Rainbow Trout Fishing - Drift Fishing Meal Worms

One type of bait that often gets overlooked when you talk about rainbow trout fishing (except of course when it come to ice fishing) are meal worms. These weird looking "worms", that look like a cross between a grub and a small alien, are often used for as bait for rainbow trout under the ice, but once the ice melts are quickly forgotten as anglers opt for more "traditional" types of trout bait.

This is a big mistake as meal worms can be an excellent bait when they are "drift fished" in rivers that contain hungry rainbow trout. One of the best times to use this particular trout bait is during the spring, when river flows are generally high and muddy. This seems to be because when rivers flows are high a lot of interesting food sources get "washed" into the water that wouldn't otherwise be present. Whatever the reason, the bottom line is that drift fishing meal worms is an extremely effective trout fishing technique.

So how does one go about drift fishing with these little creatures to catch rainbow trout? The first thing that is needed is a seven to seven and a half foot ultralight rod with matching reel that is spooled with either two or four pound test fishing line. The long rod will give you plenty of "feel" as your meal worm (s) drift through the current and the light line will be invisible to the trout that you are attempting to catch, which means that you will receive more bites.

You want to rig a single #8 or #10 single fishing hook or a set of double fishing hooks such as gang hooks that are of equal size onto a 12-18 inch leader that is attached to the end of your fishing line using a small swivel. A meal worm is now "threaded" on to the hook (or one 'mealie' on each hook in the case of gang hooks) by starting just below the meal worms head and coming out 1/4 of the way before the end of the meal worms body. Much like you do when you thread a plastic grub onto a jig head, but in this case the live meal worm is the "body". Weight is now added to your line above the barrel swivel to keep your meal worm (s) as close to the bottom as possible as the drift is taking place. When rainbow trout fishing with meal worms you want the bait to be as close to the bottom as possible because this is often where the trout are feeding.

In order to drift fish for rainbow trout successfully, you want to be standing in the river that you are fishing and cast parallel to a little upstream of where you are standing, close the bail of your reel, and hold your rod tip in the air. You want to follow your bait with your rod tip as it drifts until the bait is directly downstream of where you are standing. At this point, reel in and repeat the process.

You should feel your weights "ticking" along the bottom of the river as your meal worm drifts. When a hungry rainbow trout takes the bait, you will know it because a bite feels distinctly different than the bottom. In fact many time hungry rainbow trout will simply engulf your meal worm with a steady tug. In any case, any time that anything "out of the ordinary" happens with your drift, set the hook and it should be "fish on"!
When it comes to rainbow trout fishing, drift fishing with this live bait is a technique that should be a part of every serious spin fisherman's arsenal, there's no doubt about it.

Trevor Kugler is Co-founder of JRWfishing.com and has more than 25 years of fishing experience. He currently raises his seven year old daughter in the heart of trout fishing country....Montana. Check out our blog which is focused completely on trout fishing tips that will help you catch more trout.

Meals on Reels

Tips To Get Superb Equipment To Have Fun With Fishing

With the ongoing popularity of outdoor pursuits, many people are turning to water sports to give them time to relax and get away from it all. One of the most popular by far is catching some wonderful fish specimens which also allow the sportsmen to be rewarded with a meal too! And for this aspect there are some wonderful fishing rods and fishing reels to allow for some great sports to be had.

Of course, angling is one of the oldest sports on record and men everywhere just love to get off on their own to commune with nature. Women too love to fight with those wily creatures and they take the sport very seriously. But making life easier is what the game is all about, and to this end the avid angler will certainly be keen to try out any new innovation on the market.

If it is deep-sea adventures that the angler wants to pursue, there is some great power assisted equipment out there which allows even the weakest of individuals to land a huge catch. Indeed, big game is what most people are after when they go on the ocean and swordfish is probably one of the hardest catches to land. Even sharks will be landed too so it takes some muscle, or some superb equipment, to get this big catch on board.

For those who are regular participants in the sport, they normally pick up odd pieces of equipment here and there along the way. But buying up a set of equipment is probably a good idea since savings are to be made. Suppliers know what the angler needs and usually puts together a really handy bundle to encourage them to buy in job lots.

Over recent years the poles have started to be made in very tough and light graphite material which allows the pole to bend and snap back much more easily than the traditional wooden poles. By buying up a set of pole and winding mechanism, the angler can normally expect to save at least ten per cent on the deal if not more.
Although it used to be that any new angler would learn the tricks of the trade from an older family member, these days people are far more into the 'teach your self how' courses available on the internet. Books with all kinds of tricks and hints are offered in abundance with some being written by world-class sportsmen.

Within these pages the new sportsman can learn all the ways to go after saltwater, freshwater, inshore and offshore varieties of catch depending on which arm of the sport he wants to try out next.

Naturally, flies and lures will play an integral part of any equipment that the angler will gather together and these are all explained in detail in the books and courses. This makes it much easier for them, of course, since at first they will not know which bait will be suitable in any given situation. But once they get the feel for the sport, they never look back!

