Contact us at
info@chappysguide.com

Rainbow Trout

2013 Update - When searching new water, a full sink fly line and a small natural streamer or wet fly cannot be beat. Sure, using a floating line with a dry or a nymph rig is also a lot of fun, but a full sink is much more efficient and will increase your catch rates.  Use in rivers, trout ponds, and larger lakes and reservoirs for rainbows.  And in the summer use a size 18 Pheasant tail with 6x tippet and you will be surprised how small of an insect the big fish are feeding on.

The Rainbow Trout exists in almost all trout waters and in large lakes where they feast on everything from invertebrate insect life, crustaceans, and forage fish.   Rainbow Trout are very active feeders, especially right after stocking, although they will be somewhat selective later in the season.  For this reason, they are fairly easy for the occasional angler to catch.

The experienced angler can catch Rainbow Trout throughout the entire season including ice fishing.    The Rainbow Trout fishery in New Hampshire is strong including ponds and lakes that also have warm water fish species, and lakes that have Salmon and Lake Trout.

Of all the trout species in New Hampshire, it is the most acrobatic fighter once hooked.  On average a fish will leap 2-4 times during the fight.   Practice safe release using rubber nets and carefully revive the fish after removing the hook.   As with most trout, they make nice table fare.   There are some lakes in New Hampshire where if the major food source is crustacean (crayfish) be prepared to catch and eat some of the reddest trout fillet you can get.