Many anglers enjoy fishing for trout. When I say 'fishing for trout', I'm referring to fishing for the four main species of trout: brook, brown, cutthroat, and rainbow. Many anglers, including myself, spend a lot of time in rivers and streams chasing these beautiful fish. If you've never had the pleasure of experiencing catching an 18+ inch trout in the flowing waters of a river or stream using ultra light fishing gear, put it on the top of your "to do" list. It's easily one of the most enjoyable things that you can do with your clothes on!

There are a few tips that will enable you to catch more trout when you're out fishing, and I'll explain a few of those tips in this article. The first tip as far as trout fishing is concerned is to use gang hooks for your bait presentation, rather that a single hook. Gang hooks are simply a pair of hooks tied in tandem, which enable you to present live bait (especially worms), in a completely natural manner. And if you're a synthetic trout bait angler, gang hooks enable you to present twice as much bait!

If you fish for trout and don't use retractors, you should. A great tip for trout fishing is to have as much equipment as you can right at your fingertips. This is what retractors are great for…keeping your lightweight fishing equipment such as hemostats and nail clippers at your fingertips for easy access. The less time that you spend digging through your pockets, the more trout you will catch. Time spent digging through your pockets is time you could have been spending fishing for trout. A great tip for fishing for trout is to employ a retractor or two.

Trout can be a very finicky species of fish, so the more naturally bait smells the better. I don't know if you realize it or not, but the scents on our hands transfer to whatever bait we're using. How many trout do you think you will catch if your bait smells like a cigarette? Well, if you smoke, your bait smells like a cigarette! A good practice is to grab a handful of grass or dirt and rub it into your hands before baiting up. Even if you don't think you have any foreign smells on your hands, better safe than sorry, right?

When fishing for trout, these simple tips will help you catch more fish, there's no doubt about it. Remember what Steven Wright said of us anglers (no matter what kind of fish we attempt to catch), "There's a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore looking like an idiot." Our goal should be to avoid standing on the shore, looking like an idiot as much as possible. Because there's no question about the fact that quote is true. I know I've spent my share of time standing on the shore looking like something, and that something could well have been an idiot.