Connor R. Sullivan purchased a couple of fishing rods online from a reputable outlet for a trip he and his family were taking out west. He also ordered fishing reels online for his fishing he recently purchased.

Meals on Reels

Types of Fishing Reels - Which Should You Choose?

You can tie a piece of line to a pole and catch fish, but it's a really tedious way to go about putting a meal on the table and frankly you're unlikely to end up with too many fish unless you're a Tuna pole fisherman. I'm afraid you'll have to buy a fishing reel one way or the other, as it is one of the most important pieces of fishing tackle.

A reel holds a fair amount of fishing line, and, together with the rod, allows you to cast your lure or bait exactly where you want it to go. It also assists you to fight or "play" the fish. So what sorts of fishing reels are available? Lets take a quick look:

• Spinning Reels - the easiest of all reels to use, with perhaps the exception of the spin casting reel shown below. Spinning reels come in all sizes from ultra light to quite large, large enough to fight oceanic pelagic. A big advantage of spinning reels is that they can cast very light weights, something that other reels can't easily do. Most spinning reels also come with a spare spool so that line weights can be changed at the push of a button or by undoing a knob and replacing the spool. A really good reel for beginners as well as the experienced anglers.
• Casting Reels:
  • Baitcasting Reel - low profile and round available. Bait casting reels are quite tricky to use without practice. Great for very accurate positioning of you lure or bait. Difficult to cast very light weights. Great for heavier line and big fish in amongst snags. The weight of the lure or bait is used to drag the line from the spool, whilst the thumb is used to control the line on a cast. Favored by many expert anglers.
  • Casting or Conventional Reel - not unlike the round bait caster, but normally used for dropping baits or lures from a boat or for trolling. Catch a Marlin with the bigger reels. Can be successfully cast with a longer rod, but without practice you'll end up with bunches of grapes.
• Spin casting Reels - like a spinning reel with a closed face and an eyelet at the front of the reel for the line. Can't see the line on the spool. Small line capacity. Normally a push button enables line release on a cast. Probably easier to use than a spinning reel and often chosen by a young first time angler. Normally mounted on top of the rod. Inexpensive.
• Fly Reels - a specialist reel for use with fly rods. Once the exclusive domain of trout, salmon and steel head anglers, but now used even for saltwater applications. Sometimes considered to be just a storage device for the fly line and backing, but if you latch on to a larger fish you'll be using the reel and its drag system to fight the fish into submission. Center pin and Mooching reels probably fall into the same category as Fly Reels, but they are used quite differently. Get some experience under your belt before you move to these.

There are other sub-categories, but these are the main ones.

HiTackle is a great place to find all of your fishing needs, from fishing rods, reels and lures to fishing apparel and even fishing books and DVDs. It really is a one-stop-shop for the angler.
http://www.hitackle.com

Meals on Reels

Meals on Reels

Meals on Reels

Meals on Reels is my dream come true.  Being a boater for most of my life I have owned many boats of different styles and sizes.  I started out with a 14' sportboat with a 35 horse outboard.  This was used for fishing and water-skiing.    I then bought a tri-hull boat and rebuilt the V-8 engine and did over the seats and carpeting.

After a long tow up to Maine with my buddy Dave, I found I should have rebuilt the transmission too.  It burned up on the maiden voyage.  After a long tow home while putting water into the radiator of the old Dodge Polara several times we finally made it back to CT.  This vessel was traded in on a new 18.5' Sea-Sprite bowrider.  This boat lasted through Rhode Island vacations, lots of skiing on the Connecticut river and even a trip to Block Island.  Next came "Moonlighting" a 24' SunRunner which had all the ameneties a couple needed.  Sue and I had a lot of great times on this boat traveling to Block and Rhode Island with friends.   Tending my own lobster pots and eating lobster at Hamburg Cove were memorable times. After some time off and starting a family I purchased the "Reel Therapy" with my buddy Nick.  We ran that vessel for 3 good years with trips offshore to the canyons for tuna and mahi.  Block Island and the Hamptons were back in the picture.

The Brewers boat yard in Mystic was a great summer hangout.  The latest chapter in my boating story came about after I had a vision while laying in the hospital after getting broadsided in a car crash while on my way to turn in the Pacifica.  My dream of having a boat with better fuel economy,  a smooth ride  room for lots of fishing all and lots of room for fishing came clearer in my mind.  The next day I was with my extended family on a vacation in Mexico.  I remembered the perfect boat from the boat show the previous year.  An e-mail later I found out it was still at the dealers and the boat show was only a week away.  After making a great deal I ended up the owner of a vessel which has won accolades and  is proven in the offshore arena.  

Let's see if she can catch fish!

If you are ready to go fishing or just want to weigh in on whats up on the fishing scene.  Contact me here

Meals on Reels