Rainbow's on Reaction Baits

Well it's late May and the seasons are almost in full swing. Walleye and panfish have been open, trout opener is several weeks behind us now and Musky and Bass opening weekends are not to far off. I've never been a fan of the float rod and reel, I have used them and actually got into a nice fish one day on a 13' longer more traditional style trout rod. I never connected with the technique of float fishing, maybe it's the bass fisherman in me but there is something about watching a bobber head downstream that didn't excite me. Yes I agree 100% float fishing rules the creeks sometimes for both numbers of fish and size but for me I stick to what I know and that's hardbaits and lures. For the last 3 years now I've fished 4-10 days on the local creek every spring in search of late run rainbows and seem to do alright each time I go out. For me this is my pre-season. I get use to the spinning rod again taking my chances skipping and flicking spinners under trees and brush piles, any hidden pools or shade spots I can find. It's almost like skipping a frog up under a overhang but with 8lb line and a soft soft rod, it's a lot of fun and can get pricy if you loose 1 or 2 baits each trip out haha. I am getting better each time but it's not always the line, lure and rod making the fish bite. Being quiet, I mean sneaky is important this time of year on the creeks. Yes there is shoreline grass and cover growing by the day to help hide your appearance but often I am dealing with gin clear water and shallower pools so sneaking up on the fish making no noise is very important, same with crouching down. This makes for a more finesse approach. The gear I use is just perfect in my opinion. My tackle box consists of maybe a dozen baits ranging from small Kwik-Fish and other crank baits as well as my staple 1/16-1/8oz spinners by Blue Fox, Mepps and Panther Martin. Old school at it's best. A bag of small split shot when the water is higher sometimes helps, today I used no weight just tied on my lure and fished 3 or 4 pools. Today was like any other morning, I went down to the creek at close to 10am and was home a little after 12pm for lunch. I fished my first 2 spots with only some "hand sized" trout with no sight of anything of size in the pools I moved up stream and got onto 2 nice fish. The first was my biggest of the spring and I was hunched over flinging my spinner maybe 15ft out under some branches. Bait hit the water and it was on! Good fight with lot's of jumps and after 2 photo's back she went. I then went through the bush, got to the front of the pool once more and got into another. For me that was perfect, put the spinner on the hanger and headed home for the day. Next day was similar fished a couple pools and pulled 1 from each. Thanks for reading, there are 2 weeks still to go in my mind for trout, well see what else I can find! Don't forget to try some small hardware like crank baits or spinners. They can be a lot of fun!