Easy Fishing the Roaring River without a Fly Rod
The Roaring River offers trout for the taking, for experienced and NEW fishermen alike. But it does take some time to learn the habits and tenacity of the Rainbow Trout. Dropping your 12 lb. test line with a worm and bobber will temp most any fish, but at Roaring River State Park, the river is divided into zones. In the first zone, where most of us new fishermen and women will start out (You can see the most fish here!), you can only fish with artificial bait. This means no worms, no corn. No nothing, except lures and plastic.
Choosing Your Lures
What lure will bring in the fish? Trout go for different lures, but what seems to work from my experience, are the plastic worms, grubs, and eggs. And spinners like Mepps, and my favorite, the Panther Martin Rainbow Trout lure. I’ve caught trout with this lure every time I’ve fished it. I’ve also had a few of these end up in overhanging branches on the banks, but that’s another story. Spinner bait like this one seems to work best when the river opens for fishing sometime around 6:00 am or 7:00 a.m., depending on the season. The hungry trout, ready for anything to drop into the river, snap these up.
But after twenty minutes or so, they seem to be no longer interested in the spinner, and I switch to a plastic lure, usually a worm.
How do you rig them?
The first time I fished Roaring River, I was a foolish bass fisherman with no idea of the wiley trout. I had my standard fishing pole with 10 lb. test line, complete with sinker and lure. I cast my spinner bait (I had read that these worked well at the river) and believe it or not, I pulled in a trout within the first ten minutes of fishing. That poor fish must have been starving. After that, I fished all day without another catch.
Why? Trout are smart fish. They don’t like strange things in the water, and thick heavy line is strange. You need to fool the fish. You need ultralight fishing line on your pole. Load it with 2 lb. test line, available at the Park Store nearby. Or, buy twenty feet or so of 2 lb. line, and tie it to your heavy line.
So, you’ve put 2 lb. line on your pole, you put on a tiny hook, and a plastic worm. You try to cast, but with very little weight, bingo, birdsnest! You will probably need to invest in an ultralight fishing pole to cast the ultralight tackle.
You can, of course add very tiny sinkers, but if you do, make sure they are nowhere near your hook. Those trout are sneaky, and can spot anything unnatural. Speaking of unnatural, try to keep all of your sunscreen, bug spray, and any other scented lotions off of your lures. Trout smell that stuff and will normally reject those tainted lures.
Once you get rigged, watch other fishermen and see how they fish the plastic lures. Many will float the eggs down the river, waiting for the trout to grab it on the surface. Some will do the same with worms, and some will slowly reel worms in so they sink a few feet under the water. Many techniques exist to pull trout from the Roaring River, but for first timers, the key is to watch, or ask experienced fisherman. They love to give out tips and secrets. After all, at this State Park, there are plenty of fish for everyone. But please, once you figure out how to fish for trout, take only your limit.
