The great thing about trout fishing in the fall is the aggressive nature of trout and their eagerness to hit just about anything that moves across their path. Many anglers realize that artificial lures offer some great advantages to finding and catching trout that live bait cannot offer. The primary advantage is the ability to cover a large area with ease and locate schools of fish that will allow you to catch large numbers of fish. My brother Tim fished last Saturday by himself. He located a school of trout, while casting a grub, and caught over 30 fish, catching six fish on his last six casts. Artificial lures allow you to fan cast an area to see if there are any fish and work large areas of a bank without having to worry about killing or casting your bait off of the hook. Artificial lures also allow you to troll long stretches of productive rivers, until you find the fish.
Another, often overlooked, advantage of artificial lures is the ability to change your presentation quickly and being able to offer a variety of looks to the fish. In the morning hours, many times, the fish are feeding on or near the surface. A top-water lure can be create some great action. As the sun comes up many times the top-water bite slows and the fish feed lower in the water column and an artificial lure can help you to find where the fish are located. You can also mimick many different types of fish and shrimp the trout like to feed on with artificial bait without having to keep several different types of live bait on hand. The technology and design of artificial baits these days give you plenty of options that look almost life-like and some are even scented to smell like-like.
If you have never been able to develop any confidence in artificial lures and have always opted for live bait, the fall is a great time of year to try some different types of lures and find some that will work for you. There are many different types and styles. Checking out one of you local tackle shops and asking the questions will general