Best Trout Lures of 2023

Trout are one of the most popular species of fresh water game fish in the world. And with so many different options to choose from, you’re probably wondering what the best trout lure is. In order to answer that, we must first consider several factors such as body of water, species of trout, and time of day/year.

In this article we’ll go over some of the best trout lures of all time and how to fish with them, so you can catch the most trout possible.

Panther Martin Spinners

Panther Martin is known for one thing: spinners. More specifically, trout spinners. They’ve been making and selling spinners for over 65 years and have sold over 125 million of them. Probably safe to say, that they know what they’re doing when it comes to spinners.

Their spinners feature a large blade that is concave on one side and convex on the other and attaches directly to the wire body. This results in heavy vibrations that attract trout.

The Panther Martin come with a unique feature: red hooks. This mimics a wounded fish, and is hard for trout to resist.

Panther martins come in a wide range of weights, and typically weigh more than other spinners. This makes them great for a wide variety of applications including small streams, big rivers, lakes and more.

Because there are so many different colors and styles of spinners, we recommend going with a few different ones, or picking up a kit. Panther Martin has a Best of the Best kit for trout spinners, which features 3 of their most popular trout spinners in two different sizes, for a total of 6 spinners.

To fish with a spinner in a lake, simply cast it out, and let it sink for a few seconds before slowly reeling it in. Spinners are typically fished slower than other lures, and don’t require much speed to give them action, so keep that in mind.

To fish with a spinner in a river, the most common method is to cast across the river and let the current carry it down stream. Casting up stream can also work, but if the water is moving fast, you’ll have to reel it in quick, which can be tiring.

To read more about spinners, check out this article we wrote covering the best trout spinners.

Trout Magnet

The Trout Magnet is great for all types of trout fishing including rivers, ponds, lakes, and under the ice. It was named one of the top lures of all time by Field and Stream Magazine.

Trout Magnets are small soft plastic lures with a split halfway down the body. They are fished on small 1/64 oz jig heads and trout absolutely love them. They are also great for panfish like perch, crappie and bass.

Trout Magnets fall horizontally in the water, which is pretty unique, and is part of what makes them so deadly.

Fishing with Trout Magnets is very simple. Simply place them beneath a float and cast it out. If fishing a river, let the current carry the trout magnet along and wait for a strike. If fishing water, do the same thing but let it sit out there for a while. If you’re not getting any strikes, slowly reel it in using slight jigging motions. Trout Magnets are also very successfully fished during the ice fishing season.

The white color tends to work best, but they come in kits with 11 different colors, which is a great choice, as trout often prefer different colors on different days.

Want to learn more about Trout Magnets? Check out this article we wrote on best Trout Magnet colors and how to fish them.

Check out the video below for a great informative video that shows how to fish with the Trout Magnet.

Acme Kastmaster

Kastmasters are one of the most widely used trout spoons among anglers. Kastmasters are made from solid brass, and will outlast most other lures.

Spoons like the Kastmaster are great lures for trout, because they imitate a baitfish, something all trout feed on, and especially bigger trout.

Kastmasters are a very versatile lure and can be fished from shore, trolled, and vertically jigged from a boat, or under the ice.

We recommend starting with chrome or gold and having chrome/neon blue, chrome neon/green and copper as backups.

We recommend sizes 1/8 oz, 1/4 oz, or 3/8 oz sizes depending on how far you need to cast. Fish sometimes prefer smaller sizes, so test different sizes if one’s not working. For big trout, sizing up to 1/2 oz or even 3/4 oz is recommended.

Rapala Original Floater

The Rapala Original Floater jerkbait is one of the most popular trout lures of all time. It’s been fished by anglers all over the world for decades, and has been proven effective time and time again.

Especially effective on rivers and streams, the Rapala Original Floater can also be successfully fished on lakes, or even trolled behind a boat or kayak. The only downside to these jerkbaits is they don’t weigh much, which doesn’t let you cast them long distances. However, if you’re fishing a river, this shouldn’t be an issue.

This jerkbait comes in a variety of sizes, but we recommend the F05 or F07 for most trout fishing applications. The F05 and F07 are 5 centimeters and 7 centimeters, respectively. These sizes seem to work very well in most cases, but if you notice smaller or larger baitfish in the water and aren’t getting luck with the F05 and F07, consider downsizing or upsizing, or changing colors.

For colors, the natural brown trout, rainbow trout, or brook trout colors tend to work very well, as they closely imitate baitfish that trout are already feeding on. However, bright colors can also work well.

