How to catch Brook trout

Brook trout feed in 34–66°F water and bite best at 46–60°F. Fish Scouter's season calendar follows them in 30 waters; in October they are at their peak in Georgia fresh water, North Carolina fresh water, Tennessee fresh water and 27 more.

15 pts · trophy at 14"Feeds 34–66°FBest 46–60°FIn season nowCreek / streamRiverPond / pitLakeSpring

About

The brookie: the native char of the Appalachians and the North Woods, olive-wormed, red-spotted and orange-bellied, in the coldest, cleanest headwaters there are. Maine is its stronghold; out West it's an introduced high-lake fish.

How to fish it

Sneak up on the plunge pools of a mountain creek; short casts with a small dry fly or a tiny spinner. On the ponds, ice-out and the evening rise.

What it eats

small dry fliessmall spinnersnymphsworms

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.

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