Even with many streams and rivers open to year-round fishing, the Trout Opener is still a tradition many anglers still partake in. For many, it’s an annual affair that means getting the cabin opened for the season. Some are more serious about fishing than others. Get away from bridges and public access sites; you can find some unpressured trout. Get the season off on the right foot.
Mike LeBlanc caught this opening-day brown trout on a micro-spawn bag. Mike Gnatkowski photo
The weather on the last Saturday in April can be fickle. You might have a glorious sunshiny day and temperatures in your 60s or more. Or it could be splitting snow or sleet with temperatures below freezing. That’s just the way April is in Michigan.
Chances are good trout are going to be in a semi-state of torpor. There’s a good chance water temperatures will be cold, water levels high, and off-color with snow melt. Trout are likely to have their nose buried in the gravel or tucked in where they don’t have to fight the current behind a boulder or logjam, hiding underneath an undercut bank or inside a sweeping bend out of the strong current. The trout are still in survival mode for the most part, but they’re beginning to think about food as days lengthen and the sun starts to warm the water.
Where we’re in the run-off process largely determines where you want to fish. If there’s still plenty of snow in the cedar swamps, you’ll want to target small waters. They’re the first to drop and warm, and their finned residents will be more inclined to eat.
Live bait is a logical choice wherever you fish in the spring, especially on smaller streams and creeks. Fishing creeks and streams is a hide-and-seek affair; live bait lends itself well to the technique. There isn’t much casting involved if done right. It’s mainly about positioning for the ultimate presentation and that one perfect drift. Getting to that point requires a stealthy approach by walking softly and keeping your shadow off the water. Small-stream trout are opportunistic and will zoom out from under a bank or the cover of a log to grab a bait. The biggest trout will secure the best lie. Play your cards right, and you can pluck several trout from a prime run.
Worms or night crawlers are the most common live bait to use in the spring, and with it, you’re matching the hatch. Worms and crawlers become active with warming temperatures and find their way into flowing water. I’ve caught lots of opening-day trout with worms spilling from their mouth when I tried to remove the hook.
Micro-spawn bags are good, too. Trout are used to seeing eggs. The roe could be from fall-spawning brown trout, salmon, or spring rainbows, but resident trout are tuned into seeing spawn. Tie your bags on the small size for resident trout. Spawn bags are easier to fish and deal with than worms and easier to carry, and they often catch just as many fish. In streams that get big runs of suckers, don’t be afraid to try sucker spawn, either.
Scent-enhanced plastics are another option. Plastics come in various shapes that imitate everything from minnows and worms to insect larvae. A good selection takes up very little space in your vest and keeps indefinitely. Don’t be afraid to try beads, either. Beads look just like free-drifting eggs.
A friend of mine, who is a card-carrying Yooper, does well on jump-across streams and creeks with spinners. A stealthy approach and proficiency in making accurate pendulum casts are mandatory. A pendulum cast allows the spinner to enter the water quietly and enables you to angle casts under overhanging limbs and branches. Retrieve the spinner SLOW using a down-and-across swing. Trout will often follow the spinner and strike when it starts to rise and turn upstream.
Medium-sized streams and rivers can be somewhere between over the banks to low and clear depending on the spring at the end of April. It all depends on snow melt and spring rains. Trout are still likely to be hunkered down if the water levels are high. High water levels provide a plethora of food items that wash out of the banks or are dislodged from the bottom. Trout are likely to be very active then despite the high water. The key is getting your offering down to the bottom and giving trout time to find it. Trout use their sense of smell as much or more than their sense of sight when waters are dark and roiled.
Clamping split shot to your line is not the best way of adding weight. With the weight directly on your mainline, if you get snagged, and you will, you’ll lose the whole rig, hook, line, and sinker. Adding the weight to a dropper using a barrel swivel can side up and down your line, and trout won’t feel the weight when they bite. By making your leader lighter than your mainline, when you get snagged, you’ll likely just lose your hook instead of your entire rig.
Components for your rig can be tied up beforehand, facilitating an easy way to get your line back in the water. Tie up droppers ahead of time or use pencil lead for your weight. Hang the pencil lead from a cheap snap swivel. Use another black barrel swivel as a stop. Leaders and hooks can be tied ahead of time and stored in a Pip’s Leader Wheel for quick access. Use a leader that is 4 pounds lighter (10/6 or 8/4) than your main line so that you only lose your leader when you break off. It’s better to use too much weight than not enough. Chances are, you won’t get bit if you’re not on the bottom.
You can use a more passive technique, too. Referred to as plunking out West, you can anchor live bait with a heavy sinker and wait. Rig the sinker to slide and cast it out into a likely hole, or run and wait. Chances are good that a trout will find it.
