J’s Cross Bred Salmonfly, courtesy Rainy’s Flies.

Trout season used to open that last Saturday in April. It was one of the best days of the year for a shot at big fish. Now, with so many lakes and reservoirs open year-round, your best chances of getting a big trout are just after ice-off, before fishing pressure picks up with warm weather. I’ve been thinking about it already. On the first day of winter, I took three hours and set up half a dozen spinning rods, loaded new line on reels and tied all the knots. Although I am primarily a fly-fisherman, there are four big trout spinning-rod techniques I am using in the new year.

Twitching jigs

Big brown and cutthroat trout live under cut banks

and in log jams

and hang out in rip-rap and slough

like side channels. These are the places where mice fall in, crawdads dig into the mud and sculpin scoot from cover to cover. Twitching jigs have heavy heads and are tied with olive, brown or orange rabbit strip, imitating crawdads or baitfish. Cast hard to the bank. The jig should splash down inches from the cut bank. Turn the bail over, but let the jig hit bottom by extending the rod. Lift and let the current take it, try to tap the bottom, and move the rod tip side to side. The strike can be arm-wrenching or it can simply feel like a “tick” on the line as the fish expels water and sucks the lure in.

Micro spoons

Fishing with spoons is an afterthought for most trout anglers. Sure we keep a few Triple Teazers or Thomas Lures in our boxes for trolling or casting. But it is a rare individual that specializes in spoons. It’s a deadly technique for big browns, rainbows, brooks and cutthroat. Micro spoons, weighing from maybe 1/8

ounce down to 1/16

ounce to less than a gram, can be fished on spinning rods, fly gear and even tenkara. They can be trolled, sometimes with bait tipped on the hook, but they are very effective when cast to cut banks and woody cover. Take a look at the offerings in the Daiwa Crusader, Shimano Slim Swimmer series and the smallest tungsten Acme micro Kastmasters. Try the fire tiger, rainbow, brown and chub patterns. Use a light line and a soft-action rod for easy casting. Replace treble hooks with single hooks for quick release. Attach the spoon to the leader with a nonslip loop knot or a snap or split ring. Look for places where minnows school up in large bait balls. Fish deep or off to the side. In the absence of large groups of bait fish, cast to cover, let the lure sink, sink, sink and flutter down next to the structure. Let the current take it and try for a slow, erratic retrieve.

Spybaiting

A couple of years ago, one of my favorite trout baits was a Duo Realis Spin spybait. Spybaiting is an ultra-finesse technique for targeting suspended fish. Bend resident and bass angler David Swendseid showed me this lure. He was touting its big bass-catching ability, but what I used it for was big trout. It splashes down, sinks fast and shimmies with each pause. Its rear tail spinner attracts fish from 10 feet or more in clear water.

Micro spinnerbaits

I confuse people when I talk about trout fishing and spinnerbaits. Picture a bass-fishing spinnerbait with a tie-to connection on a bent wire. A small spinner blade on a swivel on one side of the shaft with a minnow body and hook on the other side. This is not an inline spinner, it’s a trout-sized micro spinnerbait. Look at the new 1/8-ounce spinnerbaits from Bend-based Trout Wizard Lure Company (

@trout_wizard_lure_co

on Instagram). Check out the Spro Larva Micro and line from Dynamic Lures. Like the twitching jig

, like the micro spoon

, like the spy bait, bounce the spinnerbait off cover, let it sink, let it hit bottom. Let the current take it. Cast it to a bait ball. Cast it to open water. It might be the most versatile lure on this list.

Trout season used to open that last Saturday in April. It was one of the best days of the year for a shot at big fish. Now, with so many lakes and reservoirs open year-round, your best chances of getting a big trout are just after ice-off, before fishing pressure picks up with warm weather.

I’ve been thinking about it already. On the first day of winter, I took three hours and set up half a dozen spinning rods, loaded new line on reels and tied all the knots. Although I am primarily a fly-fisherman, there are four big trout spinning-rod techniques I am using in the new year.

