Home Forums Fishing Freshwater trout fisning lures?

Ingwe says he uses Panther Martin lures for creek fishing for trout.

What else do y'all recommend?

I picked up a couple small Panther Martins to try out.

Also; do y'all bend in the barbs for easier hook removal, for releasing fish?

Thanks!

Virgil B.

I order the single hook Panther Martins.

And I catch almost as many trout on the Luhr-Jensen Super Duper.

I carry a fair assortment of stuff with me but these are my go-to choices...

And yeah...
I pinch the barbs down

I've got to where I use single hook Panther Martin most of the time. Single hooks are usually a lot easier/faster to get out. If I'm not keeping any I mash the barb down, even easier to release them that way. There's plenty of other lures that work; Rooster Tail, Mepps, small Rapala, etc. I've had good luck with the Panther Martins so that's what I usually use. They get down to the fish pretty quick.

Listen to Ingwe he knows of what he speaks.
Funny, I have drug different Super Dupers for miles across the water and have yet to have a hit on one. I see others catch fish with them but I don't.

I like the Panther Martins because they have an easy " starting speed" because we fish by throwing them upstream, and retrieving them. Rooster Tails and Mepps( both good lures but...) often won't start spinning when you are retrieving them with the current at their backs....

Pinching the barbs down would often make life easier for you and the fish.

Also look at small Thomas Cyclone spoons if you can get them outside Montana....

One of my favorite lures for rivers and streams are small lead head maribou jigs. Bounce them along the bottom, cast so they are carried into undercut banks and jig them. I've even floated them along below a bobber. They are deadly in sizes 1/32 to 1/8 ounce, depending on the flow.
Black, white, brown, and olive have worked best for me.
Best part is they are cheap, so when you lose one it doesn't hurt. You're not fishing them right if you're not losing some.

Good point! they work here as well, particularly in black and brown...

I have had my best luck with Mepps, followed by Blue Fox, followed by Panther Martin. I don’t like Rooster Tails at all and can’t seem to catch anything on a super duper. A Kastmaster sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t.

I have spent countless hours (years/decades) trout fishing streams.
Small Panther Martins.
Yellow body with red spots and a silver blade on sunny days
Black body, yellow spots and gold blade when shady or overcast

Joe's Flies spinners work well for trout and pan fish.

Thanks for the tips!

Gotta get out and "wet a line" soon!

Virgil B.

I keep a small selection of Panther Martin, Mepp's, and Joe's Flies - usually one or the other will work.

Small Phoebe.
Silver or gold.

Wooly Booger.

Mepps, Blue Fox, rooster tails and other decent quality spinners all work well, but I like Panther Martins because they have a heavy metal blade that "feels" solid with good action when retrieving it.

Spoons work well but even with a swivel, I get twisted line really badly. Jigs and other lures work well too in certain situations but for an idiot like me who can only figure out how to cast and retrieve, Panther Martins reign supreme.

I like a 1/64 ounce Trout Magnet jig head with Nikko Stonefly nymphs under a clear casting bobber when the water is shallow, under 24", with the jig/nymph set to drift about 8" above the stream bed. Berkley used to make a 7' light or ultra-light action spinning rod in their "trout dough" series that worked well for this.

I caught my biggest stream trout with a black marabou jig by casting into the water coming over the Bath, NH, dam on the Ammonoosuc River. I put it back so that others might have the opportunity to catch it.

for spinners I like Mepps I usually use a #2 size.. Small to medium spoons work well like a Krocodile. Light Marabou jigs work well in neutral colors. Lot of people use the trout magnet jig system . I like to fish a 5" Gold or Rainbow trout colored floating minnow with a bass rod for bigger trout. They'll bite small crankbaits like you would bass fish with too. I fish in tail race rivers.

I use Daiwa Silver Creek Spinners, change the hook to a single with a barb. They have a swivel and folded clevis that minimizes line twist.

In the fall, I use Daiwa Silver Creek Minnows with the front treble removed and the rear replaced with a single hook. The hook rides up so I seldom get snagged.

I like and fish the Panther Martin in either black with yellow spots or yellow with red spots.
They’ll work on pretty much any species if sized right.
On the Owyhee River this year I threw them for smallies and ended up catching more channel cats on them than anything else!

If your getting line twist from a spoon, then your fishing it too fast.
They’re designed to “wobble” back and forth - not turn over like a spinner blade.
Cast across and slightly down stream, let it sink deep and then just tighten up and let it wobble across to your side of the river......