Yo-Zuri Pins Minnow

The Pins Minnow is another great and highly effective jerkbait with a narrow profile. They come in floating and sinking varieties with over 20 available colors and patterns to choose from, and feature a state of the art holographic foil finish, which helps to attract trout.

The floating Pins Minnow is best suited for shallow rivers, or when trout are feeding in shallow waters. Although they can be fished in lakes when the trout are feeding near the shore or near the surface.

They dive to a depth of 1-2 feet and come in three different sizes: 2 inch / 1/16 oz, 2 3/4 inches / 1/8 oz, and 3 1/2 inches / 1/4 oz. Although fairly small, these lures weigh a decent amount, enabling you to cast them further than similar sized jerkbaits.

The sinking Pins Minnow comes in two sizes 2 inch / 1/16 oz and 2 3/4 oz / 3/16 oz. Although they are a sinking jerkbait, they only dive to 2-3 feet, making these and the floating Pins Minnow ideal for more shallow water.

VMC Marabou Jig

A great hair jig for fishing for trout in colder waters, the VMC marabou jig is perfect for fall, winter, and spring fishing – best used for the weeks leading up to ice forming, as well as ice off fishing. It can also work great ice fishing as well.

The VMC Marabou Jig is one of the best marabou jigs on the market, coming in three sizes: 1/16 oz, 1/8 oz, and 1/4 oz. We recommend picking up all three sizes. The 1/8 oz size works great for most applications, but if you need to cast far, go with the 1/4 oz. The VMC Marabou Jig is unique in that it has a 60 degree rotated eye, which gives you better control over the lure.

As far as colors go, black marabou jigs work the majority of the time, with brown and olive coming in close second and third. Occasionally the trout will want something different like white, or multi-colored. We recommend having a variety of these colors in your tacklebox.

There are a number of techniques you can use to fish marabou jigs. Start by casting out and letting it sink for a few seconds. You’ll have to adjust this based on how deep the fish are. Once it’s at the right depth you can try a consistent retrieve, although jigging it in, or pausing occasionally tends to work better. Trout will often take the jig on the fall, so keep a close eye on your line, always keep the slack out, and be ready to set the hook!

To learn more about marabou jigs, check out this article we wrote about fishing with marabou jigs for trout.

Flies

Flies are one of the most widely used lures for trout. Flies are one of the main things trout feed on, and will almost always work, as long as you match the hatch and present the fly in a natural way without spooking the fish.

Although matching the hatch is typically the most common method for picking a fly, using terrestrial patterns can work well when the fish aren’t feeding on the usual flies.

Terrestrial flies that can work well for trout include: grasshoppers, ants, beetles, cicadas, crickets, etc.

Other common flies for trout include: parachute adams, san juan worm, elk hair caddis, pheasant tail, stimulator, hare’s ear, zebra midge, woolly bugger.

Dry flies can work year round, but winter fishing for trout is a bit different, as they aren’t as active and won’t feed on the surface of the water as much. For this reason, midges are an excellent choice for winter fly fishing.

As mentioned above, matching the hatch is one of the best ways to catch trout on the fly. When you arrive at the river, or body of water you’re fishing, look around for flies in the air or on the surface of the water. Try to catch one and then take a look in your fly box to see what matches it the closest. This method is a tried and true method for fly fishing, and is highly recommended.

Tube Jigs

Tube jigs are an excellent lure that can be used year round and are a particularly great lure for ice fishing and vertical jigging. Common sizes range from 1-3 inches. Common colors include white, green, brown, salt and pepper, and chartreuse. As far as jig head size, a 1/8 oz to 3/8 oz works well for most tubes in the 2-3 inch range.

For shore fishing, tube jigs work best in colder water in the spring, fall and winter, when the fish are close to shore and feeding shallow. A common method for shore fishing with a tube jig is to tie the tube about 3 feet below a slip bobber. You can adjust this length as needed, depending on how deep the fish are.

To fish with this set up, cast it out and slowly reel or twitch it back in, making sure to keep the slack out of your line. Keep your eye glued to the bobber and watch for any unnatural movement.

Make sure to tip your tube jib with cut bait, worms, or other popular trout bait, in order to further entice the fish to strike. Often times, the trout will mouth the jig and spit it out if it’s not tipped with any bait.

If you’re ice fishing, or vertical jigging from a boat, consistent jigging tends to work best, but dead sticking can also work great when the trout are finicky.

