Trout Fishing Secrets

To be a great trout fisherman, you must be able to think like a trout. Understanding how trout think, what scares them, what motivates them, when they feed, and where they swim is necessary if you want to catch lots of trout consistently. If you're new to trout fishing or semi-experienced, you'll immediately improve your chances of catching trout each time you go fishing after reading this article. Whether you use spinners, live bait, or flies, this article will increase your ability to catch trout dramatically.

Understanding trout behavior and the trout's habitat is essential. Trout are clever creatures, especially the big ones, which have managed to avoid predators long enough to get big. By understanding the trout and how it reacts to its environment, you can outwit a trout and thereby increase your chances of catching it.

Before you learn about how a trout thinks, you must first learn about its physical characteristics, its senses. Like humans, trout have five senses: sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste. Some fishermen say that trout actually have an additional sixth sense which alerts them when a fisherman approaches.

Let's first look at a trout's sense of sight. Trout have both monocular and binocular vision. Monocular vision means that trout can use their eyes independently of each other to see in two directions at once, which helps them to avoid predators and to locate food. They use their binocular vision once they have spotted food to zero in on it.

Trout also have the ability to see what's above the surface of the water. What trout see, however, is affected by the refracting quality of light. Which is to say, light bends when it enters the water. So trout are not able to see 180 degrees of the land above the water. Imagine a trout in the middle of a river or stream. If you were to draw a funnel or upside down pyramid streching from the trout outward, you would notice that the trout is unable to see what is LOW on the shore next to the bank of the stream. There is a 10 degree blind spot in a trout's vision on either side of the river or stream!

You must take advantage of this key point if you want to increase your odds of catching more trout. Stay low to the ground when approaching the river or stream. Crouch down and hide behind boulders and large trees. Stalk the trout as you would any wild animal you were hunting. STAY LOW. Use tall grass and large boulders for cover. Stay hidden. Avoid detection.

Another key point: Trout have an astounding range of vision. Because of their monocular vision, they can see a full 320 degrees around them, as compared to a human whose range of vision is only 180 degrees at best. But trout do have a blind spot! They cannot see behind them. Therefore, it is important to ambush trout from the rear. Trout swim with their head facing against the current of the water. So you should always fish a river or stream while traveling against the current. That way you will always be behind the trout where it cannot see you.

A final key point about trout vision: Anglers often ask, "Can trout see in color?" The answer is most definitely YES! So if you wear colors that stand out against the background foliage like red, orange, and yellow, you have a greater chance of being detected. Therefore, it's important that you wear dark blue and green when trout fishing to improve your chances of remaining hidden from your prey.

Now let's examine a trout's sense of hearing.

A trout has no 'visible' external ear, but it does have an internal ear. Trout also have a neural transmitter than runs the length of their body which enables them to detect sound and vibration. Additionally, it's important to note that sound is amplified under water. To catch more trout you need to take sound into consideration.

You must avoid snapping twigs and kicking stones while walking on the shoreline. When wading in the water, be extra careful not to kick, jostle, or dislodge any stones that would scare the fish. Remember, sounds occur much louder under water than they do to our ears.

Let's make an analogy to see how sound might affect a trout's sensibilities. Imagine what it would be like if you were just sitting down for dinner and you heard a few gun shots just outside your door. Would you feel like sitting down to enjoy your meal? No, you would be nervous, agitated, and anxious about what would happen next. You would suddenly be on guard and would probably lose your appetite. When you sit down to eat, you want to be relaxed. So does a trout. It's important not to make any sound which will spook the fish, especially in a quiet pastoral environment.

About a trout's sense of smell and taste.

Trout have an uncanny sense of smell and a sophisticated pallete which it uses with astonishing effectiveness to dicriminate between predator or prey. Each nostril of a trout is covered with more than 400,000 odor sensing cells! To quote Nick Anikijenko, trout fisherman extraordinaire, "Amazingly, a trout's sense of smell and taste is so incredibly sharp that it is believed they have the ability to determine the type of animal that traveled through the water, how long ago the animal was present, and the direction in which the animal traveled."

The difference between knowing and not knowing this single fact about a trout's sense of smell and taste quite literally can mean the difference between success and failure for trout fishermen. If you unwittingly apply insect repellent or sunscreen to your body and then use your polluted hands to attach a spinner or hook to your line, you will alert trout to the presence of a predator and will most likely scare away the fish! The same goes for nicotine stained fingers and any petroleum based products. You absolutely must clean your hands and then rub some dirt or mud or charcoal on your hands to eliminate any natural skin oils or unfavorable human smells before handling your bait, hook, line, or sinkers.