Someone suggested a while back that we start a trout tip thread (along the same lines as the flounder tip one). It seems odd for me to start this one, while I've been flounder fishing all my life, I've only been targeting Sea Trout the last year or so and am very much a newbie (like my king fishing skills). But hey - someone has to do it.
I'll start with record keeping. Yes I know this is suppose to be about fishing not paperwork but the ole timers tell me it's important to keep good records on trout fishing. See if they bite in a certain spot at a certain time under certain conditions, you can count on catching them in the same location under those circumstances again and again. Trout are hunters, unlike flounder, they move about a lot looking for munchies, they follow the bait. However they are NOT migratory. They stay in one general area most of there life and can live to be 8-10 years old. They know the bait patterns for their area VERY well, so they move about within the territory in cycles.
The important data to keep is - location (of course), time of day, tide cycle, water temp, and moon phase. By keeping this data you can then match current conditions (moon phase, tide cycle, time of day, temps) to similiar ones where you had good luck and then go to that spot and fish that way. You might want to record the type of bait used and what kind of adult beverages you drank that day
too.
Sounds like a lot of work at first but it doesn't take much time at all really. It seems confusing sometimes - one person will say - it's all about the time of day, another will say tide cycle is the main factor, another the moon phase, location, ect. You begin to wonder about what's really important. Well the guys catching Trout under almost all circumstances tell me it's ALL important. But only when viewed all together (not just a single piece of information).
The idea is that the Trout are always here and will eat, it's a matter of knowing where for the current conditions. Like Mrs Folojoy says - (roughly paraphrased) this fishing is real easy, just find some hungry fish and feed them.
Your log should help you find the hungry ones!
I've been keeping a log the last year or so and just this week decided to do an online version in a Blog. The info is available to everyone, however the exact location information is encrpyted (and I'll have turn you into chum if ya break the code.... just kidding, sort of, kinda of...well maybe) but I will give general location info. I decided not to go back and enter all the previous data as I'm not a fast typist and I'd rather fish
. So I started with this week's flounder (yes I keep records on them too but for different reasons).
http://hampsteadfishing.blogspot.com/
Course for those of us who are lazy, another technique that works is to just ride around in your boat with the binoculars and look for the guy CATCHING fish and then make nice as you pull in beside him and hope he's in a good mood
(NOT).