Hey buddies, I plan on going out for my first trout fishing experience this weekend at Hagg Lake. Can you guys tell me what sort of setup I need or should use? I will have a lamiglas light/medium spinning rod with an okuma spinning reel. I hear some people use bobbers but my experience and knowledge is very poor. How do I set these up? (ie. what line test, weights, leader length, type of hooks/lures? and baits)

A friend told me to just use powerbait. Any help would be great for my Friday trip. Thanks all!

I am not sure familiar with the lake but if they are the typical under 12" planters, I would recommend a very lite weight trout line and a bait hook with a small bobber. I know this doesn't help since I am not naming sizes here.. I usually fish for trout using my fly rod. Even when I use a reel and pole method I us flies and a clear bobber with a short leader.

When you get to the store, you will specifically see line labeled "trout line". I believe I purchased around a 2 - 4 pound line for lakes. I am not sure on the hook for the eggs. Trout Bait Hook. (lack of better names) You want something that will typically hold three or so eggs at a time. They also make snell hooks for this sort of thing. I haven't used a snell hook for smaller trout. I usually by the standard type hooks.

I will also sometimes use a sinker to keep the eggs down towards the bottom. I fish lakes which are typically 6-8 feet so I am sure this would change with a deeper lake.

Berkely and other companines make power baits. Some are floating baits. In shallower areas I have used a slip sinker on my line with bait hook and some berkleys powerbait. (floating kind) In theory, the line goes to the bottom and the bait is just floating at a distance about the sinker.

I hope someone here has a little more "technical" trout teminology for our new member.

I have no clue regarding the regulations at that lake. Make sure it doesnt require use of artificial lures only (no bait), single barbless hooks only, etc, before buying anything.

Some things you may want...
4-6 LB test line, #8 baitholder hooks, red and white clip on bobbers, small bag of 1/8 oz split shot, bag of small barrel swivels, power bait paste any color, jar of red Pautzke Ball-o-Fire eggs, jar of small mashmallows, couple dozen night crawlers, selection of small inexpensive spinners like Sonic Rooster Tails or Mepps (get a couple with brass and a couple with silver blades).

Clip the bobber on your line 3 to 5 feet above your hook, a couple split shot 12" or so above your hook, and use worms or eggs for bait.

Put two or three split shot 18" to 24" above your hook and mold power bait around the hook. Use just enough to make the hook float. Or you can bait the hook with marshmallow and eggs or marshmallow and a whole or half night crawler to float off the bottom.

Do just like above but dont use a marshmallow and just let the worm or eggs sit on the bottom.

Tie a small swivel on to your line. Use another 12" or so of line as a leader and tie a spinner to the end. Vary your retrieves - slow, fast, deep, shallow, etc until you find what they like.

Look up how to tie an improved clinch knot and a palomar knot on the internet. Practice

Think that is as basic as it gets. Maybe the other guys will chime in with something I missed.

might wanna try the chartruese power eggs, It stays on the hooks better and trout seem to love it. Id get the size 6 or 8 gamakatsu octopus hooks to use with the eggs put a splt shot about 18" above the hook and cast it to the bottom, put the rod in a holder and wait for the take

Awesome guys, thanks for all the great tips. I will use your advice and return friday to let you guys know what i caught.

Ok, so i went today and had no luck whatsoever. i had one bite in 5 hours and then lost the fish when reeling it in. everyone else next to me though were catching them like crazy. i asked the kid next to me what he was using since he had 10 in his satch, and all he had was a greenish rooster tail. darn my luck i didn't have any of them on me.

i tried power baits, pink, yellow, blue, and green. no luck with any. the bite came from the pink though. and i tried salmon eggs. nothing there either. so i came how after about 6 hours with nothing.

i'll be returning monday though and i'll have my fair share of rooster tails so i'll let you all know how that goes. thanks anyway guys.

Hey ikliomve,

I do alot of lake fishing here in Eastern Washington by Spokane. I have found that there are a couple of setups that are really successful.

The first one is to use 4-6lb test, a fairly good size egg sinker(sorry sizes are escaping my mind right know) about the size of a nickle if fishing from the bank and from the boat an egg sinker just big enough to get it to the bottom.

Use a normal snap swivel with a fishermans knot, underneath the snap swivel you want about 12-24 inches of leader with a very small treble hook. Not a really small one mind you, the size of the hook on a fly for fly fishing.

Take a small amount of power bait and apply it to the treble hook and make a small dough ball, remember just enough to cover the hook to much power bait is a bad thing.

The other method that has been really successfil is to use Panther Martin lures. I have found that the medium sized Panther's are perfect for lake fishing. The most successful lure up to date for me has been the Panther Martin that has the yellow bell with red spots topped of with a Red spoon with yellow dots. It's drives them nuts up here!!

The other Panthers I would recommend would be the flouresent orange spoon with yellow bell with red spots. The flouresent green spoon with yellow bell with red spots. The solid black, and solid gold ones. Fish the black one near dusk and dawn, fish the gold one in the afternoon. I hope these techniques work out for you like they have for us.

Good luck,
RAE