Not only do Western anglers overlook using fishing plugs for trout, they miss out on tossing some of the more exotic patterns that catch larger fish. An illustration of this is the small Rebel crawdad-shaped crankbaits.
These plugs have been producing some lunker-size fish for shore fishermen for years on the lower Owens River and Pleasant Valley Reservoir. No doubt, other imaginative trouters have used this little plug elsewhere in California, but have pretty much kept quiet about it.
Crawdads are a major forage food for these larger rainbows and browns. This small Rebel plug excels at replicating this natural bait.
On a similar vein, believe it or not, big trout will crash on a large topwater plug! Occasionally, some creative anglers have used plugs such as the distinctively cigar-shaped Heddon Zara Spook on magnum-size surface-feeding fish.
This style bait is made to imitate a dying, fluttering minnow struggling on the surface. It is no mere coincidence that these would work on a marauding cannibalistic brown trout on a big reservoir.
Early morning and dusk are the best times to take a shot with these large surface plugs.
Other mainstream bass plugs can also be productive at times on bruiser trout. Arbogast Hula Poppers and Storm Chug Bugs can be fished on the surface.
Or, where there are a lot of threadfin shad around, try a thinner profile crankbait such as the Storm Thin Fin, Bayou Boogie, Cordell Spot, or Rapala Shad Rap. Purchase these plugs in foil, shad, perch, or rainbow trout colors.
You can also troll them fairly quickly on straight 8 pound monofilament using a toe-one approach. Plugs can also work on rivers as well as lakes.
If there are a lot of obstructions to get snagged on, replace the treble hooks with single Siwash hooks. These will hang up much less in the fast-moving water.
In clear, slow water like the flats at Lake Almanor, I downsize to 2-inch, tight-wobble minnow plugs (e.g., Rapala Original Floater F03) on 4 lb fluoro because the subtle roll won’t spook pressured trout. In stained inflows or wind-chopped points at Clear Lake, I jump to 3.5-inch squarebills with a wide wobble (Strike King KVD 1.5) on 12 lb copolymer to push vibration and maintain stability through the turbulence.
At first light on the Lower Sacramento, I fish matte olive back/pearl belly patterns to avoid flash that can silhouette unnaturally in low-angle sun. Midday on Shasta coves with sun overhead, I switch to chrome/blue with a chartreuse slash so bass can key on flash in 6–10 feet, then at dusk on Lake Berryessa I go black/gold to create a strong profile against the fading sky.
On trout chasing smelt in Stampede Reservoir, I use a burn-pause-burn with a Lucky Craft Pointer 78 to trigger followers—count “one-one-thousand” on the pause and restart sharply. For largemouth on submerged tules in the Delta, I run a slow-walk cadence with a Zara Spook Jr., three short twitches then a two-second dead stop to let the plug pivot in the pocket without pulling it out.
In 20-foot Tahoe drop-offs, I cast a sinking plug (Smithwick Perfect 10 Rogue) on 8 lb fluoro, count to 10 letting it fall roughly 1.5 feet per second, then begin a steady pull to hold in the 12–15 foot band. When grinding riprap at Folsom Lake, I upsize to 14 lb fluoro to float the same plug higher, counting to three so it ticks rock tops without wedging in crevices.
Spring runoff on the Feather River pushes trout to edges; I throw 2.25-inch shad plugs tight to seams, letting the current swing them while matching natural fry size. In summer on Berryessa, night bass demand loud topwaters— I like the Heddon One Knocker in bone, slow-walked across points after 10 p.m. when they move shallow to ambush silversides.
I replace factory trebles on Pointer 100s with #5 Owner ST-36 to improve penetration on light line and add a size 4 split ring to shift buoyancy for a true suspend in 58°F water. For squarebills on the Delta, I add a 1/16 oz Storm SuspenStrip under the bill to make them run 6 inches deeper and swap to short-shank EWG trebles to reduce fouling in hydrilla.
On the Sacramento above Red Bluff, I look for lateral seams where fast water meets a back eddy, casting upstream and retrieving just quicker than current so the plug tracks the seam edge. At Clear Lake docks, I aim beyond the first shade line, engaging the reel before splashdown to start the plug moving immediately under the floaters where bass suspend nose-in toward sunlight.
My trout plug outfit is a 7'6" light-fast rod (St. Croix Avid 7'6" LF) with a 2500-size reel (Shimano Stradic FL) and 6 lb fluorocarbon for precise casting and controlled stretch. For bass squarebills, I throw a 6'8" medium/moderate (Dobyns Champion XP 684CB) with a 6.8:1 reel (Daiwa Tatula SV) and 12 lb copolymer to absorb surges and keep trebles pinned.
Dawn wind lanes on Shaver Lake set up drifting krill and smelt; I cast parallel to the lane with a Countdown Rapala CD5, counting to five, then feathering the retrieve so the plug stays just beneath the chop where trout feed highest. Late afternoon on the Delta, when boat wake stirs plankton, I burn a KVD 1.5 across the first 18 inches of water along riprap, capitalizing on bass sliding up to exploit the short feeding window.
At Lake Pardee, troll a 2-inch Yo-Zuri Pins Minnow 120 feet behind the boat at 1.8 mph over 30–40 feet, clipping rod to a short planer board to offset from engine wash and reach suspended rainbows. On the American River near Sailor Bar, wade the inside bend, cast a 3-inch Countdown to the far seam, count to six, then retrieve cross-current so the plug swings broadside over the cobble where browns sit tight to the bottom.
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