ONE WORD: PLASTICS

Exploring The New Frontier Of Trout Fishing With Soft Plastic Baits

By Cal Kellogg

From the title of this article, you know I’m going to take a deep dive into the subject of tempting trout with soft plastics. We are going to talk about trout tactics in a bit, but first I want to give you some background so that the information I convey about trout will make more sense and, hopefully, carry more gravity.

For starters, I’ve been an avid trout angler my entire life. The first fish I ever caught was a rainbow trout while fishing a Sierra stream with my dad way back in the 1970s. Since then, I’ve caught many thousands of trout of all sizes all over the Western United States and helped other folks catch many thousands more.

I’ve worked in the fishing industry full time for more than 20 years as a writer, magazine owner, video creator, lure manufacturer and professional trout fishing guide.

During the 16 years I spent as the managing editor of a popular West Coast fishing magazine, I had the opportunity to fish with a lot of other talented anglers and often found myself interacting on the water with some of the best in the country.

In terms of freshwater fishing, I believe bass anglers are the all-around best on the water. They are talented boat handlers; they are beyond technically proficient with fishing gear as well as electronics; they have a deep understanding of the aquatic environment; and they can quickly and accurately predict the movement patterns and temperament of the fish on any given day, 365 days a year.

The time I’ve spent on the water watching, photographing and chatting with bass anglers has been extremely educational. The bass fishing community has a lot of specialists. There are the swimbaiters, the topwater enthusiasts, folks who specialize in ripbaits, and those who