional in luring trout both above and below the water surface.

• How to Use

Take a thin wire hook and use it to secure the insect behind its head, while pushing the hook’s point through the abdomen of the insect.

Using the insects on the surface of the water is the most effective way to lure trout.

It is also best to use a light line since when you move the line, it will cause water ripples and attract the trout’s attention.

d. Salmon Eggs

Wild trout devour salmon eggs like anything since these eggs are shiny, colorful, and protein-rich.

That is why trout often attack the place where salmon is spawning.

You can easily purchase them from different fisher shops or bait shops.

Salmon eggs are cheap and come in jars, so they're easy to store.

They also come in numerous colors, including their natural color, red, yellow, orange, pink as well as various fluorescent hues.

Usually, they treat the eggs with a briny solution or with different ingredients such as anise or garlic to attract the trout more.

• How to Use

You can apply egg-loop knots to keep the eggs on your hook.

It also helps in using it for various casts.

e. Bugs and Larvae

You can find bugs and grubs underwater beneath the rocks in clear, cool streams.

Some examples of these bugs and larvae are Caddis fly, Hellgrammites, Mayfly, and Stonefly.

Apart from their good population, storing them is easy too; all you need is a jar, add some damp shrubbery along with these grubs and bugs in it, and you are good to go.

Most of them are tough baits that stay on the hook for quite a long time, which enables you to catch more than one trout by using a single bait.

2. Dead or Artificial Baits for Trout

If you don't prefer to use live baits, you can use dead or artificial baits. Some of the best ones include:

a. Berkley PowerBait

The Berkley PowerBait is one of the widely known dead baits, which is ideal for trout fishing.

It is available in numerous colors and has a powerful scent to lure in trout.

It is flowing bait, but you can weigh it down with something to use at the bottom of the water source.

Another popular and effective use of Berkley PowerBait is using it along with a worm.

When you put these two together on a hook, you get color, movement, and odor all at once.

That visibly increases the chance of luring in trout.

b. Other Popular Artificial Baits

The following artificial bait options have promising results:

• Rebel Wee-Craw
• Lindy Fuzz-E Grub
• Rebel Tracdown Minnow
• Luhr-Jensen Hus Lure
• Blue Fox Vibrax
• Mr. Twister Micro Crawfish
• PowerBait Trout or Steelhead Egg Clusters
• Crank Baits
• Z-Man Chatterbait Flashback Mini
• Mr. Twister Twister Mite
• Rapala Jointed Minnow
• Gulp! Trout Nuggets
• Panther-Martin Teardrop Spinner
• Strike King Rocket Shad
• BioBait Go Tube
• Mepps Little Wolf
• Mepps Comet Mino
• Rapala Countdown
• Strike King Bitsy Minnow
• Smithwick Rattlin' Rogue
• Berkley Gulp! Trout Worm 

Wrap Up

Trout is a type of fish with predatory nature and is most likely to react to various things, allowing you to have fun catching it in countless situations.

So, what is good bait for trout? 

It completely depends on the location you choose to fish trout.

When you are fishing for a farm-fed trout, use their regular food as bait.

Whenever you are fishing deep in the water, worms, minnows, and various artificial baits are ideal, whereas salmon eggs are an excellent choice for shallow water near the shore.