When Pike Eat Trout: Inside My Premium Trout Series

Lure Lab Limited · Colour work

The pink stripe in Steel Rose goes into the mould before the rest of the lure. The shine comes later. Between those two stages, there is rather more work than the finished photograph gives away.

My Premium Trout Series started with a fishing idea: trout patterns for pike. It also became a chance to push my colour work further, from the layers inside the plastic to the finish on the outside.

These are lures I make to fish with, but I am happy to admit that I enjoy getting the details right. The pale flank of a stocked brown, the warmer gold of a wild brown and the pink band of a rainbow give me three very different starting points.

Why a trout pattern?

Where pike and trout share a water, a trout-shaped meal is a sensible reference for a swimbait. That does not mean every pike is waiting for a trout, or that the most realistic paint job wins. Size, movement, depth and where you put the lure still matter.

A brown-trout-coloured 19 cm PreyBait was my best pike producer over the previous winter. That lure is now called Scrapper. It gave me a reason to keep developing the idea, including in cold and coloured water, rather than treating trout colours as something only worth trying on a clear spring day.

That is my fishing experience, not a controlled comparison between colours. I cannot tell you whether a particular spot or flash made the difference. I can tell you why I wanted to make the next batch better.

From the fish to the colour

The starting point was fish I had caught and photographed on local Cotswold water. Both wild and stocked brown trout came to hand and went straight back. Looking at those fish, the difference that interested me was the colour: richer gold and iridescence in the wild browns, a much paler appearance in the stocked fish I caught.

Those references became Colne Gold and Stockie. Steel Rose takes its cue from the rainbow trout’s bright flank and pink lateral band. Looking closely at the fish gives me more to work with than a colour name: where the back darkens, how the spots sit against the flank, and how the sheen changes as the fish turns.

More than a colour in the pot

I build the laminate recipes with iridescent mica powders, colour-shifting powders and different glitter blends. The aim is to capture some of the sheen and spotting of a trout, while keeping enough translucency for the layers to show through.

Once a lure comes out of the mould, I brush on mica powders by hand, glue on the eyes and clear-dip it in premium-quality transparent soft plastic. The clear coat gives the finished colour work its bright, glossy surface.

Every lure goes through that finishing process individually. Small differences between them are part of the work.

Three trout, three colour profiles

Stockie

The stocked brown trout reference

Stockie is the pale one: pearlescent sides, an olive-toned back and dark spotting. The contrast is quieter than the other two, but there is still plenty to look at as the light moves across it.

It takes its cue from the paler stocked browns in my reference photographs. I wanted to keep that quieter appearance while still giving the finished lure depth and sheen.

Colne Gold

The wild brown trout reference

Warm amber and gold, a brown back, and red and dark spotting. This is the warmer, richer end of the series, inspired by wild brown trout.

The interest is in how the layers sit together: the gold underneath, the darker back and the spotting visible through the clear finish. I want those details to belong to the same fish, rather than look like separate colours added to a lure.

Steel Rose

The rainbow trout reference

Pearlescent sides, a spotted green back and the pink stripe that gives the colour its name. This one has an extra stage before injection.

1. I hand-pour the pink stripe into the mould.
2. I inject the two laminate colours around it.
3. After demoulding, I brush on the mica finish, glue on the eyes and give it the final clear dip.

The stripe is part of the lure itself. Getting that band to read clearly against the surrounding colours is a large part of what makes Steel Rose work visually.

Putting them in the water

For these larger lures, my starting point is a screw head and stinger, with the weight chosen for the depth and conditions. Let the lure reach the depth you want, then use a straight retrieve with pauses and changes of speed.

Try changes in depth and pace before deciding a colour is wrong. A pale flank, a warmer gold finish and a pink stripe give you different looks to try; none is a guarantee of a take.

A little more of the workshop

I tend to show the finished lure. This series deserves a closer look at what goes into it: colour mixing, laminate work, the hand-poured stripe, brush finishing, eyes and the clear dip.

That is why I wanted to share these properly. Even if big trout-pattern lures are not your thing, they show a side of my colour work that a quick shop thumbnail misses.

Fishing guidance: Environment Agency close-season guidance and the Pike Anglers’ Club basic pike-fishing leaflet.