Best Trout Fishing Lure Tips

While lures have a long track record of catching trout, there are some tricks you can use to make your lure of choice more attractive to trout.  I've used all these tricks myself with success.

Lure Tip #1 - Tipping The Lure

Adding a small piece of nightcrawler, minnow, powerbait, etc. to the hook of your lure is called, "tipping the lure". The idea is to add scented bait of some sort to the lure to make it more attractive.  So not only is the lure attracting trout by vibration and flash, but also by scent.   Nightcrawlers are popular tips for lures, but you could use anything that trout like to eat.


Lure Tip #2 - Greasing the Lure

Since trout are attracted to potential food by scent, you can also rub some trout attractant on your lure (called greasing the lure).  I personally like to grease my leader and lures when fishing with lures.  If you don't have any trout attractant, and you've already caught at least one fish, you could also rub your lure against the fish's side.  This transfers smelly fish slime to the lure, again, making it smell more natural and attractive.


Lure Tip #3 - Tricking Up Your Lures

This technique is a simple matter of using colored marking pins and tape to spice up a plain silver, nickel, or gold colored lure.  The nice thing about this trick is that it can save you money in buy the same lure in multiple color combination.   Although the video was created for bass fisherman, the technique works with trout lures as well.

Lure Tip #4 - Vary Your Retrieve Speed


After casting a lure into the water, many anglers tend to retrieve the lure at a constant speed.  While this will catch some fish, varying the speed can catch even more.  Many lures are designed to imitate bait fish and they don't swim at a constant rate (nor do they swim in a straight line).  So varying your retrieval speed will do two things.  First, it changes the depth of your lure.  Reel fast, and your lure will rise to the surface. Reel slow (and even stop reeling once in a while) and it will sink. This can give the appearance of an injured bait fish (which trout often find irresistible).


The second thing varying the retrieval speed does, is it makes the lure presentation look more natural.  In other words, if you're lure isn't swimming in a straight line at a constant speed, it tends to look less like an artificial lure and more like a natural bait fish swimming around.


Lure Tip #5 - Color Selection

It's no secret that lures look differently underwater then they do out of water. They also look different in direct sunlight, under cloudy haze, etc.  Lures not only look different to us in different water and weather conditions, but they also look different to trout under the same conditions.   Not only this, but lures will different underwater too at various depths, in clear water, murky water, blue water, green water, etc.  Understanding this will help you choose better lure colors before you cast your line.

There is a lot more detail in my Trout Fishing Tips eBook about how weather conditions and water conditions affect lure color and effectiveness, but in a nutshell, here are some tips you can try when selecting your next lure.


On dark cloudy days and in murky water, try dark colored lures. On bright sunny days, try light colored lures (including lures with gold and nickel finishes).


Lure Tip # 6 - Add Some Noise

In conditions when your lure might be hard to see (such as dark and murky water), using a lure that makes noise can help attract fish.   Some lures make a rattling sound as they move through the water. Rapala makes some great lures that make noise.


Lure Tip #7 - Add Some Glow

In underwater conditions where your lure might be very hard to see (such as at night), using a glowing lure can help make it more visible to trout.  Berkely even makes a Glowing PowerBait Wiggler that was designed to be added to lures. Using these wigglers not only employs Lure Tip #1 but also this lure tip. The Mangler - fishing lures has some interesting glowing lures.

Have any more lure tips? We'd love to hear them.  Feel free to share your own favorite lure tips here.