Home Forums Fishing Freshwater Trout on Rapalas

Couple guys I know around here who target big trout in the fall and winter have told me "use a large rapala". One prefers a jointed colorful one resembling a perch, the other a large 1-piece that looks like a crick chub. I remember as a boy catching a nice trout one late fall on a chartreuse 2" one before I knew that these were bass lures. So lets here it, anyone else fishing eastern creeks catching big'uns on rapalas?

All of my Rapala lures are in my trout box, never used them for bass. I know they work great on the white river below Bull Shouls damn. That's the farthest east I've ever fished for trout.

What size and color?

Ive gottem from 4" down to 3/4". I have a rainbow of colors. Depending on the cloud cover and turbidity of the water, I choose one and start casting. Ever 15 to 30 casts, I will change colors until I find something they like. I have discovered that fish don't read the books and magazine artcles about what they should like. Ive caught a bunch of channel cats on Rattle traps while fishing for bass, and that ain't suppose to happen.

Thats true, my brother caught one of the biggest bullhead catfish Ive seen on a dare-devil spoon!

Gonna troll the local gander mountain during lunch tomorrow for some ideas.

Well if you buy some, get some light colored ones and some dark colored ones. I don't think it matters much beyond that. If that dont work get some worms and Powerbait, they always work. I'm not a fishing snob.

I prefer the jointed ones.
From a J-7 up to J-11.
I go small when the bite is slow, and bigger when it is hot.
Silver or gold when overcast, or before/after sun up/sun down.
Natural colors when the sun is out.
I do a lot of small boat trolling for trout, and 75% is with jointed Rapalas.

This brook trout pattern J-9 has been hot this year.

Sometimes you just have to bust out the barbie pole.

Tough to argue with that! Thanks for the tips on colors.

Do I need a barbie pole too? My daughters have the same one, we've caught a lot of stocky's on those with worms and a bobber.

F7 or F9s are the go to on the river I live on, especially in the Spring. Blue, chartreuse, rainbow trout, or brown trout colors.

The small Rapalas especially in the Trout colors work very well. I use those mainly if there are a lot of brook or brown trout. They seem to like a small minnow better than a lot of baits.

All caught by the kids on 3.5" jointed Perch or Brown Trout pattern Rapalas trolled behind pop-gear or a jet-diver and flasher....

I like floaters. 7-11.

Better hook ratio than spinners and if you pay attention and if use colors you can see in the water you'll snag less by letting float above logs. Near dark Browns will crush them on top twitched too.

If I had to pick 1 I'd take a #9 hot steel.

Just picked up a F-5 Bleeding shad and a F-7 yellow perch. Hopefully I get out this weekend. Will post results.

Just got back from the local trout hole. Creeks are real low here now, but still some decent holes albeit slow moving. Second cast nailed a nice ~14" rainbow. Had another hook-up that felt good, but somehow managed to loose. I was using the F-5 bleeding shad. I just wish these things were heavier so I could cast farther. Might have to bump up to a F-7 or try a husky jerk (think these are heavier, non-floating).

1/4 oz litle cleos are a trout killer. Silver red, silver green, silver blue are my favorites.



Just ditch the treble and replace with a single hook.

Back in the day (1970's and early 80's before all the new regs were enacted) silver F13 Rapala's were the weapon of choice for the big browns on The Upper Delaware. When and how the Rapala is presented to the fish is very important....

Took the canoe out to a local trout lake armed with a barbie pole with worms and a 6' med action with a yellow perch rapala. Daughter did good on perch and bluegill, I did good on pickerel with 3 over 20". No trout to be found but hooked a bass while trolling in for the day. Lik'em my rap-a-las.

Saw a fishing show recently on TV and they were using large Rapala top water lures to catch lake trout at Twin Lakes after ice out. IIRC the state record Brown trout was caught at the Roaring Judy fish hatchery with a Rapala.

Yep, big lures for big fish....

Wonderful memories for now and always, and some fine looking fish ! Good job and congratulations to all !

I have fished with and caught lots of trout with Rapala Minnows and Smithwick Rougues. I use the F-11 in gold if the water flow is slow. If the water is rolling I usually use a Smithwick Rougue in Gold or silver. Or a big Rapala Husky Jerk in Rainbow trout. I usually fish them the last couple of hours in the afternoon or the first 2 hours in the morning. You throw them long casts and rip and reel back to the boat fast as you can and still keep them running true. Sounds like a crazy way to trout fish but it makes the bigger trout strike viciously. I never caught any 4 pound + trout until I started fishing jerk baits. I do this in tailrace rivers in Arkansas.

As crazy as it may seem...jerk baits are deadly on trout, especially browns. The tailwaters of south Holston in east Tennessee is some awesome fishing. Saw my cousin have some awesome days fishing rapalas down there, although I can never make myself put down the ol faithful TD MINNOW. best jerkbaits ever made IMHO

we have a group of 8 of us that head down to the white river in late feb every year and fish for large browns. we catch a boat load of rainbows all day but we try to target the trophy browns
the one day that we use boats. those browns are every bit of a predator that bass are.large stick baits get thrown a lot and when one hits it there is no doubt. we stay at Gastons and have a great time with it.

I have a friend that just bought a place close to there. I'm looking forward to imposing on his hospitality when he gets moved into his rebuilt house. The good thing is we usually work together, so if I have time off he does too. We are going to tear them trout up!

Hey if he needs help fixing that place up i would be up for trading my services for accommodations

As a kid we used Rapalas when trolling for trout and on the bigger rivers. It wasn't until a couple years ago my brother and I fished an average sized creek that he showed me how good they could be there too. We had pretty much always used spinners (mostly Panther Martins) and small spoons. In the morning he out fished me 7-1, but as the day warmed up the spinners took over as the favored bait.

My other brother had the same experience while fishing with the first one. So it looks like from out experience to fish the Rapalas in the morning (4"-6" size) and then switch to spinners.