Okay I have just received my Jerry Rago Live Trout and my Triple Trout. Was looking for any help on how and when to use them and should I change the hooks on them. Any help would be appreciated. New to this big bait fishing and need all the help I could get.

Thanks,

Stan

Hi Stan, welcome to the site. Did you get a live trout hard bait or a live trout softbait? Also, what sizes on those baits? I can give you some more specific advice with that info.

-Rob

Rob,
Its the hardbait Live trout and the and the 10 inch triple trout. Will any of the baits work during this time of the year? And how did you do at Moccasin last Friday?;-)

For the live trout hardbait you can go with 2/0 owner or 2/0 gammie trebles. I switch back and forth depending on the time of year and whether I'm fishing at night or during the day. Neither will affect the swimming action on that bait

For the 10" triple trout I would use 2/0 gammie in front and either 2/0 or 1/0 gammie in back. You need lighter hooks on triple trout to get the right action out of the bait. I don't like the stock hooks on the triple trout, and said so in my review of the bait. They're the type of VMC's that I have had bend out on me on fish.

I suppose the irony of having the website and providing information is that the line of what I am going to say vs. what I'm not going to say is not entirely clear. I don't know who you are, and I don't mind you asking because you saw me at Moccasin on Friday, but for tournament fishing, I'm going to keep certain stuff to myself. I saw David Permenter out there but wasn't sure right off if it was him and didn't have a chance to say hi at the end of the day so if that was you, my apologies. I've been impressed by David and Aaron's ability to bring in 10+ bed fish in the spring at Pedro on a regular basis since I can't seem to find any of them!

I guess I view tournament fishing like legalized gambling, and if I'm going to go bet $100-150 on a team tounament, I'm not going to turn over my cards before I bet, and I am not going to let you know after the hand was played whether I was bluffing or not :) I honestly don't like gambling because I'm a cheapskate (ask my friends) but I'm willing to gamble on fishing when I think I can do well. I won't do so well if I let all my trix out of the bag, so here we are. It's not always easy to be nice and at the same time say no to answering direct questions, so I'm just doing my best here. Do say hello if you see me out on the water, I'm not unfriendly. Most of the time when I'm at the lake I'm just extremely focused on the fishing.

-Rob

Thanks a lot Rob. I completly understand. I'm new to this swimbait stuff, but not new to tournament fishing. David is my brother-in-law. I use to fish tournaments with him but for the last 4 years I've been taking my 14 y/o around to baseball tournaments he just started High School so I have my weekends free for fishing again. David has done pretty well. I did a good job on teaching him.:D David is pretty new to these baits I've been asking about also. If I see you on the water I will try and stop and say Hi. It was David and my 11 y/o that seen you there on that friday. I will be out there this saturday if I see you hope to say Hi. Again thanks I really enjoy your articles and this site. Hook a big one.

Stan