Fished Baffin Saturday and Sunday with a couple friends of mine, caught probably about 30 trout in various sizes while specifically targeting where the big girls live. Yes, small trout do swim where big trout do, but big trout don't always swim where little trout swim. In areas where big trout inhabit, the big trout will many times eat small trout. We did manage 2 big trout within the 30. One of those trout had a huge mullet tail sticking out her tonsils, she went 9 1/4 lbs and was caught by my friend Roland Altinger. The only downside of the trip was that my other buddy didn't catch a big trout. We're going to have to go back I guess. Both of the areas we fished are kayak accessible in Baffin. We caught fish on TroutSupport TSL - Grass walkers (Pink, Roach, Houdini), floating fatboys in Texas Chicken and Pearl, and on SoftDine XLs in a gold base. Water color this weekend was ok although I tend not to let that bother me, I've caught many of my trout and redfish in water that had less than an inch of visibility. Caught the fish in areas of shallow mud and grass with the tide just a little low.. Sunday tide was even lower and we didn't catch any big fish although we still caught some keepers. The big fish will move in and out of areas based on tide height.. want to catch a big trout? target their specific habitat on average to higher tides in shallow mud and grass (structure).
The bait you use will be dictated mostly by the environment you are fishing in.. some areas like this it's hard to fish a jighead due to the moss and grass so you're better options are slow sinking baits and weedless baits (and topwaters when the water temp is closer to 70 or above; yes they will hit a top below that number too). I talked to several guys this weekend that want to learn how to catch big trout but are not fishing the right habitats for them.. they are focusing only on one or two of the parameters they need to figure out like grass, mud, and potholes and missing a lot of the specifics they need to make it happen. Many anglers fish areas just to get bit and hope there is a big girl there by chance and that can certainly happen but it's low odds. We are fishing specific areas where big trout live and there is bait present and usually acting certain ways that you can learn to read. We're not getting hung up on if we don't catch anything in these areas because we might only catch 1-3 fish in one of these areas. We're not targeting where numbers are, although we'll catch several small trout we're just not worried about it.
There are some areas that have big trout that don't have any grass at all as well (no oyster or rocks either, just mud). If you want to know the specifics and you don't already have the the TroutSupport.com Big Trout DVD https://troutsupport.com/, consider getting it... there's still time.. in fact the biggest fish will be caught over the next couple weeks and then many more big fish will be caught in these areas all the way until about June. Even still a few or more will be caught between June and Dec as well, but you have to know what to look for and understand it. I see a lot of frustrated anglers out there fishing and hoping instead of fishing where they need to focus. Invest in what you love and let me help you elevate your game I'm always available for questions too.. just want to see you guys catch some fish (and not just small ones either). Good luck guys. Cheers!
Still Big Trout Time - fishing specific areas for big trout
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Re: Still Big Trout Time - fishing specific areas for big trout
awesome report. Thanks!
Re: Still Big Trout Time - fishing specific areas for big trout
Thanks Tobin, good report and good info as always!
- kickingback
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Re: Still Big Trout Time - fishing specific areas for big trout
Very nice Tobin! Thanks for a great report!
I was out last night and saw tiny menhaden in the lights and I switched from 3" paddle tails to 2" paddle tails and was slaying them! Match the hatch!
I was out last night and saw tiny menhaden in the lights and I switched from 3" paddle tails to 2" paddle tails and was slaying them! Match the hatch!
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Re: Still Big Trout Time - fishing specific areas for big trout
Good job Charlie!!!
Windy this weekend, ya'll be careful.
Windy this weekend, ya'll be careful.
- troutslinger
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Re: Still Big Trout Time - fishing specific areas for big trout
Nice Tobin I should've taken you up on that offer.
Re: Still Big Trout Time - fishing specific areas for big trout
Pity the fool that can't catch them big girls
Nice report, Tobin
Nice report, Tobin
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Re: Still Big Trout Time - fishing specific areas for big trout
my god that trout in the middle pic is a beast