Northwest Fishing Reports

One of my favorite ways to bait fish for trout is what I call the “Ball&Crawl” (B&C). It is a combination of your favorite PowerBait (PB) and a fat nightcrawler. I prefer the Canadian Nightcrawlers. This combo can also be drenched with you favorite sauce. I will use Pro-Cure Trophy Trout scent or Anise. I have not tried their Nightcrawler bait sauce, but I have a feeling it would be a good scent too.
Now to do this take a nightcrawler, split it in half or thirds (depending on your hook size) and tip the hook with it (Pic 2). Then ball up your PB and press it onto the hook on the top end (Pic 3-4), leaving the nightcrawler hanging out (Pic 4). Fish this under a bobber or leader. I prefer on a leader with a slip weight and swivel. The leader being about 1’-2’ in length. Be careful when casting because like most PB, if you don’t have it on tight, it has a tendency to come off. Now sit back and wait for that “tick, tick” and set the hook. You’ll be catching fat bows in no time.


















*No nighcrawlers were harmed in the making of this post.



If you are a PB fisher already and want to try a new way to use PB on your hook, listen up. I was shown this by an old trout fisherman a couple of years ago and he swore by it. Instead of taking your PB and balling it up like you would normally do (Pic 1) squishing it on a hook, take a glob of PB and roll it in your palms into a snake or worm shape (Pic 2). Now put this on your hook (preferably a single hook set up) molding around it so to ensure that it won’t fall off (Pic 3-4). This technique works well for stockers and holdovers. Most trout don’t normally eat a big glob of goo, so by shaping into something familiar you are elevating doubt as to whether or not they should eat it. Combined with a great scent you can't go wrong. *Note - make sure to make the snake PB thick enough to float. Test it in shallow water before casting. I always like to dip my PB once before casting it to tighten it up.















If you like fishing with worms to tag big bows, I will also be throwing up a thread walkthrough titled “The Dreaded Threaded”. My favorite way to fish for trout. Coming soon……




fishnislife

Cool stuff. Without a doubt powerbait tipped with a natural flavor will usually always out fish just straight Powerbait. At a few of the lakes I fish at, PB and a worm has caught me my biggest bow from that body of water...

That's good info!

Here's another tip: Lastyear I discovered that sickle hooks hold powerbait much better than traditional round-bend hooks.
http://www.staminainc.com/hooks/matzuo/ ... ickle.html

Hillbilly........What size do you use? Are they small enough for Trout?

Thanks, Kokonuts

Kokonuts wrote:Hillbilly........What size do you use? Are they small enough for Trout?

Thanks, Kokonuts

Size 6 works great for trout. I use red hooks, but I doubt if the color matters much. Sickle hooks have shorter shanks than round-bend hooks, so if you usually use a size 8 round-bend, you'll probably like a size 6 sickle.

Whatever happened to just balling powerbait up on a treble hook?#-o

I use a size 8 egg hook with a yellow mallo then a ball of rainbow powerbait then 2 salmon eggs.

I almost invariably use some sort of combo platter for whatever setup I'm using when trouting. But that platter changes from lake to lake

HillbillyGeek wrote:That's good info!

Here's another tip: Lastyear I discovered that sickle hooks hold powerbait much better than traditional round-bend hooks.
http://www.staminainc.com/hooks/matzuo/ ... ickle.html

Good call on the hooks Hillbilly. Those will work great for the B&C. Thanks man. So when are we goin fishn? :thumleft:


fishnislife

personally, i prefer powereggs myself.

I can cast as far/hard as i want, without worrying about the bait coming off.

Nice tip. The ball and crawl also works with maggots. I have used it for years now and its deadly.

FishingFool wrote:personally, i prefer powereggs myself.

I can cast as far/hard as i want, without worrying about the bait coming off.

Yeah but there is nothing like an inflated worm with a little powerbait dough on the end. It works well at Beaver.

I like that name fishnislife. I have also been doing that for a while. Never heard the name 'ball and crawl' though lol. I will have to use that more often. Some old timers swear by rolling powerbait into a worm technique. I still dont know how to cast it out.

i do the same thing some times, but i use a worm threader and put the worm on the line the the power bait it got us our biggest trout ever this way when everyone else was useing power bait on trebles. it was 27'" little things sometimes make the biggest differences:-k

I don't know if it makes that much of a difference after all trout are usually pretty stupid.

Derrick-k wrote:I don't know if it makes that much of a difference after all trout are usually pretty stupid.

Hatchery trout= yes. But not wild rainbows living in natural lakes or streams...

Derrick-k wrote:I don't know if it makes that much of a difference after all trout are usually pretty stupid.

Makes a ton of difference. If trout are that stupid, throw a rock out there and see how you do. I think the little things make all the difference. Sam is right, stocker trout will hit your glob PB or even a cigerette butt, but if your happy catching 8-12" trout all the time that's cool with me. Holdovers and natives are a lot smarter and are very selective. Most won't even eat PB.


fishnislife

What I'm saying is that a lot of people tend to over think trout fishing when a lot of times spinner and a worm or worms under bobbers will work just as well as any other bait.

As far as natives being smart yes they usually are a bit smarter but it depends on how muck they have been eating, in small creeks they are usually skinny and will bite a properly presented bait.

Derrick-k wrote: As far as natives being smart yes they usually are a bit smarter but it depends on how muck they have been eating, in small creeks they are usually skinny and will bite a properly presented bait.

A bit smarter??? They are usually much smarter when they haven't spent a bunch of months living with hundreds of over trout in cement pens and eating formula mix all their life....

I always enjoy reading these threads on here they tend to get pretty entertaining. But really good tip on the Ball&Crawl. I will definatly give a shot.