Much as been written about the trout in Minnesota’s iron ore pits, and they deserve it.  These revamped mines may be the biggest Cinderella story in Minnesota fishing history.  But iron ore pits are not the only lakes with stream trout in them.  There are many natural lakes in our state managed for trout as well. Fishing for trout in lakes can be excellent.But, unfortunately, some people get the impression these trout will jump out and bite a bare hook.  Far from it.  In fact, during the summer a person fishing off the shore may wonder if there are any trout at all in these waters.

The reason for this is trout are very temperature cautious.  During the summer the surface and shallows are often too warm for the trout.  Usually they are down cooling their fins in deep water.  But in the spring and, now, in the fall, these stocked trout move shallow and cruise in search of food.  From now until season closes the shore fishing will get much better.

Another reason trout, especially brook trout, move shallow in the fall is that is when they spawn.  No natural reproduction has occurred in lakes or pits, but the brookies sometimes go through mock spawning runs. In iron ore pits you’ll often see groups of male brookies escorting a female, all of them showing spawning behavior.  And when you cut them open to clean them, the eggs in the females are mature, and the males are full of milt.

These schooled trout can get very competitive and will try to beat each other to each little morsel of food.  Watch for groups of roving trout just under the surface.  When you see them, cast a bright spinner or bait right into them and let it settle.  Many times it will be race to see which trout can nail it first.
You will find that large schools of trout are more competitive than small groups.  In fact, bunches of six trout or less may ignore your lure completely.  In that case, just keep casting to them and bother them until one can’t resist any longer.

It takes a fast rod and accurate caster to be really good at this kind of fishing.  Use an ultralight spinning rod and 4-pound test clear monofilament line.  Heavier line makes it difficult to cast light lures very far.

My favorite lure is a small orange Worden’s Worry spinner with a silver blade. Any similar spinner will work, too.  Live bait can be really deadly.  Worms and crawlers are the most popular, but I’ll bet grasshoppers would work fine. Some people even use “grocery baits”, such as marshmallows and canned corn kernels.

So if you enjoy fast and easy fishing, fall trout fishing is the thing for you.  A list of managed trout lakes and their locations is available at MN DNR website.

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