My Spin Fishing Boxes

Small Stream Trout Fishing 101

Written by : Len Harris
Photos by: Len Harris

It is mid January and Wisconsin small stream trout fishing has been closed since September 30th.
Season has been closed for almost 4 months. You are feeling the need to have a large Southwestern
Wisconsin trout on the end of your line. Because season is closed, the only things you can do is read
about trout fishing and clean your gear and stock up for the upcoming season.

New line is a must for the beginning of the season. My favorites are 6 and 8 pound test Trilene in clear.
My favorite superline is Fireline in smoke color in 6 and 8 pound test (use mono backing for Fireline). A close
examination of your rod eyes and your bail guide are a must when using Fireline. Fireline may cut grooves
in your ceramic guides. Many reel and rod companies have metal guides that work perfectly. Don't cut
tags too short with Fireline or you might lose your lure on a hard set.

I separate my boxes. One is the stick bait box and the other is the spinners and other box. The below
tackle boxes are exactly what I have in my boxes and are tried and true for (BIG) trout in small streams
in Wisconsin.

( Must have snap swivels on stick baits.) You lose lots of the action if you tie
directly to the line)

Stick Bait Box:

Rapalas:
a. Countdowns in size 5 and 7and 9 in gold or silver or blue or brown trout
b. Floaters in size 5 and 7 in silver or gold or shiner or brown trout
c. Husky Jerks in size 7 in silver or gold or blue

ALL Rapalas should be fished with varied retrieves. Start and stop sometimes. The stop and twitch
is a effective also.

Yo-Zuri
1. Suspended Crystal Minnow in size 3 5/8s inches in gold/black or blue/silver

Simple retrieve with with a pause now and then.

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Inline spinners do not need swivels. Change lures or sharpen hooks often.

Mepps Products:
1. Deep Runner Plain Treble in size 1 in ALL colors.
Heavy lures (use in deep water)

2. XD Plain Treble:
a. size 2s in silver-silver and gold-red-platinum (brown trout)
b. size 1 in gold-hot-orange and silver-hot-pink (brook trout)

3. Mr. Twister (owned by Mepps)
Mr. Minno in the 3 smallest sizes in ALL colors
(place on varied sizes of jig heads and aggressively jigged)

Other:

Bitzer Creek
1. Zip Lure in smallest Size in gold or silver.

This lure NEEDS a swivel. It throbs when fished properly. A deep water Big Trout slayer.

Little Cleos
1. smallest size spoon in silver or gold
2. second smallest spoon in sliver or gold or silver-blue

A swivel is a must. You can jig these spoons or retrieve in varied manners.

Panther Martin has a huge selection of spinners on its website. Many can not be found in typical stores.

Panther Martin
a. Regular silver or gold undressed treble in size 6 (browns and brooks)
b. Deluxe in size 6 or 9 a variety of colors in gold or silver or silver-blue-red (brown trout)
c. PMF gold in gold-orange dressed in size 4 and 2 (brook trout)
d. PMAS in All silver undressed treble in size 4 and 6 (browns and brooks)
e. PMBRT Brown trout undressed treble in size 6 (browns)
f. PMRFL Florescent undressed treble in size 2 or 4 (brook trout)

Both Mepps and Panther Martin have significant price reductions on lures bought in quantity.
http://www.mepps.com and http://www.panthermartin.com are their internet sites.

All spinners should have their retrieves alternated. A slow twitch and pause works well. Lots of hits are
on the first crank of the handle. Remember in cold weather to slow down that retrieve and target deep wintering holes with little current. Do not give up on casts. Bring to your feet and slow up even more as the lure comes from deep to shallow. ALL lures in this article run slowly in cold water. There are many other lures that I use during regular season when the trout are more aggressive.

Wisconsin season opens the first weekend of March. Make sure your waders have no leaks and you wear long underwear and
wool socks under your waders. A good cap with ear flaps and fingerless gloves are are a MUST this time of year.
A new product I use in ALL the time in climate weather is called Hot Hands. I put a couple in each pants pocket and one in each of my gloves on the back side of the hand. When fishing really cold conditions I put a couple in my cap and one inside of my long underwear on each side at the top of my wading boots http://www.heatmax.com Stay warm and dry. Catch lots of trout.