Types of Trout Lures

There are many different types of lures used for targeting trout. Popular lure categories include: soft plastics (soft baits), hard baits, flies, spoons, spinners, and marabou jigs (aka hair jigs).

All of these types of lures can be very effective, but choosing which one to use will depend on water depth, vegetation/underwater structure, forage present, and time of year.

Soft Plastics

Soft plastics encompass a wide variety of lures like trout magnets, curly tail jigs, tube jigs, swimbaits, etc. Soft plastics are some of the most versatile trout lures out there. Fish them in rivers, on lakes or under the ice in the winter.

Hard Baits

Hard baits mainly refers to crankbaits and jerkbaits, both of which are excellent lures used to catch large trout in both rivers and lakes. There are many types of hard baits, and choosing the right one depends on how deep the trout are. Different styles of bills will cause the bait to dive deeper, so keep that in mind when selecting hard baits.

Flies

Flies (and their larvae) are one of the main food sources for trout, making them one of the best lures to use when targeting trout. Flies can be fished on streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, and even as an ice fishing lure.

Spoons

Great for trolling or casting long distances from shore, spoons are always a great choice for fishing for trout in lakes. Spoons imitate bait fish, which makes them a perfect lure for targeting bigger trout.

Spinners

Perfect for fishing streams, rivers, ponds and any other small bodies of water. Spinners can also be very effective on larger bodies of water. Fishing larger bodies of water will require a heavier spinner to cast it out farther. Trolling spinners can also be an effective technique.

Marabou Jigs

This hair jig, is a great lure for trout, and knocks them dead during ice off conditions, as well as the weeks leading up to ice forming. Black, brown and olive are typically the best colors of marabou jigs to use. Cast it out and let it sink for 5-10 seconds depending on how deep the water is, and slowly jig it in, utilizing slight pauses. Strikes often happen on the drop, so be ready to set the hook!

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the best trout lure for rivers and streams?

Flies are typically the best lure to use to catch trout on streams, creeks and rivers. This is partly because flies are a main part of a trout’s diet. Another reason flies work great, is they don’t get hung up as much as other lures like hard baits or spinners, making them “easier” to fish with in shallow water.

With that said, you can use any other lure listed in this article in rivers and streams, if the water is deep enough.

Your best bet to catching trout in rivers is to match the hatch. Look for what flies or insects are present, and use a fly or other lure that imitates it. This is true for trout fishing in general, and is something important you should always keep in mind.

Which lure colors are best for trout?

It is hard to give a definitive answer on what colors are best, as it varies so widely depending on water conditions, forage present, time of day, and time of the year. Matching the hatch and experimenting with different colors will be your best bet.

There are, however, some colors that tend to work better than others, depending on what lure you’re using.

For spoons and spinners, gold, silver, brass and chrome will typically work in most situatuions.

For hard baits, natural colors that imitate baitfish present in the water your fishing is a good option. Silver or chrome are also great choices.

For soft plastics, colors like white, green, chartreuse and glow are typically solid choices.

For marabou jigs, darker colors tend to work best. Start with black, and then try brown or olive. White marabou jigs can also be a good choice as well if the darker colors aren’t working.

For flies, try to match the hatch, or use natural colors like brown, grey, black, or tan.

What is the best ice fishing lure for trout?

This is a tricky question, as there are many different lures that are effective for ice fishing. In general, small soft plastics like tube jigs, trout magnets, paddle bugs, ratsos, and curly tail jigs.

Small tungsten jigs tipped with a worm or small larvae like meal worms, wax worms or maggots also work great when the trout are less active.

Marabou jigs and spoons like kastmasters or swedish pimples can work great to entice a reaction strike. These lures also work great to draw in trout and attract attention.

What is the best trout lure for winter?

Although trout are cold water fish, they become sluggish and slow down in the winter time. For this reason, it’s best to use lures that can be presented in a slower manner. Letting PowerBait or worms float a few feet off the bottom is a great technique.

As far as lures go, tube jigs and other soft plastics that can be slowly worked in under a slip bobber work great.

Jerkbaits and crankbaits can also be used with a slower retrieve and incorporating pauses and twitches.

Wide spoons and spinners also work great, as they can be retrieved at a slow pace, which is perfect for sluggish winter trout.

What is the best trout lure for trolling?

In general, hard baits like jerkbaits or crankbaits, and spoons/spinners are going to be best for trolling. These lures give off good action that entices trout to bite, and can be fished at higher speeds, which lets you cover more water.