Match Minnows for Winter Trout

You’ll get a few funny looks from other trout fishermen. That’s OK, though. Far more important are the looks you get from trout – especially those looks that lead to strikes and landed fish!

Minnow-style hard baits, like Rebel Tracdown Minnows, look a little on the gaudy side for a type of angling that’s often associated with flies, small inline spinners and micro jigs. Trout don’t know the stereotypes, though. They only know when something looks like dinner, and often a minnow bait fits that bill.

We’ll examine why winter tends to be an especially good time to fish a minnow lure for trout and how to do so for the best results.

Minnow baits work well for trout throughout the year and often appeal to larger fish. I seldom spend an entire day in a trout stream without trying a Rebel Tracdown Ghost Minnow or another minnow imitation. That said, these baits become extra good choices through the cold months for a few main reasons.

It starts with matching the trout’s winter diet and available forage. Aquatic insects mostly stay tight to the bottom in larval form, crawfish and salamanders are generally inactive, and no grasshoppers, ants or other terrestrial insects are falling into streams. That makes sculpins, darters, shiner and other fish species – even young trout – extra important as forage items.

Winter typically also ushers in stream conditions that lend themselves to using larger offerings like minnow baits. The normal procession of winter fronts delivers repeated rain and snow events, and autumn’s low, clear stream conditions get replaced by much pushier flows, often with more color in the water. That puts the fish in ambush mode, where they feed more opportunistically, and larger offerings get their attention and are easier to present in key zones.

Colder water temperatures also tend to keep trout lower in the water column, and the fish do less chasing of would-be meals. Many of the most effective minnow baits suspend or sink slowly, allowing you to work close to the bottom and to slow presentations, even adding pauses to coax attacks.

Minnow baits, commonly called jerkbaits in bass fishing circles, are slender, elongated crankbait-style lures. They wiggle and dive when reeled steadily and dart more erratically when jerked. The best ones for trout are in the 2- to 5-inch range, with baits at the large end of that range best suited for fishing tailwaters and other large trout waters and for targeting larger trout.

Some minnow lures float back to the surface when not in motion. Others are weighted to suspend or sink slowly. Suspenders and sinkers work best for winter trout, with suspending baits allowing you to slow way down and keep the bait hanging in key zone and sinkers allowing you to work deeper runs effectively.

In terms of colors, two prove producers are rainbow trout and brown trout color patterns. Although large trout do feed on small trout, the effectiveness of these patterns probably has more to do with flashy tones that suggest many types of baitfish than truly matching trout as major forage. As a rule, silvery rainbow trout patterns work best under sunny skies and darker-toned brown trout under cloudy skies. Beyond trout patterns, other chrome- or gold-based colors, and muted brown- and olive-heavy colors work well for trout fishing.

Versatility is one of the great strengths of a suspending or sinking minnow bait. You can work it quicky or slowly, steadily or erratically and in a broad range of conditions. Finding the right rod action and cadence for a day often requires experimentation and observation of how the trout respond. That said, conditions provide clues to steer the starting approach.

Clearer water and lower flows calls for more subtle presentations, including moderate-paced steady reeling, stop and go reeling, and reeling with gentle rod twitches added to punctuate movements. Higher flows or stain suggest the need for more decisive rod snaps, often broken by deliberate pauses. Colder water tends to favor slower presentations, but that doesn’t’ necessarily mean slow reeling. Sometimes long pauses, with the lure suspended or sinking slowly between jerks or reeling spurts, are the key to prompting strikes.

Whatever the specific action, it’s generally important to work the bait low in the water column and to allow current to aid with natural presentations. That means aiming most casts upstream or angling upstream and across. Beyond maximizing potential for baits to get down to the trout, this keeps you behind the trout, which hold facing the current, and out of their field of view. When possible, cast upstream of obstructions so the bait can reach its depth and be working as it passes the obstruction and its eddy. For larger eddies in shoreline cuts, behind downed trees and below drops, cast as far into the eddy as possible.

• Rebel Tracdown Ghost Minnow – Weighted to sink slowly, the Tracdown Ghost Minnow handles current well and is very easy to cast for a 2 1/2-inch, slender lure. The Ghost Minnow’s sleek profile makes it look like an easy meal, and the action ranges from a very tight wiggle when reeled steadily to erratic darting when worked with jerks or twitches.
• Rebel Tracdown Minnow – The Tracdown Minnow is a little less slender than the Tracdown Ghost Minnow and its wobble is a bit wider but its darts less erratic. It is also a slow sinker that handles well in current. It comes in three sizes, and the middle size is the same length as the Tracdown Ghost Minnow, so options exist for going larger or smaller with this minnow.
• Smithwick Suspending Rogue – At 4 1/2 inches, the Suspending Rogue is big trout lure. It’s not too big, though, and is ideal for fishing in tailwaters and other large trout rivers, especially for brown trout. It’s ideal for casting into an eddy or close to cover, twitching a few times and pausing so it suspends in the key zone.
• Lindy Rattl’n Quiver Spoon – Although it’s not a traditional minnow lure, the Lindy Rattling Quiver Spoon has an elongated profile and sends out a lot of flash to imitate a minnow. Its fluttery darts and slow fall rate make it look like an easy meal. The rattle helps trout find the spoon and seems to trigger extra strikes. The Rattl’n Quiver Spoon was designed for ice fishing, but you don’t need to tell that to the trout, and it is an excellent stream lure.