How To Fish the Trout Magnet with Jeff Smith

February 21, 2023

How To Fish the Trout Magnet with Jeff Smith

By Phillip Gentry

 

Cold water trout fishing is an addictive past-time. Just ask Leland Lures owner, Jeff Smith. Even when Smith is sitting in a deer stand, duck blind, or working over a brush pile for slab crappie, part of his mind is still on the Little Red River, a trout-infested 102-mile-long river that flows through White, Van Buren, Searcy, Stone and Cleburne counties in north-central Arkansas.

The river is annually stocked with rainbow trout by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Rainbows make up the bulk of the trout population in the Little Red River, but the waters flowing from the dam at Greers Ferry also offer a sustainable reproducing population of brown trout.

“Rainbows are a very social fish,” said Smith. “Where you catch one, you’re very likely to catch more and these fish love to hang near the bottom of the river behind a piece of wood structure and see what the current brings.”

The secret to defeating a trout’s keen eyesight is extreme light line and a natural presentation.

“Brown trout are predators,” he said. “The rainbows like to hold in the eddies of a large river pool, but the browns are solitary hunters who lay in wait in a riffle along an undercut bank and attack prey.”

Smith’s affinity for the trout that call the Little Red home encouraged him to develop the Trout Magnet, one of Leland Lures most popular products and deadly on cold water trout wherever they are found. In fact, the Trout Magnet brand offers an entire trout fishing system that catches trout right out of the package.

“Trout live in extremely clear water and one of the biggest obstacles to catching them is defeating their eyesight,” said Smith. “Trout Magnets work ideally on 2-pound test line and must be presented in the most natural manner possible, which means just off the bottom and the bait has to hang level and move with the current. I even tip the ultralight line with an 18-inch length of 2 pound fluorocarbon. Their eyesight is that good and the length of fluorocarbon makes the line disappear.”

Trout Magnet offers a kit with all the components you need to start catching trout.

The trout magnet jig head unlocks part of the secret to a perfect presentation. No matter how you tie the 1/64^th oz head on the line, the jig rides level, like a natural bait. To assist with a natural flow, the bait is suspended from a tiny thumbnail sized float called an E-Z Trout Float, which also doubles as a strike indicator.

“The float is adjusted so the Trout Magnet bait rides just inches off the bottom,” said Smith. “Cast the rig upstream and allow the float to go with the flow, occasionally twitching the float to make sure the bait is moving sideways with the current, like an injured baitfish or invertebrate.”

Smith cautioned anglers against keeping a tight line, which impedes the movement of the bait, but to keep enough tension on the line that the float stop is pointing in the angler’s direction.

Leland Lures and B’n’M partnered to produce the Leland’s TCB, an ultralight rod designed to catch trout, crappie and bream.

Two-pound test line, a 1/64^th ounce jig head and picky fish may sound like a recipe for disaster, but Smith said it takes the right rod to bring the whole thing together. This is why Smith approached B’n’M Poles with a formula for a new rod. The rod is called the Leland’s TCB (trout, crappie, bream). B’n’M teamed with Leland Lures to produce an ultralight 6 ½ foot, 2-piece premium graphite rod with the sensitivity to fish lightweight lures on super light line, but with the strength to wrestle a 6-pound trout out of heavy current.

“The result of our partnership was a rod that excelled in everything I wanted in a spinning rod to catch trout, plus some additional features that make is a great crappie and panfish rod,” said Smith.

The rods split handle and distinctively designed reel seat reduces much of the rods weight and feels great, even after a day of casting for and catching hefty trout.

To experience the feel of the Leland’s TCB, visit your local B’n’M dealer and take one for a test drive. For all of your trout fishing needs, be sure to visit the Trout Magnet website at troutmagnet.com and get outfitted for one of the deadliest trout catching tactics that catches cold water trout anywhere they’re found.

Wherever fishing takes you, B’n’M has been there. Check out the Leland’s TCB rod and our newest product offerings in our 2023 catalog or online at bnmpoles.com

  

 

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