Best Rooster Tail For Trout: Top Spinner Choices

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Roostertail spinners are one of the most effective lures to catch trout using conventional tackle. While there are many different brands on the market for roostertail spinners, not all are created equally.

Like bucktails for musky fishing, specific manufacturers are known for creating high-quality lures with blades that spin immediately upon contacting the water without any stutters, and high-quality tied skirts that won’t come apart after heavy casting.

Let’s take a look at some of the best rooster tails on the market.

The Best Rooster Tail for Trout: Our Top Picks

Yakima Rooster Tail Spinners
Yakima Rooster Tail Spinners
Yakima Rooster Tail Spinners
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The rooster tail manufactured by Yakima is the same rooster tail that used to be made by Wordens, and they are a spinner that virtually all trout anglers know well, and it has been a staple lure for trout for the past 50 years.

The rooster tail features a single willow blade design that puts out great vibration and a ton of flash. The small tail section is made from very fine and soft hair for increased flow in the current and the small treble hook allows for excellent hooking rates.

Due to decades on the market and high popularity, the rooster tail comes in pretty much any color you can imagine, allowing you to fish them effectively in any water clarity.

Mepps Rooster Tail Spinners
Mepps Rooster Tail Spinners
Mepps Rooster Tail Spinners
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Mepps is probably the biggest name when it comes to spinners and spoons for virtually any freshwater species. They have been in operation since 1938, that’s nearly 85 years!

To clear up any confusion we will look at the most common trout spinner by Mepps in all their designs, the Aglia.

The Mepps Aglia is the original French-style spinner design and Mepps offers the aglia series in multiple sizes and design types including both naked spinners and skirted rooster tails.

If you wish to try the non-skirted versions, the Aglia features a bright attractor sleeve on them to help give off some color and attract fish.


The shaft of the Aglia is stainless steel to protect against corrosion, and the blade comes in multiple finishes and colors including, gold, brass, copper, or silver finishes as well as painted blades. 

Panther Martin Rooster Tails
Panther Martin Rooster Tails
Panther Martin Rooster Tails
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With a track record that spans 50 years, the Panther Martin rooster tail joins the Yakima Rooster tail and the Mepps Aglia to complete the holy trinity of trout spinners. The Panther Martin also has some interesting design choices when compared to a classic spinner.

The Panther Martin rooster tail features a shaft-through blade design. This blade design keeps the blade close to the shaft of the rooster tail and allows for increasingly less drag.

The interesting blade alternation between convex and concave features creates a unique vibration in the water that calls out to the fish in a way that sets it apart from standard willow blades.

Truscend Rooster Tails
Truscend Rooster Tails
Truscend Rooster Tails
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Truscend rooster tails are the new kids on the block, but they have some versions that definitely peak the interest of many trout anglers.

These Rooster tails come in many flavors with the double french blade version giving massive amounts of flash and vibration compared to a standard single willow blade, and takes a page out of the musky fishing world, applying it to trout.

If you want something really different to try, you can grab a few of the tiny buzzbait versions and try your hand at topwater trout fishing, while overlooked by many, trout are aggressive predators and will eat a small topwater bait in the right conditions.

And finally Truscend offers a line of metallic finishes in some very appealing colors alongside the brass and gold patterns that are typical of rooster tails, some of which are offered as naked spinners.

Akataka Rooster Tails
Akataka Rooster Tails
Akataka Rooster Tails
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If you really want to get some bang for your buck, the Akataka Rooster tail spinner is a great choice.

The best rooster tail at its price range, the Akataka rooster tail lure will surely do the job and pay for itself quickly.

The rooster tail has a few different variations and comes with a single standard french blade but also has a willow blade version as well. You can also choose between skirted and unskirted versions.

Other features include one or two beads for additional color attraction, simulating a mix between a baitfish and roe at the same time, and this combination is dynamite at catching trout.

What Size Rooster Tail for Trout?

Consider the size of the fish and length of cast required when choosing spinner size.

Sizes can vary depending on the mood of the fish and the average size of the trout in the bodies of water you fish.

A good all-around size for trout would be the 1/8 oz size, and this is a great-sized rooster tail for trout small and large.

For bodies of water with bigger trout sizes, the 1/2 oz size is a good-sized rooster tail for trout.

Rooster Tail Colors

There is a wide range of rooster tail colors you can pick from

Trout will react favorably to a wide variety of colors, depending on a few factors like water clarity, sky conditions, and feeding mood.

Dark Green & Black Combo

This is a great pattern for dark stained water; the black coloration will silhouette against the slightly lighter color background or a cloudy sky better than any other color will, and the dark green will give it the bit of color to draw them in closer once the rooster tail is spotted.

Chartreuse & Lime Combo

These colors are great for both clear and stained water conditions, and it’s a color that works great for almost any fish that swims for some reason, my personal favorite color for many species.

Brown & Gold Combo

This color combination is great at imitation bait fishing, like small chubs and river shiners, and it is an absolutely deadly color when rooster tail fishing for trout.

White & silver Combo

My personal favorite color combination for trout fishing, white and silver rooster tail lures, work great in many different water conditions, the silver flash stands out even in stained water conditions, and the white and silver combination imitates a wide range of bait fish living in rivers like shiners, brook silverside minnows, and emerald shiners.

Blade Selection

Spinners are a great way to land trout when they are in the right mood

Different shaped blades give the lures different characteristics in the water, and there are no wrong types, rather preferred blade types for certain situations.

Willow blades provide more flash while producing less vibration and, as a consequence, less drag. Rooster tails featuring willow blades are great in trout fishing situations where you want to get your lure deeper or directly above the bottom.

French blades are the other common blade used in trout fishing and have features that are on the opposite end of the spectrum. French blades still have decent flash but produce more vibration and will ride higher in the water column.

Rooster Tail Fishing for Trout

Brown trout half submerged excellent image arty trout lures feature image
Rooster tail lures are a great and extremely effective way to fish and catch trout.

So, you have your rooster tail lures; now, how do you fish them?

How do you Fish a Rooster Tail

Trout fishing with these spinners is incredibly easy. Simply cast at your target and retrieve. You can vary your speed to see what the trout likes best or get the lure higher or deeper in the water column.

One tip when fishing the rooster tail for trout is to make sure that you engage your reel and get the blade spinning the instant it hits the water; this way, if there is a fish directly below the lure, it will strike immediately.

The rooster tail lure is a must-have for trout fishing. It has been responsible for countless trophy trout and will undoubtedly catch fish for you consistently.

Final thoughts on the best rooster tails for trout

Here is our pick for the best rooster tail selections on the market today. If you are a beginner in trout fishing, you should definitely have a wide selection of rooster tail lures. They are probably the best trout fishing lure for conventional fishing in either small trout streams, lakes, or large rivers, and they will consistently catch you fish.

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AUTHOR
Shawn Chapin is an experienced fishing writer and guide based in Wisconsin, where he loves targeting muskie and a range of other species. Shawn's fished extensively for pike, largemouth bass, smallmouth and panfish species. He's developing a passion for chasing trout on the fly rod.
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