Trout lures in trout pit

[smallwaterpro]

Has anyone tried using small trout lures for bass at trout pit? In calif. they use them for trout eating Bass, just wondered if they might work for Bass in that pit. what ya think

[MSUFisherBear]

Hey,

I'll be the first to admit... never fished the pit lakes but I had seen you hadn't gotten any response and I just figured I'd give my thoughts on what I have found that works in pond type environments . Hopefully one day soon I'll get a chance.

That being said, a lot of the lakes in California (western US) dump stocker trout in to their lakes for a catch and take type environment. Again, I've never fished those so take what I say with a grain of salt, but... I would focus more on what the fish in the pit that you are fishing are keying in on. If you have a pretty good mix of bluegill in the lake along with the bass, I'd be focusing more on baits that mimic that forage. Sticking with the bluegill thought, I think I would probably target bass with larger spinnerbaits (3/8 oz or 1/2 oz) in White/Chart, Chart, or Firetiger. I might downsize if the fish are sluggish or I'm not getting any bites. My other thought would be throwing shallow to medium diving crankbaits in a chart, firetiger, or bluegill pattern. Craw patterns might work, too, if you happen to notice some darting around the bank. Just try to match the color.

That being said, if they are stocking trout (which after re-reading your post I'm thinking that's a possibility) I'd say you might be able to throw a swimbait in a trout pattern. Not sure what size they would stock, but if it's the put and take variety my guess is they are around the 10" - 12" size, so it'd probably need to be a biggun. I've always heard it that there are some absolute hogs in those pits, but I'd be patient as you probably won't catch the same types of numbers as you would sticking with those smaller baits.

Hope you do catch a whopper though. Come back and post pics if you get one! I'd love to see one!

[MSUFisherBear]

What do I know 

http://www.fieldandstream.com/articles/fishing/bass-fishing/2014/03/how-catch-trophy-largemouth-bass-big-trout-swimbaits

Man those are some expensive baits!

[Skell9653]

I haven't tried it but I'm sure it would do great. There's a place in that pit where it's pretty deep and comes up to a flat. If you drop a crank bait down there you will have the opportunity to catch some hogs. A buddy of mine has caught a 10+ lb each of the last two summers using that very technique and released them both. I haven't had much luck catching a lot of good size bass (3-6 lbs) like I have had in some private pits but if you want to catch a mountable bass I would imagine there's a handful swimming around in the trout pit.

[CoolHandFluke]

Caught this bad boy on a rainbow trout colored crank bait in the trout pit last summer.

[bluebasser86]

If you're talking about trout swimbaits, yeah they work, and they don't have to be little ones. This one ate an 8" Huddleston.