At this time of year, many anglers are reserved to fishing for trout from the bank of their favorite lake. We don't have the luxury of a boat and the rivers and streams are too high and muddy to fish effectively. So fishing from shore for trout is one of our only options, if we want to catch some fish. Luckily this isn't too daunting of a position to be in, especially when fishing for trout from shore usually means fishing for stocked trout.

Given a choice, I'll always fish for native trout rather than stocked trout, but again in the spring of the year there's not a lot of options. So we fish from shore. Although you can throw spinners and lures from shore in search of trout, I've always found still fishing to be much more effective. Still fishing with either live bait or synthetic bait has always been an effective technique for me.

Most anglers know how to rig a still fishing setup, but just for arguments sake, I'm going to spell it out. Begin by grabbing the end of your line and threading the line through an egg sinker. Now tie on a small barrel swivel (the barrel swivel act as a "stopper for the weight as well). The weight should be able to slide on the line freely. Now tie a set of gang hooks onto the other end of the barrel swivel. I suggest using #8 or #10 gang hooks. If you don't have gang hooks, you need to add a small hook to a piece of line and tie that onto the barrel swivel. This is now your still fishing rig. As you can see, it allows the fish to feel no resistance from the weight when biting your bait (this is key).

Simply cast this setup out, let it sink to the bottom, and wait. I usually give the fish 30-45 minutes and check my bait to make sure its still there. Then I re-cast, give it another 30-45 minutes. If I've received no bites in that amount of time, I change baits or move. In this amount of time, if there are fish around, you should receive a bite.

The techniques described above is the most effective way of catching trout from the bank. I always begin with either a live worm or Powerbait as my bait, and always use a set of gang hooks to increase my chances. Get out there and give it a shot, and remember what Steven Wright said of us fishermen, "There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore looking like an idiot."