Trout fishing - What am I doing wrong?

[paddy93]

Went out to Thompsons Creek Dam this morning nice and early, just after sunrise we were fishing. Worked the left side of the damm. Could see plenty of rainbows, all of them relatively close.... Was using Tassy devils, pinks and gold/brown. Not a single strike... Tried slow retrieve. tried fast retrieve. Tried giving them a flick like you would a soft plastic. Using the 13.5g lures as the winds wouldn't let me toss the little 7's.

What am a I doing wrong? 

I'm coming from fishing salt water species and there is no way what I was seeing and doing wouldn't have landed me fish.... Help please  

[kingie chaser]

Sometimes they are just not interested in eating.

Its still like SW fishing, you need to be able to change you fishing method up by having bait or something like Berkley powerbait.

If you want to stick to just lures then have something like some small bibbed minnows or similar.

 

The moral of the story is if 1 thing is not working then you need to change it up until you find what gets them motivated.

[James Clain]

Try some different stuff. Fish as light as possible as-well using supple fluorocarbon. Trout hardly fight, if you can chase pelagics on 4lb you can easily get trout on 4lb or lighter. Try different lures different colours and different retrievals. If are blind casting use your favourite lure and then change every 20mins. If you are sight casting and they wont eat then change every couple casts. To increase your chances use 2 rod, send one out with some worms or power-bait and then cast lures. 

Edit: no bait or second rod at the mentioned Dam. although this is advice that works when targeting any species.

Edited May 24, 2020 by James Clain
Inaccuracy

[Volitan]

Be a bit cautious here. If you are fishing in Thomson’s Creek Dam then only one rod is allowed, and only lure or fly - no bait is allowed.

Edited May 24, 2020 by Volitan

[PaddyT]

chances are they were exhibiting a bit of ""false spawning"" behaviour and are damn hard to get to bite when thats the case, i got this guy a few years ago at the same time of the year by dangling a soft plastic "" crawdad"" in front of his nose until he bit it out of annoyance. Volitan is right TCD is a prescribed lure and fly only fishery

[PaddyT]

And i would also add TCD is not a super easy fishery, there are some excellent fish there but expect to put the hours and casts in.OH and the foot miles!!

[James Clain]

59 minutes ago, Volitan said:

Be a bit cautious here. If you are fishing in Thomson’s Creek Dam then only one rod is allowed, and only lure or fly - no bait is allowed.

ah I have never fished that lake only advice for any fish so yes always research rules, my bad

[paddy93]

Ahh - I read that the tassies are the go there so I didn't bring anything else...... Will my salt water lures work on fresh water? Im sorry if I am coming across as a bit of a retard I just genuinely have no idea and there is no local tackle shop that I am aware of in the area to go and ask like I would usually do... 

Any suggestions for plastics for trout? 

[PaddyT]

tassies, little Rapala's, softies in smaller sizes all work for trout spinning. As do the good old Wonder Wobbler , other little spoons- they are just fish, the "false spawning thing " makes it pretty hard as they get a bit single minded

[rickmarlin62]

Thompson is hard work  change lures all the time   there is a tackle shop in back st in lithgow  grest bloke good info  great range of lures  google him