Before we walked down to the water, I watched the surface. The reservoir was 34% full so fish would be concentrated, but would be holding in different spots. There. A trout jumped and a minute later, another trout surfaced. Now I knew where the fish would be, but it was with a little trepidation I tripped down to the water’s edge with my dad and our friend, Randy.

The weather had turned downright balmy and when we talked about fishing this time we wanted to fish bait. Or at least, that’s what I talked them into. Not just any bait, but the bait I manufactured at home on my kitchen counter with my grandchildren.

Donning latex gloves, I baited the hooks. Dad would fish the yellow/orange garlic and krill marshmallows. Randy would fish the green trout/garlic combo and I would fish the red mallow. My companions’ confidence level was not high.

Do-it-yourself trout baits

I began the DIY bait journey with the guiding principle I wanted to tailor baits to the water conditions and use color as an attractant as well as scent. And when the fish want extra garlic like our local trout do in the winter, well, we give them extra garlic. I came up with five recipes color-coded to fishing the five seasons — winter, spring, summer, autumn and fall.

The ingredients are simple and cheap. A bag of marshmallows costs $2. A four-bottle pack of food coloring is $9. A bottle of bait scent is going to run north of $4.99.

Here is the step-by-step process for making your own floating baits. In this example, we will try to achieve a green coloration, using a blend of fish oil and garlic scent that triggers trout in winter water.

1. Start with a clean empty ziplock bag and a bag of regular marshmallows. Depending on the water you plan to fish and the size of the quarry, you might want to cut some or all of the marshmallows in half.

2. Fill the sandwich bag one-third to the top with marshmallows. Add six or seven drops of green food coloring. Now shake it.

3. Next add three squirts of fish oil (we used trout oil). Give the bag a good hard shaking till the oil has a chance to touch all the marshmallows.

4. Add two to four squirts of garlic scent (or a teaspoon of garlic powder). Shake the bag hard.

5. Give it a sniff test and add more fish oil or garlic as needed.

6. Empty the finished product into jars and screw the lids down tight. Put a label on the lid and write down the recipe so you can replicate or improve upon it later.

Presentation

Floating baits are meant to be fished off the bottom. Use a sliding sinker on the main line with a barrel swivel. The leader should be anywhere from 15 inches to three feet long or longer dependent on the weed growth and where trout are feeding.

My preference is a 3-pound test leader terminated at a No. 8 egg hook. In addition to the floating bait, I like to add a small piece of nightcrawler. Push the marshmallow up to the top of the hook then add the bit of worm. The crawler adds that additional attractant that trout have a hard time turning away from. The marshmallow floats the offering while holding additional scent triggers like anise, garlic and fish oil.

With half a marshmallow on the hook and half-an-inch of nightcrawler, we each cast our baits and set the rods down.

There’s a bit of a technique to reacting to the bite. My standard procedure is to wait till the rod bounces then pick it up and wait for the second bounce. That’s the moment to set the hook.

We tried four different flavors of bait, but the hot bite was on the green marshmallow flavored with Pro-Cure trophy trout and garlic.

Randy caught the first fish and then we took turns after that. The trout were 11 to 12 inches and fat. Twice our rods were almost ripped into the water by bigger trout. Those were the ones that got away so I can safely say they were bigger.