Small curly tail grubs in the 2″ to 3″ range work well for brown trout. Some anglers report success with even bigger curly tail grubs when fishing for brown trout in the Great Lakes. A simple jighead is the most common way to rig a curly tail grub for brown trout. Most anglers will swim the grub with a slow and steady retrieve for brown trout, but you can also hop these curly tail grubs along the bottom.
Finesse worms are known more as bass fishing lures, however, brown trout can definitely be caught with finesse worms. Brown trout can be tough to catch at times and finesse worms may not always be a good choice to help you catch more fish. If you do choose to use finesse worms, try using smaller worms in the 3 to 4 inch range.
Soft Plastic Minnows work for brown trout. A simple jighead or drop shot rig will work great with soft plastic minnows. While most anglers will troll for brown trout, you can vertical jig for these fish and have a lot of success if you can find schools of brown trout and stay on top of them with your boat. Ice fishing also works well.
Swimbaits definitely work well for brown trout. It is more common for anglers to fish with swimbaits when targeting brown trout in lakes compared to streams though. You can cast swimbaits or troll with them. When you do troll with swimbaits, make sure your trolling speed works with the action of the swimbait.
Swimming Worms will work for brown trout, especially the bigger brown trout than can be found in the Great Lakes. Try swimming a worm with a slow and steady retrieve and you should be able to tempt some brown trout into eating your bait. This bait is more effective when you can find brown trout feeding on schools of bait fish. The swimming worms like the one shown above do a great job of simulating a bait fish.
