The "Power"ful bait

There are lots of natural baits I have used when fishing for trout, from worms to crayfish to minnows to everything in between. The thing is, most of my bait fishing is done for hatchery trout. Although I will sometimes dangle a worm for a wild brown, most of the time I fly fish or cast/troll lures to wild trout. This largely has to do with the fact that most of my wild-trout only fishing places (Deschutes River, Oak Grove Fork) are artificials-only. Of course, hatchery trout fishing is synonymous with one word. Or should I say, brand. Powerbait.

         

Powerbait is interesting bait. For those who don’t know, it is a little paste that comes in a jar. It is primarily effective for hatchery trout, as opposed to their wild brethren. As a result, Powerbait is usually the most effective immediately after stocking, when the hatchery trout have yet to develop a taste for insects and minnows. Nobody really knows why hatchery trout love this stuff, or how its manufacturer, Berkeley, figured out how to make it. In fact, virtually no one even knows what it contains. It comes in a myriad of colors, including chartreuse, orange, yellow, brown, rainbow, white, and even a “Captain America” color that has caught nothing. In general, my favorite colors are the chartreuse and rainbow, although different people have different ones. To fish Powerbait effectively, either use a #8-12 single or treble hook. Mold a small amount of the bait around the hook.. It can either be fished from the bottom or under a bobber, although weight is required, as Powerbait floats. In general, you want to find the right amount of bait to keep the Powerbait at around the middle of the water column, although different conditions require different methods. Hatchery trout of all sizes love this stuff, from fish of this size....

To ones of this size....

Okay, maybe 24 inches isn't THAT impressive. Still, the effectiveness of Powerbait is not to be debated. Still, there are a few problems that the bait has. One, it's messy as crap. My sparkly chartreuse cargo shorts used to be tan before I went trout fishing. Getting this stuff on the hook and in the water without looking like your clothes got raped by the villain Clayface from Batman is nearly impossible. Thankfully, it comes in pre-molded nuggets. However, these are usually a little too big to be effectively used without the trout nibbling off all the bait. Thankfully, they can easily be broken apart into smaller pieces without being messy to work with. Many people say the nuggets do not work as well as the paste, and I doubt this. However, there were days where the paste worked better for me, although it could have to do with other reasons.

The other thing that drives me crazy about Powerbait is that it hardly stays on the hook. Nothing is more frustrating than casting your line out, watching it soar across the water, and seeing the bait fly the opposite direction from your line. Even worse is when you don't see it. I have tried "treating" the Powerbait in numerous ways to make it more durable. These methods have included leaving it to dry in the sun for an hour, wetting it, mixing it with other materials, and screaming in frustration at the little jar in front of everyone at Trilium. Finally, something struck me as I was reading an article on spawn sacks. The idea of wrapping the eggs in mesh to make them easier to fish seemed like an idea I could apply to Powerbait. So I bought some red mesh and rainbow Powerbait and got to work.

They worked pretty well. They stayed on the hook exceptionally well, and caught plenty of fish too. I could even use the same bait more than once, as the fish would actually be unable to swallow it or rip it off the hook. 

In conclusion, Powerbait is not a perfect bait. It has many disadvantages, but most of them can be overcome. I highly recommend it for any angler, seasoned or beginning.