Twitching jigs

Big brown and cutthroat trout live under cut banks and in log jams and hang out in rip-rap and sloughlike side channels. These are the places where mice fall in, crawdads dig into the mud and sculpin scoot from cover to cover.

Twitching jigs have heavy heads and are tied with olive, brown or orange rabbit strip, imitating crawdads or baitfish. Cast hard to the bank. The jig should splash down inches from the cut bank. Turn the bail over, but let the jig hit bottom by extending the rod. Lift and let the current take it, try to tap the bottom, and move the rod tip side to side. The strike can be arm-wrenching or it can simply feel like a “tick” on the line as the fish expels water and sucks the lure in.

Micro spoons

Fishing with spoons is an afterthought for most trout anglers. Sure we keep a few Triple Teazers or Thomas Lures in our boxes for trolling or casting. But it is a rare individual that specializes in spoons. It’s a deadly technique for big browns, rainbows, brooks and cutthroat.

Micro spoons, weighing from maybe 1/8 ounce down to 1/16 ounce to less than a gram, can be fished on spinning rods, fly gear and even tenkara. They can be trolled, sometimes with bait tipped on the hook, but they are very effective when cast to cut banks and woody cover.

Take a look at the offerings in the Daiwa Crusader, Shimano Slim Swimmer series and the smallest tungsten Acme micro Kastmasters. Try the fire tiger, rainbow, brown and chub patterns.

Use a light line and a soft-action rod for easy casting. Replace treble hooks with single hooks for quick release. Attach the spoon to the leader with a nonslip loop knot or a snap or split ring.

Look for places where minnows school up in large bait balls. Fish deep or off to the side. In the absence of large groups of bait fish, cast to cover, let the lure sink, sink, sink and flutter down next to the structure. Let the current take it and try for a slow, erratic retrieve.

Spybaiting

A couple of years ago, one of my favorite trout baits was a Duo Realis Spin spybait. Spybaiting is an ultra-finesse technique for targeting suspended fish. Bend resident and bass angler David Swendseid showed me this lure. He was touting its big bass-catching ability, but what I used it for was big trout. It splashes down, sinks fast and shimmies with each pause.

Its rear tail spinner attracts fish from 10 feet or more in clear water.

Micro spinnerbaits

I confuse people when I talk about trout fishing and spinnerbaits. Picture a bass-fishing spinnerbait with a tie-to connection on a bent wire. A small spinner blade on a swivel on one side of the shaft with a minnow body and hook on the other side. This is not an inline spinner, it’s a trout-sized micro spinnerbait.

Look at the new 1/8-ounce spinnerbaits from Bend-based Trout Wizard Lure Company (@trout_wizard_lure_co on Instagram). Check out the Spro Larva Micro and line from Dynamic Lures.

Like the twitching jig, like the micro spoon, like the spy bait, bounce the spinnerbait off cover, let it sink, let it hit bottom. Let the current take it. Cast it to a bait ball. Cast it to open water. It might be the most versatile lure on this list.

Every year we have to have a new hot fly for salmonfly season. The reason? These fish see the same thing every day and they get jaded. What you want is to give them a reason to get excited about something. Maybe this season it’s J’s Cross Bred Salmonfly.

This pattern incorporates a prismatic peacock egg sack, Krystal Flash antennae, two-tone barred rubber legs and realistic rib and color bands. The gray foam underwing, elk hair overwing and double layered foam body provide the silhouette and all-day floatability.

Splash this fly down — don’t be shy — under the shade of an overhanging willow and let it drift along the cut banks. Twitch it. Make it flutter. This fly is durable enough that it will take the punishment of two dozen toothy rainbows or more. Just check your tippet from time to time.

Lay in a supply now for April and May on the Deschutes, the Upper Klamath and wherever salmonflies crawl out of the water to dry their wings.

—Gary Lewis, for The Bulletin