Fishing after stocking

The days right after a stocking are among the most generous on a put-and-take water, but only if you read the fish right. Freshly stocked rainbow trout behaves completely differently from fish that have been in for a long time: it is curious and aggressive, but also stressed after the journey and not yet used to its new water. If you understand that behaviour, the first days can give really fine catches.

How the freshly stocked fish thinks

Newly released rainbow trout has lived on feed pellets and is used to eating what moves and shows. It therefore reacts strongly to colour and movement rather than to close imitations. At the same time it is unsettled: the first hours it often stands tight in a shoal near the release point, partly stressed, before it calms down and spreads through the water. Anyone on the spot early who finds the shoals can take a lot of fish in a short time.

Baits that work

This is where the attractors shine. On spinning tackle, bright-coloured PowerBait and colourful lures take a lot of fish. On the fly rod a Blob or Cat's Whisker is hard to beat, just because they shout colour and movement. Think provoke, not imitate. The curious fish wants to take what stands out, so start loud and step down toward more natural patterns only if it grows cautious.

How you find the fish

Start near the release point, but do not lock yourself there. After a while the fish seeks cooler, oxygen-rich water and spreads out, often toward inlets, drop-offs and shady stretches. Keep moving, try different depths and watch for rises and movement in the surface. If you find a shoal you can often take several fish from the same spot before it is time to look further.

When the aggression fades

After a few days the fish calms down, grows more selective and starts to resemble water that has stood undisturbed. Then it is time to switch to more natural baits and more patient fishing. How the fishing shifts with the seasons we take under put and take through the year, and for the really sluggish spells there are tips in the season guides there.