I was looking for some things to try on opening day for trout. I have a yellow rooster tail that i can put weight in front of and a worm on the hook. What do you guys think? should I stick with pop gear and flatfish. What will you guys be using?
thanks kris

spinners work great for trout...i don't put weight on them though, usually ruins the action for some reason

when those fish are stocked, they'll hit anything that moves

My go to lure for the opener has always just been the wedding ring tipped with a worm. I find that on the opener the fish are very dumb and will hit anything and the pop gear seems to be overkill at least in my experience. Plus you get a better fight out of them with out the added drag od the flashers.

Drag around flatfish in orange or flo. red and you should whack 'em.

I like the wedding ring with a worm too...what I have had success with is changing the leader to 4lb tests and lengthening it to around 20- inches. I put an egg sinker with bead above the barrell swivel.. good luck

I'll at least third the wedding ring and worm tipped rig vote. I just use a medium split shot and swivel to 20" 4lb test leader. Kills 'em every time. Dick Nites and Triple Teazers(sp) work also in 50/50 or white and red.
I am not a fan of Flat Fish at all. I have wasted too many hours dragging them around.
I agree the xerox fish are dumb and hungry. If you can find a place where they are schooled up Power Bait beats trolling, but it is not as exciting.
Just my .02

i've caught a few on flatfish but definitely don't have much luck with them myself. and despite dick nites supposedly being killer trout lures, i've never even gotten a hit on one in years of trying! wedding rings and spinners are always the go to lure for me

and of course who could forget power bait?

A fishing pole with line on it and a hook. Just joking I like to us a bobber with a ball of power bait on the hook or worm.And let the wind blow me or anchor.Works great at minerl lake last two years. But I'll be springer fishin this year.

How many have tried the small apex's? I can never seem to get them to track straight. Does anyone have any pointers? Thanks in advance......Ross

I have good success in the spring, on stillwaters, with chironomids, bunny leeches, dark nymphs and tiny emerger patterns.

I will be using woolly buggers, royal coachman tied as a streamer, emergers and micro jigs (less than 1/64oz). I will be trolling them with a floating line w/ 2lb tippet on my leader.

wedding ring with worm, dick-nites, and other spinners. always work for me

Brown or Black Wooley buggers,and Peacock Carey Specials. 4lb mainline to snap swivel and 2lb leader to the fly. The swivel adds more than enough weight to get down a foot or two,where the stocker trout will be the first few weeks of the season.

If you don't like trolling pop gear try a Mack's Lure Hot Wing set up - two mylar blades in various colors - followed by a worm tipped wedding ring spinner. This worked great for us at Quincy Lake on two trips this March.

Flatfish and unweighted spinners are also good bets.

Have fun!

Tried everything today. Started with Dick nite, went to a scent infused rooster, moved, used a yellow rooster tail and got one fast. My friend continued to use spinners and was catching every other cast. I put power bait on, flies, egg, wedding rings, and a bunch of anything else that was in the bag. Then a guy comes along and puts an egg sinker (I think) with a gob of power bait along with a worm and gets 2 nice fish, fat! He let the grandson reel them in so it was cute, but the boaters out there had no better luck than I. They were switching gear too. Guess it depends on the lake and time of day. AND! Game Warden ran in fast, sure glad I remembered to get mine, he busted about 8 young men, wonder who got their fish???????

what did he bust them for? not having a license?

For opening day trout it is hard to beat trolling a frog colored Flatfish all by itself right on the surface.

I assume no liscense, but he had them in a group around his truck writing something out. He cleared the lake quick! He also warned the gal with the off-leash dog that it needed to be leashed(thank you!) and that no beer was allowed in the park. He covered it all, swept in fast. One thing I did learn, is that if you are fishing together with someone, family,etc., all fish must be seperate. Never knew that. So what, if you are in a boat-you must keep 4 different coolers for 4 people? Anyhow, it was a pretty small lake, so expect them to be everywhere and checking. And, the worms got the fattest fish. The spinners got lots of bites from the small fish.

Pink wedding ring and a worm. Or for some fun, use a fly rod with caryy specials, bh wooly buggers, and hare's ears nymphs.

That rig should work great.

The 3 best lures I've found, and I've tested them "all", are:

1. The second smallest size (#3940 I think) they sell of the Triple-Teaser, in red/white. Especially early in the day before lure #2 (below) gets good.
2. #8 black egg-sucking leech with a BRIGHT RED head.
3. Wedding ring with 1/3 of a nightcrawler on the hook.

I caught about 20% more fish when I started letting about 130' out line out behind the boat instead of my usual 110'. Yes, getting the lure way behind the boat is a real key. Trolling generally beats the living **** out of casting.

A boat is a "must" to catching tons of trout in a lake.

my favorite weapon in lakes was an 1/8 or 1/16oz mepps syclops in hot pink. ended up losing it at hicks lake 3 years ago on a fish that probably would've gone 5lbs. i forgot my net at home and tried to make a grab at the fish, ended up snapping him off

a #1 mepps with a chartreuse/orange blade was another one of my favorites in lakes