How to Make Dough Balls for Trout Fishing [ Easy Steps for Fishing Success]

Last Updated on October 2, 2023 by Kyle Whitley

how to make dough balls for trout fishing

Making dough balls is a fun way to spend a day outdoors with family and friends.We will take a look at how to make dough balls for trout fishing.

 I’ll teach you how to make dough balls for trout fishing. This method is simple, inexpensive, and requires very little equipment.

If you’ve never made dough balls before, then you may not realize just how easy and simple it is. Once you try making dough balls, you’ll see why they’re so popular. And once you try making dough balls for trout fishing, you’ll wonder why you didn’t do this sooner!

DIY Dough Balls for Trout Fishing? 

Home-made dough baits are great for catching fish. Trout love these kinds of baits.

Other types of fish also eat them. To make your own homemade baits, you’ll need some basic ingredients.

Use flour, oats, garlic, eggs, and cheese. Add food coloring and fish flakes. Mix everything together.

Shape into dough balls and fry them in oil or butter. Trout dough balls are made up of flour, yeast, water, salt, and other ingredients.

You need to mix these ingredients together and let them sit until they rise. This process takes time, but once done, you’ll be ready to make your dough balls.

You can make dough balls for trout fishing with dog food or fish food. You can also use homemade bait for trout fishing. You can use dough balls as bait for trout fishing.

What is Trout Dough Bait?

Trout dough baits are easy to make, but they are also very effective. They resemble bread dough, and they are easily molded into balls.

These baits can be used by beginners because they are easy to mount on hooks.

Dough baits are usually the best for wild trout.  These baits really don’t resemble anything in nature but stocked trout are fed feed that resembles the dough baits we can make.

You will find that some recipes work better for some fish than others, and that is why each angler has his or her own version of it.

 

Why do Dough Balls Work Well with Stocked Trout?

Trout hatcheries start their fish in gradually increasing-sized tanks. Eventually, they’re moved to long concrete runs where they live out their lives. They’re fed fish food pellets.

These pellets have different ingredients mixed together. The hatchery fish develops a taste for this mixture of ingredients.

Some fish learn to eat natural food sources more quickly than others. They will eat insects, smaller fish, or leap out of the water when they see the latest hatch of bugs, depending on their age. Some trout aren’t as quick to catch on as others, they will continue to look for that daily handout until they find it.

That’s one reason why commercially available sticky bait is effective in some areas but not in others.

Native trout, which are spawned naturally in streams, will also hit dough balls as well. It’s just not quite as effective with naturally raised fish as it is with hatcheries.

What ingredients will I need to make dough balls for trout fishing?

Flour – Every bread needs flour, and it’s used for dough structure. Wheat flour proteins when mixed with liquid, such as water, form an elastic structure. Different kinds of flour have different protein content, which affects the final product.

Cronmeal – Gluten free breads are made from cornmeal instead of wheat flour. It’s also used in some foods that help fish hatcheries grow, so they’re used to the taste.

Food Coloring – live in clean water and visibility is not an issue. If you want, you can color your own bait using different colors to mimic trout’s natural bait.

Garlic – strong smell will spread far away from bait and attract fish from a distance. Also, carp like it.

Cheese and Cream Cheese If you are using cream cheese, you can use less liquid in your recipe, because cream cheese adds a bit of moisture. Trout, especially rainbow trout, like the taste of the dough, and it makes the batter easier to work with. Cheese contains fat which helps to disperse the scent of the cheese.

Trout Fishing Dough Balls in 5 Easy Steps

  1.  Ingredients – 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of oatmeal, 1/2 a cup of cream cheese, and 1 cup of sugar.  Mix all the dry ingredients together
  2.  Add in the cheese to the other dry ingredients.
  3.  Start adding the cup of water to the dry ingredients to make your dough. Add little by little until you get a smooth dough. When the consistency is just right, knead it for a few minutes longer to get the nice structure without dry parts.
  4.  Let the dough rest for a few minutes, and begin to boil a pot of water.  Break of pieces of the dough and form small balls about size of a dime or nickel
  5.   Cook for 2 minutes in the boiling water.

Afterward, let the cooked dough balls cool down and store them in an air tight container, or zip lock bag.

Fishing for Trout with Dough Balls?

The main thing to keep in mind when fishing for trout is the clear water you will be fishing.  Visibility is an issue in the sense that you need your tackle to be as invisible as possible,

That means using clear monofilament or fluorocarbon line in as thin a diameter as the fishing conditions allow.

That also means small hooks in the size 10 – 6 range.  

Trout dough balls work great on a simple bobber rig.  You want to keep the dough bait off of the bottom.  

Dough balls will last a good while on the hook if they were prepared correctly.

How to keep dough balls on the hook

Here are a few of the key steps to keeping the trout dough balls on your line and keep you fishing longer

Don’t let the dough balls slide off the hook too soon.

Properly cooked dough balls will remain on your hook for a good amount of time.  Make sure you use the right amounts of flour and cook (boil) them for long enough.  Keeping them firm is the key.

Use the right size hook for your homemade bait.

It is important that you use the correct size hook in the 6-10 size hook range.  The hooks are small enough to be easily concealed by the dough ball but tough enough to handle a decent-sized fish.

The right Tackle

Make sure you are using the correct tackle which means clear mono or fluorocarbon that isn’t easily seen by trout.  You will also want to use a sensitive enough rod that can feel a light strike.  

Use a 1 to 2-foot leader to help hide your mainline from the fish 

Which Smells Attract Trout

Trout are usually stocked from hatcheries and will tend to eat food that resembles the pellets they were raised eating. It usually means finding some sort of stinky food and corn-based.

For most trout anglers, garlic is the number one choice for baits. If you’re looking for other options, adding crushed fish flakes or pellets to your homemade bait is often an inexpensive and effective way of boosting the scent of your homemade bait. If you don‘t think your bait is strong enough once it’s been in the water, consider adding extra garlic powder or fish flakes to it.

Cheese is another good choice because it contains lots of fat and the smell dissipates quickly. You can use most kinds of cheese for dough baits, but shredded American cheese works best.

Summing it up: How to Make Dough Balls for Trout Fishing

In conclusion, trout fishing is a great pastime for anyone who enjoys nature. However, you need to know how to make dough balls for trout fishing. This will help you catch stocked trout, and simplify your fishing experience.  

References

Coastal Angler

Gone Outdoors