There is one swimbait that started the “S” swimmer revolution and whose simplicity is its genius.    The Triple Trout is an absolute staple in our swimbait fishing, our practice approach to tournament swimbait fishing, and a bait that compliments our efforts to explore big and small bait fishing.  The 10″ Triple Trout is a BIGBAIT and probably one of the more tiring lures you’ll ever commit to and learn to fish.  This bait can be a workout to fish, which is all the better because most don’t have the nerve, the physical conditioning or the guts to commit to a bait like the 10″ Triple Trout.

The Triple Trout is hand crafted, painted, and tuned in Long Beach, California.  Scott Whitmer is the man behind the 22^nd Century Bait Company (named in relation to a song from “the Briefs”) .  Scott is old school in the Southern California trophy scene, and Scott continues to have fun with his fishing (well, he doesn’t fish anymore, according to him) and bait designs.

Here is a picture of Scott, from out interview session that was featured in Southern Trout Eaters:

Scott’s style is very Southern Californian.  Long Beach in fact.  In South Orange County, we have a punk rock scene, but Long Beach always seemed a bit more rockabilly and 50’s greaser style, which is cool with us and we share a lot of mutual DNA.   Scott is a craftsman.  He has a strong and loyal following.  He prefers to keep a low profile and make baits and quietly expand his business.  His baits catch fish, period, and there it was no accident that Scott and his baits (the Triple Trout and Nezumaa Rat) were featured in our film, Southern Trout Eaters.  The film leaves no doubt of the 10″ baits effectiveness for big fish and numbers, and covers topics like changing tails and shows us fishing and catching some serious studs on it.

The Triple Trout was conceived around being a jointed swimmer that required no bill and provided switchback and erratic jerkbait like actions and stalls that would fire up the Southern California trout eaters to chase and eat.    There is something special about the 10” Triple Trout.  It’s a known big fish bait, getting it done in places like Diamond Valley, Casitas, the Castaics, Don Pedro, San Vicente, Clear Lake to name a few.   Our message is around simplification.  The Triple Trout is on a short list of baits that have proven themselves to catch teen and double digit sized fish consistently—AND it’s a HARDBAIT.  There are a LOT of JUNK hardbaits out there, so pay attention to the ones that are actually catching fish.  That says it all right there.  You have to separate baits that actually have caught really big ones into a separate buckets and then analyze soft vs. hard baits.   The Huddleston, The Triple Trout, 3:16 Baits by Mickey Ellis, the Lunker Punker, MS Slammer,  and Rago Baits pretty much cover 95% of fish catches on bigbaits when you drill into it.

Our Film, Southern Trout Eaters,  explores fishing the Triple Trout for the Blue Ridge and Ozark Mountain trout eaters.  There is no doubt that bass in the MidWest and South are crazy and fired up about the Triple Trout.   We have been throwing the Triple Trout since 2005 in the South, and it’s a bait we’ve put the most time throwing, next to the Huddleston Deluxe family of baits.    We’ve caught the trout eaters on the Triple Trout, but the really exciting stuff is catching the blueback herring eaters, the big gizzard shad eaters, the brim/perch eaters, etc with the Triple Trouts as well.   There are 6-7-8-10″ versions of the Triple Trout, and you can expect us to have a write-up for each.

Gear for fishing the 10″ Triple Trout:

Rod:  GLoomis 966 BBR

Reel:  Shimano Calcutta 400 TE

Line:  P-Line CXX Xtra Strong Moss Green, 30 Pound

Hooks:  Owner ST-36  (3/0 up front and 2/0 in the rear)

Split Rings:  #6 Owner Hyper Wire Split Rings

Strengths:   The 10” is an excellent BIG FISH bait.  Double digits, teens, and the 7-8-9 pound fish will eat this bait.  You can cover a ton of water with the Triple Trout and look for followers and movement to understand what reaction the fish have a bigbait.  Excellent durability and fishability.  Can be fished at night, good thumping swim.

Ideal Conditions:   Water temps above 60 degrees or so.   The warmer the water, the better for the Triple Trout.  The fish need to be in a chasing, topwater, or otherwise positive mood where they’ll move to get a bait.   You create the bite with the Triple Trout at times, using a start stop and jerk bait like retrieve to turn neutral or negative fish into biters.   The clearer the water the better, but don’t fool yourself, this bait has enough thump and vibration  and color choices that even the dirty water guys will be impressed.

Notes:   If you want to get serious about trophy hunting, add the 10” Triple Trout right under 8” Huddleston Deluxe.  This bait separates men from boys.  When we recommend the 400 TE for bigbait fishing, this bait is a prime example.  In order to fish this bait effectively and not wear your arms and wrists out, you need the right rod and reel to match the physics this bait brings—and the fish that will commit to the bait.