Never give up for fishing success

Guide shares key to catching trout no matter what

How many times have you hit the water, excited about the opportunities to pad the freezer with some specks, only to find the fishing brutally tough?

What do you do? Head back to the camp to cool off, or just stick it out and perhaps end up with nothing but a sunburn for your efforts?

If we’re honest, most of us are ready to throw in the towel after a couple of slow hours, but fishing guide Capt. Marty LaCoste said that’s the worst thing to do.

“I think most of the weekend warriors don’t have the drive, and they get frustrated,” LaCoste said. “You have to work and work and keep going at it until you find fish.

I don’t look at the (tide) charts. I don’t look at the wind,” LaCoste said. “I go. I go, and I look around until I find (active fish). They’re going to bite at some point.”

Because he’s on the water pretty much every day, the owner of Absolute Fishing Charters knows there are spots that are consistent producers, so he definitely hits those areas.

But when fishing gets tough it’s important that an angler not camp out at his favorite hole.

“You have to keep moving and stay on clean water,” LaCoste said.

And those hotspots he’s identified over his years of fishing his home waters?

“If it’s an area where I consistently catch (trout), I’ll keep going back,” LaCoste said. “I might go to a spot three or four times a day, and eventually I’ll catch them there.”

The key, he said, is to have the right mindset.

“My philosophy is, ‘You’ve got to go to know,’” he said. “You learn something new every time you get out on the water.”

Also, don’t gauge trips by whether or not limits were caught.

On one of those hard days, when you catch 10 trout, that’s a good day.