Photo: Engbretson Eric, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Oncorhynchus mykiss

How to catch Rainbow trout

Rainbow trout feed in 36–70°F water and bite best at 48–62°F. Fish Scouter's season calendar follows them in 47 waters; in October they are at their peak in Alabama fresh water, Georgia fresh water, South Carolina fresh water and 42 more.

15 pts · trophy at 20"Feeds 36–70°FBest 48–62°FIn season nowRiverCreek / streamLakeReservoirPond / pitSpring

About

The trout everybody knows: pink-striped, spotted, jumping, stocked in every cold river, tailwater and city pond in the country and wild in the West and Alaska. The steelhead is the same fish gone to sea or to the Great Lakes.

How to fish it

In rivers, the riffles and the seams below them; a nymph under an indicator or a dry fly in a hatch. In stocked ponds, PowerBait off the bottom. In tailwaters, watch the generation schedule.

What it eats

nymphs and dry fliesinline spinnersPowerBait and wormsegg patterns behind spawning salmon

Live bait for it

NightcrawlersWhole on a #6 to #2 hook under a bobber or on a bottom rig; threaded on a spinner harness drifted for walleye. The bait that catches everything in fresh water.

Salmon eggs (roe)A dime-sized spawn sac tied in mesh, or single eggs on a #10 to #6 egg hook, drifted along the bottom for steelhead, trout and salmon. Check the state's rule — bait is banned on many trout and salmon waters.

Wax wormsOne or two on a tiny ice jig or a #10 hook for bluegill, perch and crappie, under the ice or a float.