Summer trout trilogy.

Spring is the greatest indicator that the brown trout season is on the way. Over the next few weeks I will follow my mates to countless lakes in search of that perfect browny. Our the next few weeks you have the opportunity to learn simple tips about the major forms of trout tips.

Skot

Result!

Both rainbow and browns love Sølvkroken.

The best of the sølvkrokens range.

Møre silde is one of the all time best lures. The trick is to use the 6 to 10 gram models.

This leads to the greatest discussion among our crew during the summer months. For me without question any fish over the magic kilo mark is an absolute winner but I have a mate, which I fish with almost every Sunday. His entire fishing world is built around small lake trout. It is seldom his lands anything over 500 grams. Yet he seems to takes such pleasure from using his tinny three-weight fly rod that it is contagious. I have found myself on several occasions engaged in artful pursuit of light fly-fishing.

Yet this first installment of my summer trout trilogy is focused on the (what I think) easiest way to learn how to fish a lake. Norway is the land of a million lakes. Just in my hometown I’ve yet to fish all the lakes around me. The important point of starting your brown trout adventures is to choose your equipment with much care. It’s no point buying junk but you need not spend a fortune either. Here is a list of pointers to help you choose you gear.

Rods: I recommends for trout fishing with lures and bait are essentially the same. An ideal rod would be between 6'6" to 7'6" and rated for 1-3 kilo fish. Don't buy something that is really stiff or has a heavy tip because you don't need that for trout fishing and you wind up losing fish because the hook tears out. I sometimes bring a little 5' ultralite for fishing small lakes with 4 grams lures, but super light rods like this are pretty much useless in bigger lakes. Vangen have a model called “green afford”(six and a half foot) which is fantastic value for money.

Reels: For reels I would definitely go with Shimano. Their Shimano. Nexave and Catana reels are both well priced and have high retrieve ratios and smooth drags (which is the most important factor). Try to force yourself to buy the smallest of these models. It is one of the few times in your life that small is best. Most of these models come with two spools, so you can fish two different line strengths

Line: This s is often the neglected part of every one’s kit but it is the most important element. I strongly recommend that you DO NOT buy cheap line you day will be spent working on knots and not fishing. Rapalar has a fantastic monophilament range. As for the constant argument about braided line or nylon that is something you need to choose I have tried both and they each have their advantages and disadvantages. Take note if you choose to use braided line you must always attach a leader of monophilament line. This should be no less than 50 cm long.

Lures. Once you have found your lake you enter the mind field of what lure to choose. Today’s market is flooded with allsorts of crap so take note to look for quality. Hook strength and finish. Two models that have always worked well here are Elbe’s range of “Møre-silda” or “Sølve krokens” range of “specials”.

How to fish a lake

You can split lure fishing in lakes into two classes, Small and big lakes. When fishing smaller lakes it is important to find the deeper water. The easiest way to do this is to fish from points of land that project into the lake this will help you reach the deeper water and reduce the amount lures you will lose to the weed beds.

The biggest mistake anglers make when fishing lures is to retrieve them to fast and thus drag the lure to high in the water. Watch the action of you lure as it comes into sight and then wind that little bit slower
Trust me it will increase the number of fish you catch!

Big Lakes: In big lakes you are going to want to fish larger prey and this is not just a test for your equipment but also a test of your abilities to read a lake. I'd concentrate on the headwaters, the dam wall or any major points especially if they get some wind to stir up the underwater feed for the trout. Make long casts and mix up the retrieve until you find what's working. You'll find with the Møre-silda that sometimes the fish want a slow steady retrieve, while other times they want a twitch, twitch, twitch retrieve. In other words you have everything you need to start a long passion, trout fishing.