Soft Plastics For Trout: How To Imitate Bugs

Soft plastics for trout are always a solid choice. When water is clear and current is moving quickly, there’s no better trout bait than a soft plastic bug imitator. Fast current can render some common trout-fishing baits useless, as the water rushing by will tug your bait below the surface and thrash it around, something no trout can catch up to or bite when chasing small hatches or flies. When the water is clear, trout are more selective, making inline spinners or hard baits a tougher choice. Soft plastic bugs are the most lifelike presentation you can throw at trout in these conditions.

Common Soft Plastics For Trout

Soft plastic bugs commonly imitate crickets, grasshoppers, hellgrammites, worms, and flies. Anything you’d likely find in the mud or on the vegetation around a lake or creek are the types of bugs you should be imitating. These bugs often find themselves falling into the water and becoming a tasty little treat for trout swimming by. The more lifelike they are, the better -- from design to texture to color. When you’re fishing clear water, every detail matters.

How To Rig Soft Plastic Bugs

The most common and effective way to rig soft plastic bugs for trout is on a split shot rig. Add a hook with about 8 inches of line below a swivel, with one or two split shots above the swivel. Rig your bug as far onto the hook as you can, exposing very little of the hook. This sinks your bug to the bottom, which is a realistic display of what happens when bugs fall into the water.

Soft Plastics For Trout Bug Tips

Fish these bad boys on a spinning rod around 6 feet, with enough “give” to be able to detect strikes. Cast upstream and float it back with the current, keeping the rod tip high to avoid line touching water and creating slack. Trout strikes on bugs will come off the bottom with a quick, aggressive tug, or multiple taps. When you feel those, lift the rod tip up and start to reel. Trout fight like heck, and you don’t want to give them any slack if they run up stream.