I do a lot of small stream trout fishing so I wanted to go over the best trout lures for streams. Note that this is just what works best for me and is what I use most of the time. In my bag I usually carry a bit of everything: my small soft plastics, my spoons, my spinners, and my jerk baits. However, this year I consolidated it all into one smaller tray. However, these lures make up what I use for probably over ninety percent of the time for small streams. When I say small streams, i’m generally talking small mountain streams usually about 30 feet or less, with wild or stocked trout, or bass especially as you get down South.
Size
First, you really want to downsize when you are small stream trout fishing so you will notice that the lures I feature below are all very small. I usually go for the smallest spoon or spinner or whatever it is that I want to buy. This is because the fish are generally used to eating tiny pellets from the hatchery before they are stocked. Therefore, if you’re throwing in anything too big they just aren’t going to eat it.
Shape
Next, I’m definitely a spoon guy in the small streams. This is largely because with spinners there’s not a lot you can do with them in my opinion. Spoons are much more versatile. You can throw them upstream, you can let them float down, you can jig them, you can jerk them, etc. Whereas with spinners, all you can do is basically just reel them in. You can vary your speed but that’s about it. Also, most of the time when you’re small stream fishing you want to work upstream because the fish are facing upstream. Since the fish are facing upstream you want to target them from the back and spoons are better for doing that.
Color
Finally, when choosing bait for small stream trout fishing, although really just trout and bass fishing in general, there are two things to keep in mind when it comes to color. You may have already heard this rule a lot: “Match the hatch but when in doubt, freak ’em out!” Therefore, you will usually want to buy one or two natural colors like gold and silver or black and white. In addition, you will also want some wild and crazy off the wall color. I’m not really sure why that is but a lot of time when the fish are not biting the natural colors, they’ll bite something crazy. I suppose it’s primarily just because they stick out.
Best Trout Lures For Small Streams
My first go-to lure is absolutely the ACME Phoebe Spoon. I have silver and gold and these are the main two colors I use. One of the things I really like about these in particular is the swivel that they come with. When I use these swivels I tend to catch more fish. This is because they’re so small they don’t tend to bother the fish at all so I highly recommend using the swivels they come with.
Another advantage with using the swivel is that it will make changing the swivels faster and easier. However, the biggest advantage is the lures are able to twist and turn very well in the water. In my opinion, it will really mess up your line and cost you fish if you don’t use the swivels. This applies for both the spoons and the spinners.
My next go-to is definitely the ACME Kastmaster. The 1/24 ounce is my favorite as I generally go for the smallest ones possible. I also have the 1/8 and 1/12 ones. Therefore, I recommend this tackle kit here which comes with a variety of sizes. However I’d say I use the larger ones more when I’m in ponds just because you can cast them further.
With that said, the 1/24 ones are hard to come by and you don’t necessarily need the Kastmaster brand so also have the Eagle Claw 1/16 oz which will work great as well. It is a knock-off brand so it’s usually a couple bucks cheaper but again they work pretty much just as well. However, I do get the Kastmaster brand when I can though, just because they are sort of hard to come by.
These will work really great as jigging spoons, they work great under the ice, and they can cast really really far, even for their small size. They also do a great job of mimicking the bait in small streams. You’ll notice that bait in the small streams is generally more of a minnow profile shape, as opposed to a bulkier, shad shape for example. I keep those types in my tackle box as well, though I generally them use more in lakes as they are rounder and mimick the shad shaped bait in the lakes better..
You’ve probably heard of these if you’re familiar at all with small stream trout fishing. The trout fishing magnets are really sort of taking the world by storm, being called the ‘sancto of trout fishing’. They really do work really, really great.
This kit features 7 different colors: white, green, gold, pink, lime green, hot pink, and a multi-color green/orange. The green, white, and gold are nice ‘match the hatch’ type colors. The white looks exactly like larvae, green looks like some sort of bug, and the gold is a natural color that looks like some sort of bait fishing bug. Next, I’d say the pink is sort of a transition color. The other three are your ‘freak ’em out’ colors, there’s nothing in the small streams that look like those.
The kit also comes with hooks, everything you’ll need, is very easy to rig, and very easy to use. If the fish aren’t biting on one color you can just switch to another color. These things are really sort of cheating if you’re in an artificial lures only section since they work just as good if not better than live bait most of the time. They’re really worth it for the price too considering how long it will last you.
The Sassy Shad mimicks the dace, which is the main food source in most of these small streams. They’re black on the top and white or silver on the bottom, and looks just like a dace. I also have a crazy looking lime-green one that looks like absolutely nothing else in the water so it throws the fish off and really gets a lot of attention. I’ll use the black and white one most of the time but when they are not biting the natural colors I’ll go for a wild and crazy color like the lime-green I mentioned..
When it comes to the best trout lures for small streams, like I mentioned I definitely throw spoons most of the time. They are my go-to but I do sometimes throw spinners too. The Panther Martins are definitely my favorite spinner for small stream fishing.
They are very small and I’d say the gold ones are definitely what I am best with. Therefore, I would say it’s worth it to spend the extra couple bucks and get the gold plated spinner because they just cause so much flash. When you see them coming through the water, it’s just a giant spiral of flash that this thing puts off and it really is neat to see and the fish seem to really like it too. I also have a white Panther Martin which you can check out if you click the link but I definitely do better with the gold most of the time.
This is probably my second go-to spinner behind the Panther Martin, the Blue Fox Vibrax. These are relatively inexpensive and and work really well. I also have a silver blue fox spinner. Give it a shot, they work great, they spin really well, and they are cheap.
The Mini-Mite is absolutely killer for brook trout. You can generally only buy them during the ice season, they are somewhat expensive. They do snag up a bit but the good thing is the hooks are so thin they can bend out pretty easily.
I was turned onto these recently when my friend was just nailing brook trout, one after the other, after the other. I finally had to ask him, “Dude, what are you using?” He was using these and is the one that really led me onto these. They work for all kinds of trout but again, especially great for brook trout – better than live bait most of the time. They are really an ice fishing lure but I think they work better in the small stream trout setting.
Rooster Tails are what most people throw, at least in my area. Obviously people wouldn’t throw them if they didn’t work, so they do work and I’d say I generally do best with the black color. While it is very popular I only use it sometimes. In my experience, since they are so popular right now, once the fish get caught on it a couple times they tend to learn their lesson the next time.
When it comes to crank baits, you’ve got to have a classic Rebel Wee Craw for Trout. This is just a classic small stream trout and bass lure. The green is my favorite color. These are the smallest craw and works great. Live crawfish are in these streams, trout is going to go after the smaller crawfish, and these look just like a little small crawfish. I’ll step it up if I’m specifically fishing for bass and use bigger ones but in a small stream I like using the little tiny ones.
I hope I was able to help you find the perfect lure for your next small stream fishing adventure. Feel free to leave a comment or question at the bottom of the page, or check out some of my beginners guides such as how to crimp a fishing line, or more of my buyer guides.