If you were to go fishing for trout in a river, a lake or anywhere would you use a spinner or simply go fly fishing. I've had more success using a simple silver spinner......

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Spinner...beats flies hands down. Why do you think spinning is banned on most trout fisheries all year round?
Bait fishing is allowed after the end of April but fly-fishing is a legitimate method from opening day through to the close season.
That would suggest to me that spinning and bait fishing are regarded as "overly efficient".

Spinner wins hands down 99% of the time.
Fly fishing is great fun and can extract fish from shallow water between overhanging trees that would be spooked by any other method but it's simply not the most efficient method most of the time.

Agree on spinner over fly for salmon. For trout it depends. On the Scottish river we have rods on spinner would not stand a chance against my wifes greenwells spider variant. We know we have tried it loads of times over the years. Not for the normal sized wee brown troot anyway. Spinner had great advantage though ..... you don't need to have clue whats going on in the water, and if trout is not something you fish for often this is good news. Now if we are talking maggots or worms v fly then the wrigglers win every time.

Why not do both?

Wet fly with a spinner in front and fished on a fly rod. Pre-spinning-rod that's the main way I pred fished.

There's no "right" answer to this. It all depends on the venue and the conditions.

Just about all my stillwater fishing for trout has been with the fly, as on the vast majority of such venues I've fished this has been the only method allowed. The times I've been able to spin or bait fish have been too few to qualify me to comment.

However, I have done a lot of small stream fishing for trout. Fly fishing has been ineffective for me in dirty water, but is great fun in clearer conditions, especially when you can cast to rising fish. It's not as difficult as some would have you believe.

By far the most difficult, and the most enjoyable, has been upstream fishing. I don't mean with a dry fly as that's relatively easy. Rather I mean fishing subsurface, whether it be with a nymph, spinner or bait. Controlling the tackle and keeping the right amount of tension on the line is a challenge. Spotting the takes, especially in coloured water is even more so!

Of all such venues I've fished, my fondest memories are of fishing a tiny jungle water called Bartley Mill Stream, near Lamberhurst in Kent. Anyone else fished it?

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Originally posted by Ken L:
Spinner wins hands down 99% of the time.
Fly fishing is great fun and can extract fish from shallow water between overhanging trees that would be spooked by any other method but it's simply not the most efficient method most of the time.

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Some waters prohibit the use of trebles, but it's easy enough to change to a single. Then IMHO a spinner's not much different from a fly, tackle & casting methods excepted of course

[ 08. January 2004, 12:41 PM: Message edited by: Suffolk Lad ]

I've got a few spinner-fly hybrids and they can be deadly, whats also good is something called a trout magnet (with a name like that it has to be good, right?) i picked them up in the states last time i was there, they're tiny brown rubber grubs on a tiny jig head that you just twitch on a gentle retrieve. most probably banned on most waters, cos they work too well!

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Originally posted by Andy Macfarlane:
Spinner...beats flies hands down. Why do you think spinning is banned on most trout fisheries all year round?

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How's about a single-hook fly-spinner then?


[ 08. January 2004, 12:44 PM: Message edited by: Suffolk Lad ]

I've had plenty of occasions on rivers when I've done well on a fly whilst other methods have struggled. I often chose my type of fishing simply by doing what I fancy on the day, it's a luxury those who choose not to Fly-fish don't have. Besides, and I know a lot will disagree with this, but I'm firmly in the 'catching is not everything' camp.